Next we will teach you how to prepare one of the traditional liquors of the north of our country. And there is no food worth its salt in the Basque Country or Navarra, especially between friends, that it does not end with a toast of a glass of pacharán. If you want to encourage yourself to do your own homemade recipe we teach you how to do it.
But first put on comfortable clothes, put on some good sneakers or hiking boots and go out into the country for sloes; the base of this drink whose alcoholic graduation usually around 30 degrees depending on the ingredients we use.
The steps to make this prized liquor
The autumn months (especially in mid-October) are the most conducive to finding the perfect blackthorn fruit; depending on the temperatures of that previous summer. Thus, when taking them to make your homemade pacharán look only at those that are more mature, that is, that the color is between bluish and black since it is the ideal tone to later marinate them and that the drink is perfect. Otherwise, the flavor will be more acidic and it will not be as digestive.
You will find them with little difficulty near areas where there are no crops, on the edges of farms and roads and, above all, in areas of cattle pasture.
Once at home and with the sloes in the kitchen, you will need another essential ingredient such as anise; as well as other elements that will always give a different touch to your homemade recipe. We are talking about some coffee beans, some aromatic herbs and cinnamon sticks.
The best in these cases is use glass containers or bottles for mashing. Not only for a more sustainable gesture but, in the long run, with those months of curing, our homemade pacharán can at the end take on a certain smell or aftertaste of plastic that is not very pleasant.
If our idea is to make a pacharán with a strong consistency, We will add 1/3 of sloes, the same of anise and the same of another liquor. We add the rest of the optional elements and close the bottles to let them rest in a dark, cool place without temperature variations. about 3 months. Always keep in mind that aniseed time. If you leave the bottle for more months, in the end you will only achieve that sloe grounds are generated and that the pacharán has a bitter tinge from the bone of the same.
Those who prefer a somewhat more fruity and smooth flavor, we will add the same proportion of sloes and the rest of anise.
One last final tip, during that time that the pacharán remains at rest, do not forget to move and shake the bottles every so often so that the sloes do not stick to the bottom.
