A fresh-tasting liqueur and smell of freshly chopped herbs which also helps digestion exits. Not everyone knows it perhaps because it’s prepared with an unusual ingredient, wild fennel.
Try making it at home. It’ll totally win you over!
Origins of fennel liqueur
Fennel liqueur has very ancient origins and is traditionally produced in southern Italy, especially Puglia. This is almost certainly another rustic recipe handed down from generations, prepared with natural, wild products that grow spontaneously in the fields. According to other sources it has ecclesiastical origins. What is certain is that it’s a typical recipe from southern Italy because it’s here that the climate is more favorable for the growth of such plants.
How to spot wild fennel
Wild fennel is a wild plant with very fragrant flowers.
It has a long, high branched stem at the top which can reach a height of 2 meters. It’s light green in color and has yellow flowers grouped in small bunches. It grows in the hills but only where the climate is mild, usually near the sea. To make fennel liqueur you need the “barbette”, that’s to say fennel leaves, picked and then left to dry. You can however also use them fresh and this is exactly what we would recommend.
Homemade Wild Fennel Liqueur recipe
Ingredients
11 oz of wild fennel leaves
1 lb 8 oz of sugar
1 US quart of 95° alcohol
3 ½ cups of water
1 teaspoon of fennel seeds
1 untreated lemon
Method
Infuse the alcohol with the wild fennel leaves and its seeds crushed in a mortar and leave for at least 10 days in a hermetically sealed container.
Every two days give them a quick shake to mix the flavors properly.
Once the maceration phase is over, dissolve the sugar in a saucepan with water until syrup is obtained. Filter the alcoholic part with a strainer or gauze to eliminate seeds and leaves and once cold mix everything with the sugar syrup.
Close everything hermetically for about a day.
Bottled in glass bottles and store for about two to three months.
Different variations with flowers
There is also a variant of this liqueur that is made with the flowers of wild fennel plants and not with leaves. The smell and flavor are slightly more intense, but the taste is very similar.
To prepare it just replace the leaves with 150-200 g of wild fennel flowers and stems.
Storage
Like all alcoholic preparations, fennel liqueur requires a time to rest. Once ready and bottled store in a cool, dry place, not necessarily in the fridge, and consume it after about two months so that all the aromas and flavors have properly settled.
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