There is something special about this time of year – long summer beach days, salt in your hair, late afternoon thunderstorms & warm balmy nights.
Rather than get all caught up in the consumerism of Christmas, I prefer to get busy in the kitchen & make my pressies for family & friends with ‘Hands & Heart’. I usually experiment, play with what is in season or looks really lush at the farmers markets. I’ll be honest, there have been a few ‘failures’ over the years, but hey that is the fun of it – I just make sure my pressie-recipient has a drink in hand before doing the taste test.
Last weekend I experimented with Jaboticaba fruits – a South American Fruit that is high in antioxidants and is great for liver detox (another bonus for this time of year !). I created my own Christmas Sweet ‘Vermouth’ Syrup – perfect as a Christmas Drink mixer (I promise you, it takes a Negroni to the next level), or you could drizzle over pancakes.
Here is the recipe that I created. If you don’t have a ready supply of Jaboticaba, then you could substitute Red Plums that are quite tart… yum !
Jaboticaba {Vermouth} – Recipe
PREP 10 MINUTES | COOK 30 MINUTES
Ingredients
Feel free to change the following ingredients up a bit… they are approximate measurements… I am not one to measure in the kitchen !
5 cups jaboticaba fruit, sliced in half
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
Ginger – about 2 thumb size lengths sliced into discs
1 Lemon – both the peel & juice
1 Orange – both the peel & the juice
4 Kaffir Lime Leaves
2 Clove Buds
Stick of Cinnamon
Black Peppercorns (about 5 or 6)
1 Sterilised Glass Jar
2 Clear Quartz Points
Method
- In a saucepan place the Jaboticaba Fruit, water, sugar, ginger, lemon peel, orange peel, lime leaves, cloves, cinnamon & black peppercorns.
- Bring the mixture to the boil, then gentle simmer for about 20 to 25 mins.
- I then mashed the mixture with a fork to ensure all the fruit was well crushed to release the antioxidant properties & other goodness from the skins. A potato masher (instead of a fork) may make this step easier.
- Add Juice of lemon & orange to the mashed mixture and simmer for a further 5 to 10 mins.
- Strain the mixture through a fine strainer & bottle in a jar.
- Add the quartz points into the jar & stir with a spoon.
- As you stir your syrup, with ‘Hands & Heart’ bless your alchemical blend & place your intentions into the syrup. The Quartz Crystals will amplify the energy (piezoelectric effect) of the Syrup and activate the Lightrition qualities of the remedy.
- Seal the Jar, allow to cool. Keep refrigerated.
How to Use Jaboticaba Syrup ?
Use as a mixer for Christmas Drinks. Jaboticaba Syrup makes an excellent Negroni – Mix 1 part Jaboticaba (as a substitute for Sweet Vermouth), with 1 part Campari & 1 part Gin. Top up with a little freshly sqeezed orange juice (blood orange is amazing) & add lots of ice & a slice of orange.
Use as a mixer for Mocktails. Make your very own ‘Mock-Tequila Sunrise’ – Jaboticaba Syrup, orange juice & ice. Or mix in soda water, mint leaves & slices of orange.
Drizzle over pancakes or waffles for a holiday breakfast treat.
Variations
Plums – Don’t have a ready supply of Jabotonica Fruits ? Substitute plums into the recipe – the tarter the better.
Tumeric – You could also add Tumeric to the mix (sliced up just like the ginger) – great to maximise the medicine qualities of the syrup. Curcumin (the main active ingredient of Turmeric), has been shown to increase the neurotransmitters Serotonin & Dopamine.. increasing pleasure, wellbeing, libido & overall mood.
Sweetener – I don’t recommend substituting honey (heating honey destroys the natural enzymes & it becomes acidic too). You could instead cut down on the amount of sugar… or consider rapadura sugar (evaporated cane juice). This syrup is a Christmas treat (not an all year round drink)… so a little bit a sweetness once a year is special.
Waste Nothing – I also saved the sieved fruit mix (minus the cinnamon) and blended it in the blender with a little of the reserved juices and I bottled this too. Makes a great marinade for chicken or jackfruit. Not that I do the ham thing at Christmas… but it would make an awesome glaze for baked ham.
Hints & Wisdoms
Share with Friends – Food/drinks ALWAYS taste better with friends.
Using your Hands – As I teach in Aetheric Healing™, your hands are mirrors of the human experience of your Soul. Your thumb represents your Soul, your four fingers represent Earth, Fire, Air & Water and the centre of your palm connects you with the spiral of our Earth & the spiral of Galaxy. In addition, your entire body is mirror-reflected in your hands via various points (ie hand reflexology). When you prepare food with your hands, the Lightrition (physical & energetic nutritional properties) of the food changes to align with your genetic profile or medicinal needs at that time. What you think about during food preparation becomes imprinted within the food AND amplified through the Quartz Crystals. Think happy, healthful & vital thoughts and you then become what you eat!
Quartz Crystals – For me, using Quartz Crystals in the kitchen has always been a natural part of my kitchen repertoire. Whether putting crystals in my dried herb bottles to keep them fresh, using crystals to activate the water (structured water) in fermented foods & beverages… of steeping foods with crystals to stimulate their lightrition qualities. As I teach in Crystal Light Healing®, crystals absorb, store, transduce (piezoelectricity), amplify & emit energies from their environment – such that they are essential element in any kitchen to make the most of food as your medicine.
OmAhOm
Simone M. Matthews
