Thinking she was a bit of a drama queen, I continued looking. Turns out she wasn't dramatic, she was right. Maine produces 25% of all blueberries in North America, making it the largest producer in the world.

de Mûre Blackberry Liqueur (Sugar Free) - A Full Living Crème de Mûre Blackberry Liqueur (Sugar Free) - A Full Living

This is an ideal liqueur to make in February or March (if you’re in theNorthern Hemisphere), when the weather starts to gift you a really warm day every now and then and really makes you yearn for spring. I love to make a couple batches of this Crème de Mûre recipe in late February, that way it’s ready for me to drink on the better days in April! I especially love the method, as it’s not dependent on 100 proof alcohol, which nearly impossible to get in Australia (and expensive when you can find it). Sterilizing your storage bottle before putting the creme de mure inside will prolong the life significantly, even indefinitely if stored in a cool dark place! The best way to know if the liqueur is still good is to taste it, and watch out for any color changes. If you notice either of these changes, toss it. We highly doubt this stuff will last long enough for it to go bad. It's seriously delicious, and you will keep finding ways to use it!

Sonja & Alex

I make a lot of gifts to give to friends for the holidays and the one they always clamor for is my liqueur du jour; people LOVE homemade gifts and this one would be extra special! A gentle simmer won’t remove all the alcohol, it will in fact remove very little – you’d have to boil it at a high heat for quite a while to remove all the alcohol. It’s not possible to add wine in two parts as all the wine needs to macerate with the berries. Add simple syrup to taste. You will want a liquor that have different layers of sweet, tart, bold and rich. There is a lot of different variations on the recipes to make Creme de Mure where some use vodka or gin and some use wine (often a sweet wine like Merlot or similar). Some recipes also add a dash of Cognac, Armagnac or Brandy. My version takes a little bit of everything and use Port Wine instead of wine or a dash of cognac and I think it adds a little more depth to the Creme de Mure than if you are only using vodka or wine.

The Bramble Cocktail Recipe With Gin and Blackberry The Bramble Cocktail Recipe With Gin and Blackberry

Some recipes called for vodka only and some called for vodka and brandy. Some called for using red wine, which would give it a deep color, but I thought it would add too much of it's own flavor. Step 3 - Strain the infusion through a fine mesh strainer.You might want to strain it a couple of times and once through a coffee filer if you want a nice clean clear liqueur. You will also find recipes that use either lemon or lime juice. If you switch tolemon juice,use alemon wheel for the garnish. My testing included two passes through muslin before I saw a totally clear product. I highly recommend the use of butter muslin, most often used for cheese-making. It has a much finer weave than the typical cheesecloth you can obtain more easily and will strain out the solids more effectively. Hi Jan, yes it’s definitely very sweet – not something I can personally drink much of by itself. Would love to hear how using less sugar works out for you thoughCooking the mixture will help the sugars dissolve and bring out the flavour – you could definitely try without the cooking step, although you may want to use a simple syrup in place of sugar as it may not dissolve well without cooking and you certainly don’t want a grainy texture! As for preserving it, simmering it definitely helps with preserving but it’s mainly the sugar and alcohol content that will do that job. However, I am no preserving expert so I couldn’t say for sure how important the role of heating the mixture is for that aspect! The berries are mashed or blended (I blended mine) and mixed with wine, vodka, and sugar and it’s ready within days. Or minutes; even though a bit of time to let it all meld only makes it better.