Homemade Sweet Vermouth

This recipe makes close to one litre of Sweet Vermouth

Ingredients

1 orange
3 1/4 cups white wine, divided (a decent Pinot Grigio is the perfect wine for this)
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp dried chamomile
6 cardamom pods
1 star anise
1 tsp dried lavender
1/4 teaspoon wormwood leaf (find online at Amazon or at health stores)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup boiling water
1/2 cup brandy
1/2 cup sweet sherry
Muslin cloth or coffee filter
funnel

Method

1. Peel the orange and set aside the rest of the orange for another use.

2. Pour 1 cup of the wine into a cooking pot. Add all the orange peel, cinnamon stick, chamomile, cardamom, star anise, lavender, and wormwood and cook on medium heat until it comes to a boil, roughly around 5 minutes. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Strain out solids into a bowl using Muslin cloth and a funnel (the Muslin cloth helps to get all the little bits that a strainer might miss) and return liquid to the pot.

3. In a separate pot, pour in the sugar and cook on medium heat, stirring frequently, to caramelize it. Once the sugar melts into a caramel-colored liquid (roughly around 5 minutes), turn off the heat and let caramelized sugar cool.

4. Bring the water to a boil in a kettle, then measure 1/4 cup and slowly pour it into caramelized sugar, stirring as you pour.

5. Add the remaining wine (2 1/4 cups) to the herb-infused wine that you set aside earlier and bring it to a boil. Pour it slowly into the pot of caramelized sugar syrup, stirring frequently to integrate them (the sugar should be melting as the hot wine comes in contact with it; it is crucial that there are no lumpy burnt bits of sugar in the mix). Add brandy and sherry, then let cool in a fridge preferably for 24 hours. Pour the cooled mixture into a bottle, seal and store in the refrigerator. It will last for around one month.

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