Spiced Cacao Cordial (contains alcohol)
Here’s a way you can make a positive contribution to rainforest regeneration, sustainable farming, and have a lovely smooth sipping cordial to soften the edges of everyday life a bit.
This is only one version of this beautiful amber-hued cordial, but it is my personal favorite. It’s smooth and complex with just enough spice to cut the sweetness and a lingering dark chocolate finish. The blend of spices also makes it an excellent digestif after dinner. Serve this cordial to your friends and they won’t believe you made it yourself.
So light some candles, relax in a comfy chair, and swirl, sniff, and sip your way to a little moment of bliss. Tomorrow is another day.
Ingredients
750 mL bottle of high-proof alcohol, 90 proof or higher.*
1/3 cup cacao, crushed
8 whole cardamom pods, dried
3 small cubes or pieces of crystallized ginger
1 cinnamon stick
5 star anise
A few whole cloves
A few whole black peppercorns**
2 ½ cups (500 g) unbleached sugar
600 ml water
*Vodka or grain alcohol works fine. Your base alcohol doesn't have to be premium quality. But it needs to be a high proof to extract the flavors of the cacao and spices. Here at SDV we use aguardiente de caña, made locally from sugar cane.**All spices are optional. You can omit or change quantities depending on your taste.
Utensils
Pestle, mason jar, or stone to crush the cacao beans
Shot glass or coffee cup
Small strainer
Small heavy saucepan
Wooden spoon
Small piece of cheesecloth or natural porous cloth
Funnel
Clean 750 ml bottle with cork (a washed wine bottle is perfect)
Directions
Phase 1
Whenever you use alcohol to extract flavors or medicinal compounds from herbs and spices, this process is called maceration.
Open your bottle of vodka, grain alcohol, or aguardiente and take a shot. Or pour a little into your coffee. You need to make some space in the bottle.
Crush the cacao beans into pieces. You don’t want to make powder, just chunks. The easiest way to do this is to put the beans in a zip lock bag, zip it, and pound lightly on the bag with a small hammer, stone, or pestle. That way the pieces of cacao don’t scatter everywhere.
Put the crushed cacao in the bottle with the alcohol.
Add whatever spices you like.
Put the cap on the bottle and give it a good shake.
That’s it for now. In a day or so the alcohol will turn a lovely dark reddish hue as the cacao and spices begin to macerate.
Store the bottle in a cool dark place for three weeks. Give it a shake once in a while.
Phase 2
After three weeks, the mix is sufficiently macerated to move on.*
Make a simple syrup. Heat 600 mL of water in a small heavy saucepan to just shy of a boil. Carefully add the sugar a few tablespoons at a time, stirring gently with the wooden spoon to dissolve and keep from scorching.
Once the sugar is all dissolved, turn off the heat and let the mixture cool down to room temperature.
While the syrup is cooling, line a strainer with a cheesecloth or natural porous piece of cloth. Pour your spiced cacao alcohol through the lined strainer into a bowl or pitcher that will hold roughly twice the volume. Make sure you pour slowly enough to allow the liquid to pass.
Discard the used cacao and spices into the compost. Rinse out the bottle and tip upside-down to drain.
Once the syrup is cool enough, add about ¾ of it to the spiced cacao alcohol and mix thoroughly.
Taste it. If it is too potent (makes your eyes water), add more simple syrup until it is to your liking. The cordial will “mellow out” as the flavors harmonize over a few days, so be careful not to make it too sweet. You can always add more simple syrup later, but once it’s added, you can’t take it out.
Pour the cordial through a funnel into two separate 750 ml bottles. Cap or cork and set aside for a few days to let the flavors blend and harmonize.
*If you forget about your macerating mixture or don’t get to Phase 2 after 3 weeks, it’s fine. A little longer soaking time doesn’t hurt anything.
Serve and enjoy.
Kristen Krash is the co-founder and director of Sueño de Vida, a regenerative cacao farm and reforestation mission in Ecuador. Sueño de Vida works to educate and inspire everyday people about permaculture, sustainable living, environmental activism and healthy living all in the name of living more in harmony with nature to create a better world for us all.
You can support the Sueño de Vida mission today by purchasing our cacao or contributing to direct reforestation.
Thank you.
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