Makgeolli and the 2026 A&S Queen's Prize

 

Makgeolli (pronounced like MAK-g-li) is a Korean rice wine ~15% ABV (before diluting) commonly brewed at home with sweet rice, nuruk, and water which according to takjoo.wordpress.com literally means "a roughly filtered thing", with a Japanese version of the same called makkori.  "Makgeolli has historically also been a drink to divide social classes, with diluted takju, commonly recognized as ‘makgeolli’ - being made by and served to farmers, and the clearer, stronger cheongju, which keeps longer and matures in a way that takju typically does not, being served to the Yangban, or aristocracy.  [... This] brewing process [...] is more accurately called Wonju, which consists of two distinct layers that can be seen when the strained alcohol settles: a top, transparent and often yellow layer called cheongju, which can be served separately or distilled to make Soju, and a lower sedimentary layer called takju, which is typically diluted to a weaker strength according to the taste of the brewer. While ‘makgeolli’ is sometimes used as a casual catch all phrase for any sediment-containing Korean alcohol, again, it more specifically refers to diluted takju" 

The website www.hanamakgeolli.com has a glossary of brewing terms that I hope to explore further in the future.

 

"RESEARCH" 

According to an initial Wikipedia search,"Makgeolli is the oldest alcoholic beverage in Korea. Rice wine has been brewed since the Three Kingdoms era, which ran from the 1st century BCE to the 7th century CE. The consumption of rice wine during the reign of King Dongmyeong (37–19 BCE) is mentioned in the founding story of the kingdom of Goguryeo in Jewang ungi (Songs of Emperors and Kings), a 13th-century Goryeo Korean book." "Another 12th-century Chinese book, Illustrated Account of Goryeo, reports that Korean rice wine that is made with nuruk is deeper in color [than cheongju] and has a higher alcohol content; it says that when drinking this wine one gets drunk quickly and sobers up quickly. This book says that clear, refined rice wine was made in the royal court, while milky, unrefined rice wine was more popular among commoners."

Nuruk is a grain base (commonly wheat) fermentation starter that is inoculated with: 

• Rhizopus oryzae mold spores that produce protease and lipase enzymes to break down proteins and fat in the outer layers of rice 
• Aspergillus mold spores that produce amylase enzymes that break down the starches in the inner portions of the rice into sugar
• wild yeast (like Picia anomala and Saccharomyces cervisiae) that turn the sugar into alcohol, and
• lactobacilli bacteria, which create lactic acid to sour the wine and add complexity to the flavor.

Also from Wikipedia, "Nuruk has been used in Korea since the period of the Three Kingdoms in the 3rd century CE, while similar fermentation starter, jiuqu, was first made in China during the Warring States period beginning in the 5th century BCE. Chinese history records the first use of nuruk in Korea in 1123 CE."

 

FIRST BREWING OF MAKGEOLLI

My first attempt followed this video on YouTube by Johnny Kyunghwo: 

1) wash rice until water flows relatively clear

2) soak rice over night (or at least two hours), drain for a good while

3) steam rice until al dente and let cool to "under body temperature", break apart clumps.

4) in a large pot, mix equal parts dry rice and water, plus 10% nuruk, by hand until well incorporated into a homogenized sludge.

 

5) put in fermentation jars with an open lid covered with cheese cloth (I used a loose lid instead)

 

6) once or twice a day, mix up the contents for three or four days.  Contents will begin to bubble and separate with a middle layer of liquid.

7) after a week, remove the solids and squeeze as much liquid out as possible.  You can use a cheese cloth, though I used a strainer and brute force.

8) the milky liquid is now ready to drink, but will continue to change in flavor profile as it ages. Place in bottles in the fridge and burp regularly.  Particulates will settle out, which can be mixed back in or decanted out.

 

The first quart bottle we drank was at the two week mark.  It was very sweet and with a relatively green nutty flavor.  The large gallon was left on the counter with a bubbler for a third week to ferment before being split into two bottles and the flavor got significantly more pithy/citrus like. I personally prefer something in between the two and three week marks.

 

A&S FAIRE 

I was encouraged at the last minute to enter the A&S Faire and Queen's Prize, which was a lovely experience.  Having only done basic Wikipedia, YouTube, and Reddit "research" in order to kick off a brew and figure out if it was worth pursuing in earnest, the advisers that visited my table asked wonderful questions that I was also already chewing on.  I now have a 15kg bag of sweet mochi rice, new nuruk, and old mash that I am curious if I can use like a sourdough "starter" by just adding plain amylase. And I want to get a "round" of makgeollis started a week apart so I can compare at the 1/2/3/4 week points at the same time, and figure out how long before it goes to vinegar.

A Tale of Two Cisers

At the end of April, I picked up honey and cider from the local farmer's market, mixed them with Mangrove Jack's Cider Yeast -M02-, and had an epically successful ciser in exactly one month! 

In mid September, I tried to replicate my success threefold with the same honey, but with a jug of cider from the supermarket. The first week, it was Extremely Active!  And then it went flat.  I'd even added yeast nutrient when I put it together. After six weeks, I decanted the three gallons and let the solids settle out a few days with the goal to flavor each gallon differently.

 Welp.  Lets call this a learning experience.

Somehow, the cider went to vinegar, while the honey remained sirrupy.  Not bad?  It actually tasted like a very decent sekunjabin, even though I went the long way about it >.>

I cornered my favorite expert at Corn Maze yesterday, Rastaslar, and we deduced a scenario why this happened.  The simple sugars in the cider were digested very quickly, especially with the added nutrient.  Once they were finished, the temperature crashed in late September, making all of the yeast fall out before it could get a hold of the more complex sugars in the honey.

So, as it stands, he took a gallon of the stuff and I'm going to play around with the other two gallons.  Now that I turned on the heat in the house, I should be able to add yeast again and keep it from crashing.  

20250911 - 20251029

• 1484g (3lb 4oz) honey (~4 cups)
• 1 gal Beak and Skiff apple cider
• 1 packet Mangrove Jack's Cider Yeast M02
• 2 TBSP Fermax Yeast Nutrient
• Filtered and boiled water up to 3 gal.
• starting specific gravity of 54 

20251109

• split in two 1gal jugs
• Add to each:
• 110g of honey dissolved in a mug of warm water and
• 6g Mangrove Jack's Mead Yeast -M05- until foamed
• starting specific gravity of 62  

 

I couldn't get the specific gravity in between because I somehow kicked up the dormant yeast while trying to pour it into the tube and it kept effervescing, but the lowest number I could read was 60.  I also started pouring the leftovers into some jars to settle out the sediments, but figured I might as well put them into a fliptop and attempt a "secondary fermentation" with just the yeast it already had, because why not.

20260525 update:  This mostly got abandoned due to holiday travel and moving, but I never really got any activity even in November.  I got a vineometer today and checked the old settled bottles for alcohol and they never recovered from the vinegar.  Which is sad, because they smelled amazing!

The alt YOGT saga

 I had the amazing privilege a month ago to work in the main kitchen for the whole weekend of Known World Cooks & Bards.  The spoils of war, so to speak, that I got to take home were about four gallons of assorted milk containers that had been opened through the weekend and barely used.  All was fine and dandy, until my refrigerator gave up the smoke and I no longer had frozen milk.  So, why not try to preserve some by turning it into yogurt?

I found this recipe online that basically says to use it the same as cow's milk* with some probiotic starter (I used some Pumpkin Spice kefir I was finishing up), but that you'll want to add some gelatin thickener to get it to set.

 It was, questionable.  But I gave it a chance.  I poured it into a narrower container, stuck it into the Science Fridge, and then poured out the... it isn't whey because this isn't milk... oat water? every couple of days. 

After a week, I was able to condense it from 32 oz to just 10, where it was runny but finally had some semblance of body.  In the interim, I made two more batches of yogurt, this time with my regular condensed milk.  The first version, I added a healthy dose of whipping cream that had also not survived the freezer.  It was interesting?  But I realized there is a maximum amount of milk fat that has an ok mouth feel before you're just sucking on a stick of butter.  I used maybe an ounce left of that for the final batch I made last night, which still came out robust but tolerable.

For breakfast, I put a couple of ounces of the cow yogurt into the oat yogurt, mixed it up, and poured it over my Boo Berry for quite the delightful breakfast.

Takeaways:

- Yes, alternative milk yogurts are decent, but will require a lot of straining.

- No, more fat isn't always the answer.

- I'm going to try equal parts of almond milk and evaporated milk next week and try to find a good balance.

* My basic recipe is to just use a spoon or two of any live culture yogurt (most often than not kefir), mix it in with a can of condensed milk (or is it evaporated?  The one that does not have added sugar), and stick it in the Instant Pot on the standard YOGT setting for 8-12 hours over night, mixing at some point in the middle.  And refrigerate.

Pennsic tamales

2016 / 2019 / 2022

I absolutely love making tamales at Pennsic.  Sometimes there is pre-planning, sometimes there is less so.  This year I had the bright idea to buy ingredients locally.  And failed.

 

But!  With some help form my friends, I was able to crowdsource a coffee can of bacon grease, some wonderful bougie nixtamal, Canadian chocolate jimmies, corn husks from the corner, and just enough peanut butter liberated from the poodle.  And because it is naturally gluten free, I got to share with even more friends!  A wonderful tradition that I am excited to continue for years to come.

What do you do with free grapes?

Booze them, obviously.  

I worked a tournament last October that had large trays of grapes in the ref room. I asked if they had any plans after the tournament was over, and they told me they had given Saturday's trays to a shelter and were considering doing the same with another two large trays on Sunday.

Uhh, can I have them?

And that is how I left Ohio with 20# of free grapes.  

After washing and mashing them, I added campden tablets and let sit covered with cheesecloth.  The next day I went on the hunt for red and black plums and did the same.

A day later, I combined both mashes in a 7.5 gallon bucket, measured the specific gravity, added all the nutrients, and sealed it up with a bubbler inside of a cat-proof cage.

 

 

 

It spent one month fermenting before I decanted it.  Nobody tells you that stone fruits have a large quantity of sulfur.  I transported the empty bucket in my car and it still smelled like farts for a whole week.  But it sure had a gorgeous color!

 

procedure

16.72# grapes = 2 gal + 1 cup
15.88# plums = 2.25 gal

1. Pick and wash fruit
1. Need 3 gal of plum mash + 5# grape
1. Used 2gal grapes
2. Used 2.25 gal plums
2. Boil 4 gal water
1. Add enough to get 5.5 gal liquid
1. Used .5 gal water
2. Used .5 gal water
3. Transfer to 6.5 gal fermenter
4. Add 5 campden tablets, cover with cheese cloth
1. Let sit for 24 hrs, stir periodically
1. Used 3 tabs
2. Used 3 tabs
5. Add 5 TBSP pectic enzymes
6. Add 2 tsp grape tannin
7. Add 2.5 tsp yeast nutrient
8. Add 4 pounds cane sugar
9. Take Starting Gravity reading
10. Add 1 packet Lalvin RC-212 red wine yeast
11. Place airlock and ferment in dark room at 68 degrees for one month.
12. After finished fermenting, transfer to 5 gal bucket lined with nylon strainer to remove solids.
13. Take Final Gravity reading

Every Vigil Needs Eggs

And this time I think it was only 10 dozen? I learned that the easiest way to combat my ADD is to take pictures as I cook so I can go back and write up recipes, eventually.  So here are the eggs I pickled for Fede for four weeks.  Those with links were inspired by the previous vigil batch.

 

Soy, Beet, Curry, Honey, Beer, Franks, and Chili Garlic

 

For all of the recipes, put 13 hardboiled eggs into a quart sized mason jar, a couple of table spoons of seasonings, and ~ 1 cup of liquid which is half vinegar, half water (or juice or beer). Let sit for four weeks, flipping the jar upsidedown every few days and shaking so that the flavors don't settle.

1) Beer eggs

• Pumpkin Spice
• Everything Bagel Seasoning
• Evil Santa holiday Porter
• Apple Cider Vinegar
  

2) Roman Honey Anise eggs

• Honey
• Minced garlic
• Mustard seeds
• Anise
• ACV
• Water
  

3) Beet eggs

• Can of beets - mince solids, keep juice for water content
• Red pepper flakes
• Ground cinnamon
• Black pepper
• Salt
• ACV
• Water
  

4) Curry eggs

• Curry powder
• Minced garlic
• Mustard powder
• Ground ginger
• Tumeric
• ACV
• Water
  

 

5) Frank's eggs

• Frank's hotsauce
• Everything Bagel Seasoning
• ACV
• Water
   

6) Spicy Chili Crisp eggs

• Lao Gan Ma spicy chili crisp (measure with your heart (or whatever is left at the bottom of the jar))
• ACV
• Water

 

7) Soy eggs - these were only left for one week, since the salt brine likes to disintegrate the proteins in the egg

• Everything Bagel Seasoning
• Red pepper flakes
• Soy sauce
• ACV
• Sesame oil
  

Summer's End and Shoot in the Wildwood/Seven Pearls

The past two weekends have been quite eventful. At Summer's End I was able to help out with my friend Abigail's (Gail Kellogg) vigil, guarding the food from cross-contamination.  I made a fantastic marzipan with her recipe:

• 2 cups almond flour 
• 1 cup granulated sugar 
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons water 
• 1 egg white, lightly beaten (frothy) 
• 1/2 teaspoon orange blossom or rose water 
• Confectioner’s sugar, as needed (about 1.5 cups) 

Bring the sugar & water to a rolling boil, add the almond flour, stirring quickly on low heat, turn egg whites into the pan while hot. Keep stirring 1-2 minutes, add rose water (or other flavoring), stir to combine and turn hot marzipan out onto sugar dusted surface. Knead with a spatula to start, then your hands, adding more confectioner's sugar as necessary until smooth like play dough. Shape by hand or cut into cubes. It will keep in the fridge 2 weeks.

On top of this, I retained a few shifts, I got Peer pressured into soliciting a Pelican (I was going to do it at dinner, anyway), and I helped serve feast.  For as much as I love cooking and eating, serving is by far my favorite role at feast, since it lets me bounce from table to table and socialize with everybody.  And get them drunk.

This past weekend at Seven Pearls/Wildwood I also had a blast retaining and serving feast.  The kitchen left some amenities to be desired, which made the feast appearing to go off without a hitch even more impressive! 

Sunday was a fantastic experience.  I was allowed to attach myself to a team from the Hael for Cast Iron Chef and loved the challenge.  We were given three and a half hours to cook a five course feast for 6-8 judges.  Our great archer Simmonetta got us a 6" cube of venison roast and two 1" thick boneless porkchops. Dagonall the Fool, the team leader, got us the rest of the ingredients from the pantry at the beginning of the challenge.  After that, I spent three hours buried in a 10x15 foot fire pit running a three ring stove.

1) Ricotta with honey, lavender, and fresh figs.

• Mix together, serve with flatbread.

2) Breaded pork chops with chopped apples, onion, and celery.

• Bread the chops and sear with vegetable oil on a hot pan.
• Mix chopped plants and steam as long as possible to achieve an "apple sauce" substitute.

3) Venison stew with pears and root vegetables

• Sear roast, stick with garlic slivers.
• Stew with chopped pears and multicolored carrots.
• Add 2 long pepper cones, 6 cubeb beads, and salt as needed.

4) Armored turnips

• Slice and steam one large turnip as long as possible to get soft.
• Incorporate 4 oz cheddar, garnish with another 4 oz.

5) Indian rice pudding

• Boil 1lb of rice until cooked.
• Add 1 qt butter milk, 2c sugar, 1tbsp lavender, 1 tbsp cinnamon, and clove.

The competition was well fought!  We scored 42/60 points, with first and second place getting 43.6 and 43.  One of the other two tables got a score in the 20s and I don't remember the fifth table, but I'm very happy with how competitive it was.  Everything I tasted was delicious!

Later in court, Barron Ixac of Delftwood designated our venison as the Barron's Choice.  This made me very happy because a) he "doesn't eat red meat" and it still won him over, and 2) I've never cooked venison and I didn't fuck it up!

The last great thing to happen to me was that Elska gave me her Bead Of Inspiration.  I have thoroughly enjoyed this past half year in the SCA and I really hope I can keep going with the same strength once the semester kicks in.

Oh, and I got a proto-ge friendship bracelet that I singed in the fire >.> At least it was cotton?

Sesame seed and soy sauce eggs

• 2 dozen eggs, hard boiled and peeled
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 cup apple cider vinegar

Boil soy sauce, water, and seasonings together.  

Add oil, vinegar, and eggs.  

Bring back up to a boil and split into two quart sized mason jars.

Refrigerate and let pickle for at least a week.

Orangello

• peel of two naval oranges and one grapefruit
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup vodka
• 2 tablespoons honey

1. Combine peels, water, and sugar in blender and pulse a couple of times to a coarse texture.
2. Heat in a pot right below a boil for about an hour.
3. Filter out solids and combine with vodka.
4. Correct flavor balance by adding water, vodka, and/or honey as needed.

There was a call for gifts for the Royalty of the East Kingdom (SCA).  In her writeup, the Queen stated she liked limoncello, which I know I can make.  But I decided to take some liberties to make something more palatable for camping in August.  Originally I wanted to use tangerines or Little Sweeties, but the only ones at the store were shriveled and unappealing.  The naval oranges ended up having the nicest of rinds, plus one grapefruit for more depth of flavor.  At the end of the flavor correction, I decided to add some honey to have a bit of softness that offsets the bitterness of the grapefruit.  The combination worked surprisingly well.

Honey and Anise pickled eggs

2 dozen eggs, hard boiled and peeled
1 teaspoon mustard seed
1 teaspoon anise seed
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 cup water
1 cup vinegar
1/2 cup honey

Dissolve honey in water and add garlic and seeds, bring to a low boil for half an hour. Add vinegar and eggs and bring back up to temperature. Split into two quart jars and top off with more vinegar if needed.


Based on the article The Ancient History of Deviled Eggs: (emphasis mine)

According to Apicius, a collection of Roman recipes believed to have been compiled sometime between the fourth and fifth century A.D., boiled eggs were traditionally seasoned with oil, wine or broth and served with pepper and laser (which was also known as silphium, a plant driven to extinction by the first century A.D.). Another recipe called for poached eggs to be dressed with soaked pine nuts, lovage (an herb of the parsley family with an anise, celery flavor), pepper, honey, vinegar and broth.

Spicy MoFo Pickled Eggs

3 dozen eggs
4 Cups water
4 Cups distilled white vinegar
1 Tablespoon salt
1 Tablespoon Pickling Spices
1 Tablespoon red pepper flakes
1 Tablespoon dried minced garlic
2 Tablespoons brown mustard seed
1 teaspoon ground mustard
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon hot hungarian paprika
1 Cup pickled jalapeño slices, with brine

Hard boil and peel the eggs (I can't recommend the Instant Pot enough!).  Place in giant glass pickling jar.

Combine all ingredients, bring to a boil, and pour over eggs.  Make sure all the solids make it in in case there is leftover liquid.

Cap, refrigerate, and let pickle for at least a week.

Beer Pickled Eggs

On the recommendation of the tea lady at the Hornwood archery event, I decided to make beer eggs. I started by hard boiling the eggs with an Instant Pot based on the recommendation of my friend Cassie.  They peeled like a dream!  Then I made pickling spice (because I was too lazy to go buy it) and followed this recipe for the actual pickling juice.  This is how I adjusted them for the jars I had that only fit 7 eggs each.  Since you aren't actually drinking the solution, the eggs should still be keto with minimal traces of carbs, but you might want to avoid if you are allergic to wheat.


INGREDIENTS

14 eggs, hard boiled and peeled

1.5 Cups white vinegar
8 oz Budweiser Reserve Copper Lager
1 tablespoon parsley flakes
1 tablespoon pickling spice

PICKLING SPICE

1 tablespoon brown mustard seed
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 bay leaf
1 mexican cinnamon stick
3 cloves (the ones you shove in oranges at christmas)
1 tbsp dried minced garlic (because I misread the clove part)
couple of shakes of nutmeg (instead of the allspice)

RECIPE

- Borrow gallon Instant Pot from friend.
- Fill with one layer of eggs (about 15) and 1 cup of water.  Close lid and vapor valve.
- Use EGG setting to hard boil eggs.  It  takes a couple of minutes to reach pressure, then it will count down 5 minutes. Once done, open valve to release steam.
- Place eggs in cold water in fridge to cool.

- Place all spices in grinder and turn into a powder. Place in air tight container. Can be stored for a month, but will lose potency with time.

- Combine vinegar, beer, parsley, and pickling spice in pot on stove and bring to a mild boil and remove from stove.

- Shell eggs, wonder how you have shelled 180 eggs this year without going to jail for murder, and divide into two jars.

- Pour liquid over eggs and try to distribute the solids evenly.

- Lid jars and place in fridge.

- Let pickle for minimum of three days.  If you go longer, flip the jars once a week so top and bottom eggs get better contact with liquid.

Red Beet Eggs, Kelda Edition

RECIPE

2 cans 15oz sliced beets, saving the juices

1/2 cup dried onion

1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp whole cloves (about 30)
1 tsp salt
33 eggs
2-3 cups water
2 cups apple cider vinegar

• Boil and peel 3 dozen eggs. Donate three eggs to science!  Or have them explode in the pot, because one always commits sepuku.

• Combine the juice from the beets and all the spices and bring to a simmer.  Let sit until onions are reconstituted.

• Alternate layers of sliced beets, eggs, and onions in a gallon pickle jar, trying to get a decent distribution.

• Pour remaining onion mixture, water, and vinegar into jar.  Add some water if you need to reach the shoulder.  Flip lightly a few times to get the liquids mixed in.

• Place in a pot of water (on a stand so the jar doesn't touch the bottom) and heat up until egg mixture is almost boiling, with the lid OFF.  Once hot, remove from heat and replace the lid, let cool at room temperature.  This will help create a vacuum seal once it cools down, after which you can store in the pantry or fridge. 

SCHPIEL

What, the recipe at the beginning?  BURN THE WITCH!

Yeah, it pisses me off when I can't find how to make something until scrolling through seventy three pages of memories and pictures.  I can just add them at the end.

Like I recently posted, I've been getting back into the SCA quite a bit and will be feastocrating a vigil this Pennsic for my friend Kelda.  I saw her at Crown Tourney three weeks ago and was complaining that I had hardboiled 90 eggs and very few were eaten at the event because it was so freakishly hot for early May, so I was thinking about pickling them.  Luckily, she said she loves pickled eggs, so now I've made five dozen for her this week!  The last three dozen are in that beet jar, and the first couple went into Pickled Ramp juice that I got from Astrid at Aethelmeark War Practice a couple of weeks ago.  She said she mostly followed this recipe and they were beyond amazing!  Should do a good job with eggs, too.

After complaining to a coworker about peeling them, he suggested I steam the eggs (I normally bake them when in large quantities) and then tumble them in the bowl after they are cold to lightly "bruise the shells".  This apparently makes even the freshest eggs come off very easily.

Limoncello

So what do you do when you get guilted into participating in a brewing competition and only have four days?  You make a cordial! Limoncello isn't completely "period", but there's enough speculation around it not-not being period.

RECIPE

10 lemons
1 naval orange
1 blood orange
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 cup water
750ml vodka

• Strip all of the citrus of their gorgeous skins, avoiding as much pith as possible.

• Macerate the peels with enough sugar to extract a lot of the oils through abrasion.

• Transfer sugared peels to a sealed container that can be closed and rubbed, like a ziplock freezer bag, along with half a cup of water and half a cup of vodka, and place in hot-but-not-boiling water for a few hours to coax more oils to release.  I used a closed steamer basket to keep the bag from touching the bottom of the pot.

• Let sit in a dark place for a couple of days (or as long as possible) to continue extracting.
• Throw the mixture into a blender for further maceration.

• Extract all the liquid from the peels by passing through a sieve and then a fabric filter (like a clean bar towel or cheese cloth).
• Throw the peel solids in the blender with enough water and/or vodka and extract three more times.  Between each iteration, taste to see which of the three is necessary.  Later extractions will get mellower, sweeter, and less tart.

• Once you have enough liquid and are pleased with the flavor profile, make sure you have filtered as much of the solids. I didn't manage to get it to go through a coffee filter because of the combination of oils and water surface tension.

SCHPIEL

I had a blast participating at the Brewer's Competition at AE War Practice XXX, despite having no idea of what I was getting myself into.  I've had experience in the past with making a simple strawberry cordial and krupnik, but they take at least a couple of weeks to get a proper extraction.  This one only took three days in a cupboard and a couple of hours the first and last days for peeling and filtering.

It went well; I won the cordial competition!  Mostly because I was the only entry, but I got very good reviews despite that.  I got a little medallion from Anna Leigh at court and a sweet bar rag that I plan on embroidering with the event name.

Oddly enough, I never blogged about the Strawberry Ghosts (Pennsic 2014) or the Mexican Krupnik (Pennsic 2017) that were also very well received.

Strawberry Ghosts were pretty fantastic!  I put a pound of frozen strawberries in a container covered with vodka and left them in a closet for four weeks.  Eventually I was left with the souls of the strawberries in a beautiful liquid to which I added I think a cup of simple syrup and called it a day.  The leftover strawberry corpses were just little bursts of vodka that were very entertaining to eat.

The krupnik was for a competition at Caledonia that I also happened to win.  To the best of my knowledge, I stewed a pound of honey with cacao nibs, chili peppers, and dried mangos, and ultimately mixed it with Luksusowa potato vodka.  I got a nifty sipping crown out of it and I need to organize this year's competition (because I completely forgot to do it last year >.>)

Oh yeah!  Almost forgot.  I also volunteered to help run the Boozy Food division at next year's War Practice...