Gifts You Can Drink: Herb & Fruit Cordials

With Maria Noël Groves, Clinical Herbalist & Co-op Wellness Educator

Festive cordials featuring seasonal produce like apples, pears, and cranberries are a delicious way to celebrate the holidays, both to serve at gatherings and give as gifts. Fruit and herbs combine beautifully in simple, delicious recipes with limitless possibilities. You won't believe how easy they are to make!

Here are the basic recipes to get you started. Be sure to use the best quality alcohol you can afford. I really like Flag Hill's General John Stark Vodka made with apples from Apple Hill Farm in Concord. It's available at select liquor stores.


Basic Cordial (~25% alcohol)

• 1 part simple syrup, honey, or maple syrup (ie: 2 2/3 ounces)
• 2 parts quality vodka, brandy, or other spirit (ie: 5 1/3 ounces)
• Chopped fruit, herbs, spices, etc. 

Make your simple syrup (if using – see recipe below). Loosely fill your jar with desired fruit and herbs. Pour in your syrup and alcohol. Let sit for up to one month, shaking daily. Taste every day or two and strain when it tastes good to you. Strain through a cloth-lined colander or strainer, and squeeze as much out as you can with your hands. Store in glass in a cool, dark, dry spot.


Simple Syrup
Simple syrup without herbs will last in the fridge for at least a month. It’s an ingredient in
cordials, elixirs, and some herbal syrup recipes. If you add herbs, it should be preserved with alcohol or frozen to give it a longer shelf life.

• 2 part sugar
• 1 parts water
• Handful herbs (optional) 

Simmer until the sugar is dissolved. You may infuse (steep) or decoct (simmer) this with herbs (just eyeball it) for about 30 minutes, then strain.


What to do with cordials?

• Drink them in a cordial glass for or with dessert.
• Add them to mixed drinks.
• Add them to hot tea or coffee for a kick.
• Drizzle them over ice cream, cakes, and fruit.
• Heat them up and thicken with cornstarch to use on desserts for a thicker, sauce-like consistency.
• Serve them in chocolate cups.
• Use them in marinades and sauces.
• Give them as gifts in cute bottles

Spiced Pear Cordial in Maple Syrup
This recipe makes about one pint of cordial and will keep for at least one year in the liquor cabinet.
You can easily double or triple the batch. It’s a little unusual in that it’s a cooked cordial. It takes a little extra time, but it really brings a richer flavor from the pears and spices.

• 2 small, ripe pears (or 1 large), sliced
• 4 ounces of local maple syrup, preferably grade B
• 2 ounces of water
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
• 6 whole cloves
• 1/2 vanilla bean, sliced lengthwise
• 2 cardamom pods, crushed
• 8 ounces quality vodka*

Simmer the pears and spices in the maple syrup and water for approximately one hour. Remove from the heat occasionally if it seems to be boiling too hard. Pour all the ingredients into a mason jar. (Remove the cinnamon sticks if you want the cinnamon flavor to remain subtle.) Cover with vodka, cap, and let sit on the counter for one to four weeks, shaking daily. Taste it every few days. The
flavor will gradually change, becoming more spicy and less fruity/nutmeg-y over time. When it tastes good to you, strain your cordial into bottles, and enjoy!


Quick Cordial Recipe Ideas

• Lemongrass Cordial: Loosely fill with fresh or fresh-frozen snipped lemongrass stalks (thick bottom parts). Cover with a 1:2 ratio of syrup:alcohol. Let sit for 2+ days, tasting daily.
• Apple Cinnamon Cordial: Use a similar recipe as the pear cordial, swapping in apples, double the cinnamon, omit the cardamom.
• Cape Codder: Simmer cranberries in simple syrup and then add alcohol in a 1:2 ratio.
• Cinnamon Blueberry Cordial: Simmer blueberries, mashing them, with simple syrup. Put 1 cinnamon stick in the jar. Cover with a ratio of 1:2, let sit to taste. Remove the cinnamon if it is getting too strong but does not yet have the blueberry flavor you want.
• Winter Toddy Cordial: Cover chopped ginger, lemons, and thyme with a 1:1 or 1:2 ratio.
• Sweet Anise Cordial: Perfect for Sambuca-lovers! Fill your jar about a quarter to halfway full with equal parts dried Korean licorice mint (from the garden, if you don't have any, just stick with star anise and fennel), star anise pods, and fennel seeds. Cover with a ratio of 1:2 simple syrup and vodka, and let sit for a few days before straining.
• Spearmint Cordial: Perfect for sweetening homemade Mojito and Mint Julep cocktails. Chop fresh spearmint, rub leaves and loosely fill jar. Cover with a ratio of 1:2 simple syrup and vodka, and let sit for a few days before straining (or to taste).

For more information and recipe ideas, click here.

Chef's Stuffing Rant & Turkey Tips

By our Chefs

The classic conundrum at Thanksgiving time is whether to stuff the turkey or cook your stuffing separately. Many people stuff their turkeys out of tradition, but it’s the worst thing in the world you can do to your Thanksgiving dinner. In order to cook the stuffing to a temperature that kills any potential pathogens, you have to overcook your turkey. If you cook the turkey perfectly, the stuffing poses a food safety risk. So, Salmonella stuffing or a dry turkey - which would you prefer? Stuffing the turkey is an antiquated cooking method. In the old days, people didn’t have much space in the oven or many pans in the kitchen to make all the Thanksgiving dishes separately.

It’s time to ditch tradition in favor of a better meal. I recommend cooking your stuffing separately, and of course as a Chef, I don’t use the boxed stuff.

Chef Mike’s Homemade Stuffing

Bread: The first secret to delicious homemade stuffing is good bread. Opt for raisin, onion, and/or olive bread, bagels, etc. Feel free to mix them up. Cube the bread (crusts on).

Chicken Broth: Soak the bread cubes in good chicken broth. You can make the broth from scratch, but I also like Better than Bullion chicken broth base for flavor and convenience.

Vegetables: Add whatever vegetables you like, and cook them in the broth: carrots, celery, onions, kale, apples, etc. Don’t worry about peeling the apples and carrots; I don’t.

Herbs: Sage is a classic herb to season stuffing, but you have to be careful not to overdo it. I use about 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh sage (or 1/2 tablespoon dry sage) per quart of stuffing. Of course, you can opt for different herbs such as thyme, parsley, rosemary, and/or chives.

Fat: I also like to add fat for flavor. Some people use butter, but I prefer to cook up hot Italian pork sausage and/or bacon, and then add it to the soup.

Putting it All Together: For every 1/2 cup of bread, add about 1 cup of broth, and let it soak into the bread. You can serve it as is or bake it in a casserole dish at 375°F until the stuffing reaches 142°F and has the moisture level  you like.

Relax: Don’t want to go through the trouble of making your own stuffing? You can buy our homemade apple sausage stuffing in the deli!

Chef’s Turkey Tips

Get It Fresh: There’s a definite difference between fresh and frozen turkeys when it comes to your Thanksgiving roast. Freezing a turkey squeezes a lot of moisture from the meat. A fresh turkey will be inherently more moist and delicious.

To Brine or Not to Brine? This is an optional step, but I do like to brine my turkey at home. The final turkey won’t brown as nicely as an unbrined turkey, but it will be more moist and flavorful. Combine two gallons of water, three cups of sugar, and three cups of salt in a cooler, and let the turkey sit in this solution in a cooler overnight.

Salt & Pepper: Before you put your bird in the oven, rub the outside and inside with ample salt and pepper. This is all I do to the outside of the bird, but sometimes I like to add a few flavorful ingredients to the cavity. Sliced lemons, garlic, apples, butter, and/or herbs will flavor the finished turkey nicely. Because they’re not as dense as stuffing, they’ll be safe to eat when the turkey is cooked to perfection. This is optional, but the salt and pepper is not.  Salt and pepper help encourage browning of the meat, also known as the Maillard reaction. Proteins and sugars react with the heat to brown the food, creating hundreds of different flavor compounds that make the food significantly more delicious to the human taste buds than it would without the browning. Seasoning the inside and outside of the bird helps the flavor permeate all of the meat.

Bake: I prefer to bake my turkey in a hot oven at 450°F for just about 2.5 hours, or until the outside has browned nicely and the meat reaches a temperature of at least 160°F. I don’t put any foil on top, nor do I baste the turkey.

Rest: Let the bird sit for at least a half hour under foil to let the meat rest so the juices redistribute throughout the bird. This is a good time to make the gravy.

Gravy: Remove the turkey from the pan, and put the pan on the stove. Turn it on high and add a half of a bottle of white wine, using it to deglaze the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Make a slurry of equal parts cornstarch and water, whisk it into the pan a little at a time until you reach the desired consistency.

Leftovers! Definitely make soup with the carcass. I don’t get much past turkey sandwiches with mayonnaise and sharp cheddar cheese on good bread with hot sauce. But you can also use the leftovers in turkey enchiladas and all sorts of other dishes.

Call 603-225-6840 to place your Thanksgiving turkey, fresh-baked pies and roll orders, or to order fully cooked meals. Stop by the Deli case for all sorts of delicious sides made by our Chefs. Vegan Tofurky is available in our freezer case.

Delve Into the Autumn Harvest: Perfect Pears

By Maria Noël Groves, Clinical Herbalist & Co-op Wellness Educator

Sippin' Cordial & Dehydrating Pears

Sweet and juicy or crisp and crunchy, pears make an easy snack or dessert that delight the senses this time of year when they reach perfection. If you are lucky enough to come across local pears, stock up! New Hampshire-grown pears are often smaller yet more flavorful than their long-traveling counterparts. The local season for pears has generally passed; however, you'll find a great selection of fresh local and organic storage pears in stores now.

We have friends in Manchester with a prolific pear tree that require us to bring home a laundry basket full each September. It’s always a mad dash to eat or prep them all before they go bad! Of course we’re grateful for the bounty; it’s become one of our fall rituals and introduced us to a variety of ways to enjoy the fruits.

Storing Pears: We immediately store most of the pears in the fridge and reserve a bowl to ripen on the counter as a functional autumnal decoration that reminds us to eat a few each day. Pears are best picked slightly underripe and will ripen within a few days at room temperature. Every day or two, we pull some extras out for the bowl. Underripe pears will only last about a week or so in the fridge, so it’s helpful to process the surplus to enjoy throughout the winter.

Preserving Pears: Our favorite way to work our way through the surplus is to dehydrate them. Dried pears are a delicious treat that are even sweeter than apple chips with a great chewy texture (reminiscent of the candy I love but try not to eat). I cut ripe pears into 1/8-inch slices and fill my dehydrator trays to the gills. They require no special prep, but I often sprinkle them with freshly grated nutmeg or some cinnamon to further enhance the flavor. You’d be amazed how many pears fit into a quart-sized mason jar once dehydrated and how quickly they get gobbled up!

We also freeze pears, much the same way we freeze apples: cored, sliced, and frozen in vacuum-sealed or Ziplock bags with as much air removed as possible. They’ll last for at least a year and can be pulled out as needed for pies, cobblers, crisps, and other recipes. If the peels bother you in finished baked goods, peel them before freezing.

We’ve also learned to make a few fun specialty foods with pears that are great for gatherings and gifts. “Pear Butter” is made almost like applesauce, adding extra spices like minced ginger root, nutmeg, and cloves. It’s great over vanilla ice cream, on pancakes or waffles, and on harvest-time roasts like chicken. You’ll find lots of recipes online. I also make Pear Cordial annually, which my students say is the best-tasting “herbal remedy” I pass around in classes. Sip it from a cordial glass or use it in seasonal cocktails like warmed, spiked cider with a cinnamon stick.

Spiced Pear Cordial in Maple Syrup
This recipe makes about one pint of cordial and will keep for at least one year in the liquor cabinet. You can easily double or triple the batch. My family takes Thanksgiving so seriously that they even give out party favors. I’ll be making an extra large batch of this cordial this year so everyone can go home with a bottle!

• 2 small, ripe organic pears (or 1 large), sliced
• 4 ounces of local organic maple syrup, preferably grade B
• 2 ounces of water
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
• 6 whole cloves
• 1/2 vanilla bean, sliced lengthwise
• 2 cardamom pods, crushed
• 8 ounces quality vodka*

Simmer the pears and spices in the maple syrup and water for approximately one hour. Remove from heat occasionally if it seems to be boiling too hard. Pour all the ingredients into a mason jar. (Remove the cinnamon sticks if you want the cinnamon flavor to remain subtle.) Cover with vodka, cap, and let sit on the counter for one to four weeks, shaking daily. Taste it every few days. The flavor will gradually change, becoming more spicy and less fruity/nutmeg-y over time. When it tastes good to you, strain your cordial into bottles, and enjoy! I like it best within just a day or two.


More Pear Recipes

• Riesling Baked Pears
• Roasted Pear & Arugula Salad
• Pear-Potato Latkes
• Roasted Pears with Brie & Pistachios

* I highly recommend the Flag Hill’s General Stark Vodka, which is made with apples from Apple Hill Farm in Concord. You’ll have to get it at their vineyard in Lee or a state liquor store.