Falernum

Makes About 350 ml (1½ cups)Time About 1 day, mostly soaking and restingKeeps Up to 2 weeks in the fridge

• 50 g (6 tbsp) blanched almonds, coarsely chopped
• 2 tbsp peeled, roughly chopped fresh ginger
• ¾ tsp whole cloves
• ¾ tsp whole allspice
• 1 star anise
• Zest of ¼ lime
• 200 g (1 cup) white sugar
• 480 ml (2 cups) filtered water, used in two lots
• Overproof rum: 1 part to every 5 parts finished syrup, about 60 ml (¼ cup)

How to make it

1. 1This is Bob McCoy’s recipe, quartered. Put the almonds in a jar, cover with 240 ml (1 cup) of the water and leave 30 minutes, shaking now and then. Drain, discard the water and rinse the jar.
2. 2Chop the almonds again, return them to the jar and cover with the other 240 ml (1 cup) of water. Leave 4 hours, or overnight in the fridge.
3. 3Toast the cloves, allspice and star anise in a saucepan over medium heat for 1 minute, tossing. Add the almonds and their water.
4. 4Stir in the ginger and sugar. When it nears a boil, turn the heat to low and simmer 15 minutes, stirring often.
5. 5Let cool, then stir in the lime zest. Pour back into the clean jar and refrigerate at least 8 hours or overnight.
6. 6Strain through a double layer of cheesecloth and measure. Stir in 1 part rum for every 5 parts syrup. Bottle and refrigerate.

Homemade falernum contains rum; with overproof rum at 1 part to 5 it comes out roughly 10–12% alcohol, near bottled falernum. Punch’s version (Adam Bernbach) skips the almonds, steeps cloves, lime zest, ginger and nutmeg in overproof rum for a day and sweetens it with 2:1 syrup, so it is much stronger.

Recipe: Imbibe: Homemade Falernum (Bob McCoy) · Checked against: Punch: Falernum (Adam Bernbach)

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