Peanuts have a very oily compound. If you buy a jar of health wise peanut butter there will be at least 5mm of oil floating on top of it. Your commercially prepared peanut butters have binders put into it to keep the oil from separating out.
Plus, peanut oil is a very common and relatively cheap cooking/frying oil. Almond oil does exist, but it is AFAIK only used as a specialty oil for dressings, etc. I've never heard of pistachio oil. Edit: just checked and pistachio oil does exist. And it is similar in price and use as almond.
If You buy organic almond "butter" it'll also have the same oily layer on the surface. I used a domestic-scale oil press to press oil out of walnuts. I used a stainless steel sieve/mesh between the press and the pot where I collected the oil. What I collected on the mesh, I could use as a walnut "butter" and it had similar consistency/texture to any "butter" made of nuts.
@@jayking8495 quite a few distillers now using Apple wood for ageing. It's quite mellow and can take a little longer than white oak. You use the Apple wood exactly as you would American oak. Finish it with a couple of months on toasted plum wood and it makes a great product
Pawpaw, scientifically known as Asimina triloba, is a small deciduous tree native to eastern North America that produces the largest edible fruit indigenous to the United States. The fruit has a sweet, custard-like texture and a flavor reminiscent of banana, mango, and pineapple.
Almonds are used in gin sometimes to help give flavor and mouth feel and help balance other flavors in the gin. I love your curiosity, mate! Baking spices make sense for the almonds because almonds are used to make marzapan, which also utilizes baking spices. A darker beer recipe that you add almond to or adding them to a rum recipe would be fun. Seeing how either could improve your gin recipe could also be fun. Cheers mate! Hope you have a kick ass week!
Tip: Disaronno has stopped using real almonds. It is therefor that they cannot print amaretto on their bottle anymore. It is now technically almond flavored vodka. Buy a good amaretto - it is absolutely delicious.
Amaretto and other "almond extract" products use bitter almonds, not food almonds(different species), and they have a much different aroma. Bitter almonds are toxic if eaten whole, quite a lot of cyanide (or a precursor that forms cyanide in contact with stomach acid).
Peanuts aren't nuts. They're ligumes (peas, beans, lentils, clover, etc). And yes, they are fatty at 53% compared to almonds at 39% and pistachios at 44%. I'm not going to go into the whole breakdown of fatty acid chain lengths and their classifications, so in layman's terms: Yes, you can think of peanuts as being more "oily". Not just because of their higher fat content, but also because of the composition of fat types.
I agree with operator on the tannins- but I’m also fascinated by this. There has to be a prep trick, some old school pioneer method that breaks down the tannin issue and leaves only yummy goodness
@@rc2043 As I understand it, when you haydrate them for malting, you rinse the bejeebus out of them for days. The shells are supposed to impart an oakiness right from distillation.
Some spirits I know uses almonds or pistachios as a base are Amaretto from Disaronno and Crema di Pistarcchi di Sicilia from BOTTEGA both liquor brands are examples for almonds and pistachio spirits! Other nuts that are used for spirits are hazelnuts and wallnuts, like Haselnussschnaps (Hazelnut liquor).
Forgot something to add for craft-spirits sometimes it can be helpful to reach out to distilleries for questions all about spirits (craft or vanilla) I personally had some good expierence with Bachgau Destille a local German distillery when I had questions about craft-spirits! If it would help you why not reaching out to either a local destillery or one named in your comments it could also be possible to make a collab vid about said theme!
In the US. You can purchase peanut oil for frying food. Like a Turkey for Thanksgiving. It is pricey. But the preferred oil for frying turkeys in the southern states
Given fruits are the most desirable flavors in whiskey, I'd love to see how to extract the most flavor from fruits (dark red grape, strawberry, even melon) during the distilling and maturation process!
I was just reading something about this a few minutes ago, as far as I can tell the best extraction in the vapor path is using a thumper to bubble it through the fruit since it doesn't have the same kind of flavor-to-surface ratio that something like citrus peels or spices do.
Alan Bishop was recently talking about the influence of fat in the still, butter, duck fat, and pechuga. Your video today makes me want to try a pecan/bacon or walnut/bacon rum.
Im stuck making wine in the US. Im pretty sure you're correct about the peanuts being more oily, and rancid. Its well known they're the cheapest nut, and theres probably good reason for it. Because they lack versatility.
It still contains substantial fat. Being a processed powder, the remaining oil is going to go rancid far faster than whole nuts. It is the quantity of oxidized oil that causes the bad flavors, not the quantity of fresh oil.
Some ideas I’d try: For the pistachio: Botanical rum with the nuts, some chunks of papaya or mango, and maybe some citrus peel for added brightness. For the almond: Redistill molasses rum with the almonds in, then spice with some orange peel, coriander, cardamom, nutmeg, cinnamon, and/or clove. I’d probably go pretty light on the spices though to not completely cover the almond flavor. Also, as a tiki nerd, I can’t help but add that almond syrup (orgeat - pronounced like or-zha) is a common ingredient in tiki drinks, most famously the original Mai Tai recipe. So you’re not crazy for thinking almond + rum is a good combo.
Unless you pick almonds yourself, most commercially available almonds aren't truly raw. They're typically heat-treated-steamed or baked-to remove toxins. This applies to most nuts, especially those that could be toxic if consumed raw, ensuring they're safe to eat.
At least half false. Although I do think I recently saw something labeled "blanched raw almonds" which seems like a legal labeling violation, though the intent was probably to indicate "not-roasted". Anyway if they are whole and still have the skins firmly attached then they are raw, steaming or baking is used to remove the skins or soften them for slicing.
Alan Bishop is doing the malted sunflower route. I wonder how malted nuts would be in a mash? Crazy idea on a large scale, but who isn’t in favor of exploding 🌰? 🤣 honestly though, that nuttiness paired with the jammy or stewed fruit flavors on a nice sherry cask finished single malt, is heavenly. It could be an awesome way to accentuate those flavors. Or a fun addition to a brandy to really bring out the nut and fruit notes. Also makes me wonder about a coconut, pineapple, macadamia nut combo…
Alan Bishop is doing the malted sunflower route. I wonder how malted nuts would be in a mash? Crazy idea on a large scale, but who isn’t in favor of exploding 🌰? 🤣 honestly though, that nuttiness paired with the jammy or stewed fruit flavors on a nice sherry cask finished single malt, is heavenly. It could be an awesome way to accentuate those flavors. Or a fun addition to a brandy to really bring out the nut and fruit notes.
Any thought on grinding up some pistachios and add them in with the cracked corn during mash in and let them sit through the ferment? I'm sure you would get more flavor if you could distill on grain, but even filtered should do something.
I would recommend pecans with a rum (sweet -ish) base. Dark brown sugar or molasses. Might get it to taste like a pecan pie😊. Although there is nothing preventing you from mixing several nut type. As for the roasted almonds, see if you can find the honey roasted sliced almonds. Save a few steps. Or use them when cooking. Easily add them to certain cookies, salad, roasted chicken, fish, etc...
Peanuts are full of oil. You can press peanuts to remove most of the oil from them. May not be super easy to get all the oil out but pressing seems to get out the largest portion of it.
This was a fascinating video.. I figure I'll throw out a couple of suggestions and see what you do with them The big ones that come to mind right off the bat are coffee and chocolate for the pistachio.... As far as the almond it's trickier but I'd rather you didn't go with the pumpkin spice basic b thing... I think something more like oak or honeysuckle which shine next to the almonds
QQ With all the booze you have do you have to register your shed with the local firies? Do you have to have a one of those Hazard Diamonds on the door with an MSDS folder beside it so that the firies know that barrels to save first?
Personally I think you have 3 options with the pistachios: either a mead, whisky or rum. If you did a rum I'd age it in charcoal or something similar, and if you did a whisky I'd age it in seasoned pistachio wood (if that's at all possible) or oak.
Regarding the "pine-like" note on the pistachios, if you ever get a chance to pick pistachios just before they are fully ripe, you'll notice that the thin layer of flesh on the outside of the nut tastes piney--very much like some underripe mangos, as they are related. The unripe pistachios even look like tiny mangos.
I plan to make Amaretto, the famous Italian sweet almond liqueur. However, achieving the perfect taste is crucial-it's the holy grail. Perhaps I should start by creating an "almond spirit" as a foundation?
I use almond-meal as a large component of my home-made yeast nutrient recipe, it's a decent source of sustained nitrogen in YAN/FAN from proteins and amino acids, plus some vitamins and minerals as well. By weight, it makes up a decent chunk of the recipe but only accounts for a fraction of the nutrition. Organic brewer's yeast powder is IMO a better more important ingredient in the recipe, but I'd argue the almond has a more beneficial effect on the flavor so... "6 in one, half-dozen in the other" 🤷♂😅 Glad you actually took it all the way though with straight almond, was always curious myself since I noticed the slight flavor benefits of the almond-meal, appreciate all you do my man 🙏 Shine on & keep chasing this magnificent craft 🥃 Sláinte!🍻 --🧿RuneShine, Michigan's Norse-Druid Alchemist 🧪🥼🔬
You distilled pre-shelled peanuts from a trail mix, right? They would have had vegetable oil coating them. This is why I like getting peanuts in shell, they taste much less musty.
Interesting thing to note is that papaya and paw paw are not the same fruit (not called different things in different locations). They are actually different fruits. I have had paw paw in australia and I don't really like it, and I had papaya in hawaii, and loved it. They tasted significantly different.
Almonds are almost exclusively pollinated by honeybees. So in all that, honey, I think would be really fun. You can make it called a Bochet which is just caramelized boiled, honey that is fermented. Some of my favorite Bouchet that I have done had different honeys all boiled at different lengths of time for a myriad of different toasty flavors. But I have never distilled one though.
I wonder if the pistachio is 'piney' because of the resin in the pistachio tree! (it's a sister plant to mastic, and when I've tasted wild pistachios, it's also super piney/resinous)!
4:48 almonds have a compound that takes and smells kind of like marzapan. Its called benzaldehyde and it isnt as prominent in standard almonds but its there. Id assume extracting it makes it more concentrated so you can actually tell its there whereas in just the almonds the benzaldehyde levels are so low that you cant tell its there. It just contributes to the nutty aroma.
Standard sweet almonds are not used for extract or almond flavorings. Bitter almonds, a different species, are used for extract but they can be toxic if consumed as whole nuts in substantial quantity.
Use dry peanut butter powder. That's what I use for kings envy wine. Kings envy is actually a type of spirit made when fermenting peanut butter and banana
Peanuts isnt a nut but a legume and legumes tend to be very rich in fats, so might be why it tasted that oily. Nuts is oily too but not to that level of richness as peanuts, nuts and seeds tend to not want to seperate from the fats they store unless very processed and finley ground so it was a good idea to use a pestle and mortar to get that more coarser grind
I'm guessing peanuts act differently than pistachios or almonds because they grow differently, like comparing oranges with potatoes. The one weird thing is that, when I learned how to make vanilla extract and it was mentioned you could make "a lot of other extracts this way", I was told quite strongly to not macerate almonds in alcohol unless I had a way to extract the cyanide from my finished product. Sweet almonds have lower cyanide levels than the bitter almonds used to make industrial almond extracts, but there's always a statistical outlier who should not have been counted consuming more of something than they should, so the advice was to just not mess with that.
When you said Papaw i was very confused when you then said tropical fruit. I had no idea that Papaya was also called papaw. For me it refers to a tree with a very fragile fruit native to southern Ontario and Northeastern United States. It is a delicious fruit almost custard-like in texture with a taste similar to bananas mixed with mango and a hint of sweet onion.
Peanuts are a legume root. Almond and pistachio are seeds. One is high in sugars the other high in oils. If a seed is living in the dirt it needs protection. When its open in the air it wants to entice you
To put it simply when was the last time you went to the grocery store and seen a large jar of almond oil? Peanuts have lots of oil if I remember right a bit over 50%.
Rancid oil problems seem very common in the past few years, I think supply chains in general have become very sloppy about product rotation and handling. The oils in nuts go rancid much faster after any processing. When quality matters always buy whole raw nuts (including peanuts), store them refrigerated(or frozen), dark, and sealed. Then roast them no more than a few days ahead. (This goes for any seeds, sesame, pumpkin, wheat...) Typically you can get a couple of years from whole raw nuts kept away from oxidizing conditions(sunlight heat and excess air). My neighbor just ruined her holiday turkey by using just a touch of rancid cooking oil on the skin. It's subtle a bitter oily funk that just won't go away and you can't even make soup stock from the carcass, even dogs will turn away from it. If you ever make mayonnaise the freshness of the oil is absolutely critical, if you followed any sort of pro recipe and the taste just isn't quite right, the issue is probably oil that is slightly rancid (oxidized). I buy cold pressed high-oleic sunflower oil in a metal tin for mayo because it is least likely to be oxidized in processing and distribution-storage, and store in the refrigerator during peak summer (As a matter of course, taste and smell for any imperfection before every use.).
Jesse, I’m curious, did you consider just using a neutral spirit on both so you have a pure example of what each would bring from the flavor wheel - then with your expert / well abused palate, you could image what happens when each is added to a whiskey, a gin, a rum etc
Why not try an overproof white rum with pistachio in a funky jamaican way. To give the banana notes and then the nutty pine as well plus the higher 180 proof kick
Im going to run a nutty gin for fun and see how it goes. Juniper berries, pistachios, almonds, angelica root and some honey. Maybe some coriander too. I also think your Gin recipes are often light for flavour fixatives like Orris root or angelica root. Give it 2 weeks and you lose a lot of flavour without something to help lock it in.
I know very little about nuts, and even less about distilling. Is there a danger of concentrating the cyanide component of almonds in doing this? I know you'd need a lot of nuts for that to be even a theoretical problem, but I'd be interested to know more.
Humans depend on distillation for all forms of functional life. Crude oil is distilled to create our fuels, LP gas, plastics and much more. Water is distilled for consumption, medical applications and batteries. All sorts of volatile chemicals are distilled to serve different manufacturing industries. Nearly everything we use in daily life has required some form of distillation (including rainwater)
Peanuts have a very oily compound. If you buy a jar of health wise peanut butter there will be at least 5mm of oil floating on top of it. Your commercially prepared peanut butters have binders put into it to keep the oil from separating out.
Plus, peanut oil is a very common and relatively cheap cooking/frying oil. Almond oil does exist, but it is AFAIK only used as a specialty oil for dressings, etc. I've never heard of pistachio oil.
Edit: just checked and pistachio oil does exist. And it is similar in price and use as almond.
Found out that adding peanut oil to peanut flour makes peanut butter
If You buy organic almond "butter" it'll also have the same oily layer on the surface.
I used a domestic-scale oil press to press oil out of walnuts. I used a stainless steel sieve/mesh between the press and the pot where I collected the oil. What I collected on the mesh, I could use as a walnut "butter" and it had similar consistency/texture to any "butter" made of nuts.
Emulsifing agents that bind oil in suspension.
I use roasted and charred pistachio shells to age a bourbon and whiskey. And have used them to age and use a cherry or apple wood as a finishing wood
What and how did you do this, and A little More Info To help Please!?! Apple Wood Sounds Like it would be A Nice way to finish a Spirte.
Nice
As jayking said I would love more details please. I'm going to experiment with this now so what was your result - I would like to start there.
@@jayking8495 quite a few distillers now using Apple wood for ageing.
It's quite mellow and can take a little longer than white oak.
You use the Apple wood exactly as you would American oak.
Finish it with a couple of months on toasted plum wood and it makes a great product
Pawpaw, scientifically known as Asimina triloba, is a small deciduous tree native to eastern North America that produces the largest edible fruit indigenous to the United States. The fruit has a sweet, custard-like texture and a flavor reminiscent of banana, mango, and pineapple.
Almonds are used in gin sometimes to help give flavor and mouth feel and help balance other flavors in the gin.
I love your curiosity, mate!
Baking spices make sense for the almonds because almonds are used to make marzapan, which also utilizes baking spices.
A darker beer recipe that you add almond to or adding them to a rum recipe would be fun. Seeing how either could improve your gin recipe could also be fun. Cheers mate! Hope you have a kick ass week!
There are some spirits that use nuts.
almond - Amaretto
hazelnut - Frangelico
walnut - Nocino
The only ones that I know of.
Tip: Disaronno has stopped using real almonds. It is therefor that they cannot print amaretto on their bottle anymore. It is now technically almond flavored vodka. Buy a good amaretto - it is absolutely delicious.
Amaretto and other "almond extract" products use bitter almonds, not food almonds(different species), and they have a much different aroma.
Bitter almonds are toxic if eaten whole, quite a lot of cyanide (or a precursor that forms cyanide in contact with stomach acid).
@@TheDuckofDoom. It's straight up cyanide in it yes, unlike regular almonds and apple seeds with only a little cyanide
Peanuts aren't nuts. They're ligumes (peas, beans, lentils, clover, etc). And yes, they are fatty at 53% compared to almonds at 39% and pistachios at 44%. I'm not going to go into the whole breakdown of fatty acid chain lengths and their classifications, so in layman's terms: Yes, you can think of peanuts as being more "oily". Not just because of their higher fat content, but also because of the composition of fat types.
I bought a single boiler from E-Bay . love your show , eager to start
Awesome! I love using different nuts in things. I did almonds with some caramel malt in my banana brandy and it was deeeeeeelllliiccciousssss!
Interesting experiment. You have a talent for describing flavours much like Jill Goolden on the old TV show Food & Drink when tasting wine.
Peanuts aren't a nut. Actually peanuts are a legume and they do have alot of oil.
Neither are almonds or pistachios. Technically they are culinary nuts not botanical nuts....just like peanuts but different lol.
White Oak Acorns, malted and fermented with raisins for distilling acorn brandy!
Sooooooooo much tannins!
WHAT! I love this Have you Tryed it ??
@@jayking8495 I have not, but I have wanted to ever since I learned of it.
I agree with operator on the tannins- but I’m also fascinated by this.
There has to be a prep trick, some old school pioneer method that breaks down the tannin issue and leaves only yummy goodness
@@rc2043 As I understand it, when you haydrate them for malting, you rinse the bejeebus out of them for days. The shells are supposed to impart an oakiness right from distillation.
we love meme spirits more plz! id also love to see you do a SaltBush Bill Rum again with all your knowledge you have gained over the last few years
Mourne Distillery does an amazing hazelnut poitin. Worth getting a bottle to taste.
Some spirits I know uses almonds or pistachios as a base are Amaretto from Disaronno and Crema di Pistarcchi di Sicilia from BOTTEGA both liquor brands are examples for almonds and pistachio spirits! Other nuts that are used for spirits are hazelnuts and wallnuts, like Haselnussschnaps (Hazelnut liquor).
Forgot something to add for craft-spirits sometimes it can be helpful to reach out to distilleries for questions all about spirits (craft or vanilla) I personally had some good expierence with Bachgau Destille a local German distillery when I had questions about craft-spirits! If it would help you why not reaching out to either a local destillery or one named in your comments it could also be possible to make a collab vid about said theme!
They actually use apricot kernels for amaretto...
In the US. You can purchase peanut oil for frying food. Like a Turkey for Thanksgiving. It is pricey. But the preferred oil for frying turkeys in the southern states
Given fruits are the most desirable flavors in whiskey, I'd love to see how to extract the most flavor from fruits (dark red grape, strawberry, even melon) during the distilling and maturation process!
I was just reading something about this a few minutes ago, as far as I can tell the best extraction in the vapor path is using a thumper to bubble it through the fruit since it doesn't have the same kind of flavor-to-surface ratio that something like citrus peels or spices do.
Alan Bishop was recently talking about the influence of fat in the still, butter, duck fat, and pechuga. Your video today makes me want to try a pecan/bacon or walnut/bacon rum.
Hazelnuts and pecans are grown domestically depending on seasonal availability in the US.
great idea!
Nuts always go well with cream and chocolate based cocktails.
You could smoke the liquor and mix it with a brandy sour.
Im stuck making wine in the US. Im pretty sure you're correct about the peanuts being more oily, and rancid. Its well known they're the cheapest nut, and theres probably good reason for it. Because they lack versatility.
If you want peanut flavour maybe try defatted peanut flour. Maybe put it in a tea bag to reduce the mess?
**peanut powder** flavor -fat= clean destination
They make almond flour, but not sure about the fat in that.
I was thinking the same thing. I use the PB2 in beers to give peanut butter flavor without the oil to hurt the head retention.
It still contains substantial fat. Being a processed powder, the remaining oil is going to go rancid far faster than whole nuts. It is the quantity of oxidized oil that causes the bad flavors, not the quantity of fresh oil.
You could use the almond for a Christmas cake drink with orange peels, raisins, and some spices. Would probably be a good brandy
I’m a fan of almond and coconut, so I think a lightly spice coconut and almond rum would be delicious. 🍺🎉
Paw paw and pistachio spirit sounds super interesting.
I find paw paw kind of yuck so would love to see what it transfers through like once distilled.
Some ideas I’d try:
For the pistachio:
Botanical rum with the nuts, some chunks of papaya or mango, and maybe some citrus peel for added brightness.
For the almond:
Redistill molasses rum with the almonds in, then spice with some orange peel, coriander, cardamom, nutmeg, cinnamon, and/or clove. I’d probably go pretty light on the spices though to not completely cover the almond flavor.
Also, as a tiki nerd, I can’t help but add that almond syrup (orgeat - pronounced like or-zha) is a common ingredient in tiki drinks, most famously the original Mai Tai recipe. So you’re not crazy for thinking almond + rum is a good combo.
Unless you pick almonds yourself, most commercially available almonds aren't truly raw. They're typically heat-treated-steamed or baked-to remove toxins. This applies to most nuts, especially those that could be toxic if consumed raw, ensuring they're safe to eat.
At least half false. Although I do think I recently saw something labeled "blanched raw almonds" which seems like a legal labeling violation, though the intent was probably to indicate "not-roasted". Anyway if they are whole and still have the skins firmly attached then they are raw, steaming or baking is used to remove the skins or soften them for slicing.
Alan Bishop is doing the malted sunflower route. I wonder how malted nuts would be in a mash? Crazy idea on a large scale, but who isn’t in favor of exploding 🌰? 🤣 honestly though, that nuttiness paired with the jammy or stewed fruit flavors on a nice sherry cask finished single malt, is heavenly. It could be an awesome way to accentuate those flavors. Or a fun addition to a brandy to really bring out the nut and fruit notes.
Also makes me wonder about a coconut, pineapple, macadamia nut combo…
That feints jar looks like the one from your last bid on the double pot still distillation tutorial! I just went back to the vid to check 😂
Alan Bishop is doing the malted sunflower route. I wonder how malted nuts would be in a mash? Crazy idea on a large scale, but who isn’t in favor of exploding 🌰? 🤣 honestly though, that nuttiness paired with the jammy or stewed fruit flavors on a nice sherry cask finished single malt, is heavenly. It could be an awesome way to accentuate those flavors. Or a fun addition to a brandy to really bring out the nut and fruit notes.
Any thought on grinding up some pistachios and add them in with the cracked corn during mash in and let them sit through the ferment? I'm sure you would get more flavor if you could distill on grain, but even filtered should do something.
I would recommend pecans with a rum (sweet -ish) base. Dark brown sugar or molasses. Might get it to taste like a pecan pie😊.
Although there is nothing preventing you from mixing several nut type.
As for the roasted almonds, see if you can find the honey roasted sliced almonds. Save a few steps.
Or use them when cooking. Easily add them to certain cookies, salad, roasted chicken, fish, etc...
Peanuts are full of oil. You can press peanuts to remove most of the oil from them. May not be super easy to get all the oil out but pressing seems to get out the largest portion of it.
This was a fascinating video.. I figure I'll throw out a couple of suggestions and see what you do with them The big ones that come to mind right off the bat are coffee and chocolate for the pistachio.... As far as the almond it's trickier but I'd rather you didn't go with the pumpkin spice basic b thing... I think something more like oak or honeysuckle which shine next to the almonds
Needed to use PB2 for the peanut distillation.
Did you try putting the peanuts in the oven to bake before using them for the mash?
A nutty absinthe?
I was hoping you would mix the two distillates together for comparison.
Would dry roasted peanuts work better?
QQ With all the booze you have do you have to register your shed with the local firies? Do you have to have a one of those Hazard Diamonds on the door with an MSDS folder beside it so that the firies know that barrels to save first?
Personally I think you have 3 options with the pistachios: either a mead, whisky or rum. If you did a rum I'd age it in charcoal or something similar, and if you did a whisky I'd age it in seasoned pistachio wood (if that's at all possible) or oak.
Can you get peanut powder/flour ? No oil.
Pistachios and roses = Turkish delight!
Regarding the "pine-like" note on the pistachios, if you ever get a chance to pick pistachios just before they are fully ripe, you'll notice that the thin layer of flesh on the outside of the nut tastes piney--very much like some underripe mangos, as they are related. The unripe pistachios even look like tiny mangos.
Some off that savory taste might be coming from the skins. It might be interesting to try a side by side of peeled vs unpeeled.
I plan to make Amaretto, the famous Italian sweet almond liqueur. However, achieving the perfect taste is crucial-it's the holy grail. Perhaps I should start by creating an "almond spirit" as a foundation?
enquiring minds wonder how much flavor comes over?
How’s about using them in a bitters?
How do you think either nut would come out if it was part of the mash?
I use almond-meal as a large component of my home-made yeast nutrient recipe, it's a decent source of sustained nitrogen in YAN/FAN from proteins and amino acids, plus some vitamins and minerals as well. By weight, it makes up a decent chunk of the recipe but only accounts for a fraction of the nutrition. Organic brewer's yeast powder is IMO a better more important ingredient in the recipe, but I'd argue the almond has a more beneficial effect on the flavor so... "6 in one, half-dozen in the other" 🤷♂😅
Glad you actually took it all the way though with straight almond, was always curious myself since I noticed the slight flavor benefits of the almond-meal, appreciate all you do my man 🙏
Shine on & keep chasing this magnificent craft 🥃 Sláinte!🍻
--🧿RuneShine, Michigan's Norse-Druid Alchemist 🧪🥼🔬
You distilled pre-shelled peanuts from a trail mix, right? They would have had vegetable oil coating them. This is why I like getting peanuts in shell, they taste much less musty.
Interesting thing to note is that papaya and paw paw are not the same fruit (not called different things in different locations). They are actually different fruits. I have had paw paw in australia and I don't really like it, and I had papaya in hawaii, and loved it. They tasted significantly different.
The almond spirit could be combined to make a Bakewell tart cocktail combined with cherries
How about malting/sprouting the nuts first?
Almonds are almost exclusively pollinated by honeybees. So in all that, honey, I think would be really fun. You can make it called a Bochet which is just caramelized boiled, honey that is fermented. Some of my favorite Bouchet that I have done had different honeys all boiled at different lengths of time for a myriad of different toasty flavors. But I have never distilled one though.
I wonder if the pistachio is 'piney' because of the resin in the pistachio tree! (it's a sister plant to mastic, and when I've tasted wild pistachios, it's also super piney/resinous)!
And what about pomegranate (juice? syrup?) as a pairing to the pistachio!
4:48 almonds have a compound that takes and smells kind of like marzapan. Its called benzaldehyde and it isnt as prominent in standard almonds but its there. Id assume extracting it makes it more concentrated so you can actually tell its there whereas in just the almonds the benzaldehyde levels are so low that you cant tell its there. It just contributes to the nutty aroma.
That makes sense as marzapan is just almond paste
Standard sweet almonds are not used for extract or almond flavorings. Bitter almonds, a different species, are used for extract but they can be toxic if consumed as whole nuts in substantial quantity.
Use dry peanut butter powder. That's what I use for kings envy wine. Kings envy is actually a type of spirit made when fermenting peanut butter and banana
id be intrested to see an almond mead
Peanuts isnt a nut but a legume and legumes tend to be very rich in fats, so might be why it tasted that oily. Nuts is oily too but not to that level of richness as peanuts, nuts and seeds tend to not want to seperate from the fats they store unless very processed and finley ground so it was a good idea to use a pestle and mortar to get that more coarser grind
I wonder what the results would be using the actual almond vs using an almond extract.
I'm guessing peanuts act differently than pistachios or almonds because they grow differently, like comparing oranges with potatoes.
The one weird thing is that, when I learned how to make vanilla extract and it was mentioned you could make "a lot of other extracts this way", I was told quite strongly to not macerate almonds in alcohol unless I had a way to extract the cyanide from my finished product. Sweet almonds have lower cyanide levels than the bitter almonds used to make industrial almond extracts, but there's always a statistical outlier who should not have been counted consuming more of something than they should, so the advice was to just not mess with that.
“trying to get the most flavor out of the nuts”. My 14 year old sense of humor..”you don’t say?”
The Almond would be great for a Disaronna
Maybe try a dry roasted peanut to remove some of the oiliness. If you let a cheaper brand of peanut butter sit, the oil will separate out.
When you said Papaw i was very confused when you then said tropical fruit. I had no idea that Papaya was also called papaw. For me it refers to a tree with a very fragile fruit native to southern Ontario and Northeastern United States. It is a delicious fruit almost custard-like in texture with a taste similar to bananas mixed with mango and a hint of sweet onion.
Peanuts aren’t really a nut, they more resemble a legume. And yes peanuts are oily hence peanut oil is produced from them
Peanuts are a legume root. Almond and pistachio are seeds. One is high in sugars the other high in oils. If a seed is living in the dirt it needs protection. When its open in the air it wants to entice you
A bit obvious, but I'd go down the liqueur rout and add syrup along with your fruit and spice suggestions.
Try using peanut powder that has had the oil extracted
To put it simply when was the last time you went to the grocery store and seen a large jar of almond oil? Peanuts have lots of oil if I remember right a bit over 50%.
Have you ever distilled a ginger beer mash?
Rancid oil problems seem very common in the past few years, I think supply chains in general have become very sloppy about product rotation and handling.
The oils in nuts go rancid much faster after any processing. When quality matters always buy whole raw nuts (including peanuts), store them refrigerated(or frozen), dark, and sealed. Then roast them no more than a few days ahead. (This goes for any seeds, sesame, pumpkin, wheat...)
Typically you can get a couple of years from whole raw nuts kept away from oxidizing conditions(sunlight heat and excess air).
My neighbor just ruined her holiday turkey by using just a touch of rancid cooking oil on the skin. It's subtle a bitter oily funk that just won't go away and you can't even make soup stock from the carcass, even dogs will turn away from it. If you ever make mayonnaise the freshness of the oil is absolutely critical, if you followed any sort of pro recipe and the taste just isn't quite right, the issue is probably oil that is slightly rancid (oxidized). I buy cold pressed high-oleic sunflower oil in a metal tin for mayo because it is least likely to be oxidized in processing and distribution-storage, and store in the refrigerator during peak summer (As a matter of course, taste and smell for any imperfection before every use.).
Peanuts are legumes not actual nuts and yes they have a high oil content peanut oil is very popular for cooking here in the US
How about a raspberry geist with almonds?
I'd love to see something done with sweet or tart cherrys
And then mix them!
Almond rum cream?
Also you could try the pistachio with some smoky meaty scotch flavors
in a baileys or Kailua?
starting to think the pistachio's would go well with a gin
Jesse, I’m curious, did you consider just using a neutral spirit on both so you have a pure example of what each would bring from the flavor wheel - then with your expert / well abused palate, you could image what happens when each is added to a whiskey, a gin, a rum etc
Freeze dry them first then distill. More intense flavors and less oiliness.
You can make your own peanut butter in a food processor. Peanuts are so oily that you don't need to add exrra oil.
I think a spicy rum would work well with nuts
Why not try an overproof white rum with pistachio in a funky jamaican way. To give the banana notes and then the nutty pine as well plus the higher 180 proof kick
Mayb a eggnog with hazelnut blend ?
Nothing like cranking out some still it at 1am when you can't sleep
Im going to run a nutty gin for fun and see how it goes.
Juniper berries, pistachios, almonds, angelica root and some honey. Maybe some coriander too.
I also think your Gin recipes are often light for flavour fixatives like Orris root or angelica root. Give it 2 weeks and you lose a lot of flavour without something to help lock it in.
Man that's a flavour that works so well in a gin. Smells like crunchy nut cornflakes but tastes like toasted nuts on custard. Yummm
Like the Brandy, the favour disappears after couple of week?
I think pistachio with a backstrap rum and Mango would be the way to go
Peanuts are very oily hence why they are crushed to extract peanut oil.
And Peanuts are not actually nuts they are legumes, similar to peas.
Try some Brazil nuts
I know very little about nuts, and even less about distilling. Is there a danger of concentrating the cyanide component of almonds in doing this? I know you'd need a lot of nuts for that to be even a theoretical problem, but I'd be interested to know more.
Peanuts are actually a legume not a nut which is why they are so different from pistachios and almonds.
peanuts are harvested for peanut oil. Plus if you get natural peanut butter it will separate and get oil sitting on the top.
Fully Loaded Baklava..... maybe make it into jello shot!
Yea peanut 🥜 has a lot of oil because you can buy peanut 🥜 oil to cook with and deep fry with.
Add the almond one to a coffee one
I actually distilled water for making coffee. The taste is much better. Never knew you could distille alcohol. Thanks cool video
Humans depend on distillation for all forms of functional life. Crude oil is distilled to create our fuels, LP gas, plastics and much more. Water is distilled for consumption, medical applications and batteries. All sorts of volatile chemicals are distilled to serve different manufacturing industries. Nearly everything we use in daily life has required some form of distillation (including rainwater)
@nicg8878 Cool I appreciate that.
Yes hense peanut oil lol. By the way to peanuts are a legume and related to things like beans and peas. In other words theyre not actually a nut😂