Wikipedia tell us that schnapps is “a type of alcoholic beverage that may take several forms, including distilled fruit brandies, herbal liqueurs, infusions and ‘flavored liqueurs’ made by adding fruit syrups, spices, or artificial flavorings to neutral grain spirits.” Other sources mention that it can be used medicinally, especially for digestive problems gavel, gout, and rheumatism. We get further insight into the nature of schiedam schnapps by learning that Schiedam is a city and municipality in the west of the Netherlands that is well known for the distilleries and malthouses and the production of jenever, the juniper-flavored traditional liquor of the Netherlands as well as Belgium and adjoining areas of France and Germany. A New York Times article mentions that it is made of very fine barley and “an aromatic Italian berry” (Italian juniper berries ). Photo Credit: Wikipedia
My paternal grandmother, Helen S. Wright, included a recipe for schiedam schnapps in her book published in 1909, Old Recipes for Home Made Wine, and included the comment “to imitate”. Judge for yourself it it bears any relationship to the real thing.
Here is the recipe “schiedam schnapps, to imitate” in the words of Grandmother Wright:
To two and one-half gallons good common gin and five over proof, add one and one-half pints strained honey, two and one-half pints clear water, one-half pint white sugar syrup, one-half pint spirits of nutmegs mixed the (sic) nitric ether, one-half pint orange-flower water, one cup pure water, one-tenth ounce acetic ether, one drop oil of wintergreen dissolved with acetic ether. Mix all the ingredients well; if necessary fine with alum and salt of tarter.
To buy Old Time Recipes for Home Made Wines by Helen S. Wright from Amazon.com Click Here.
Jenever (English: /dʒəˈniːvər/,[1] Dutch: [jəˈneːvər] ⓘ), also known as Hollands, genever, genièvre, peket, or sometimes as Dutch gin (archaic: Holland gin[2] or Geneva gin), is the juniper-flavoured traditional liquor in the Netherlands, Belgium and adjoining areas in northern France and northwestern Germany.
In 1575 the world’s first known commercial distillery started operations in Schiedam.[5] The 18th century was Schiedam’s Golden Age, when the gin industry flourished.
Schiedam Schnapps, a Dutch liquor that originated in the 17th century.
Karen