Homemade Spice Liqueur Recipe

[Mailed to me by a correspondent]

• 6 cardamom pods (white)
• 3 teaspoons anise seed
• 2 1/4 teaspoons chopped angelica root
• 1 cinnamon stick ( about 2'" long)
• 1 clove
• 1/4 teaspoon of mace
• 1 quart vodka
• 1 cup simple syrup*

*Simple syrup is 1:1 sugar to water, boiled together - mix 1 cup each and discard the excess

Remove the seeds from the cardamom pods, add the anise seed and grind together with the back of a spoon. Add this and the rest of the spices to the vodka and age 1 week, filter add syrup and bottle. This is a copy of an Italian liqueur called Strega (Italian for witch). It's called this because it's believed witches invented it - it's supposed to be an aphrodisiac (I'm testing it - but so far it's inconclusive in that regard).