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From summer plants
to winter aquavit
Home-made, spiced aquavit using what nature in Greenland
can offer is a tradition in many homes. Here is some useful
advice if you want to capture the taste for yourself
By Peter Fr. Rosing
Summer in Greenland brings
an abundance of interesting
plants that can give a wonderfully
spicy taste to aquavit.
Used in this way and prepared
well in advance, the
aquavit can give a boost to
a traditional Christmas lunch
with the family.
The flora of the fjords is
in full bloom in the first half
of July and this is a good
time to sail to Qooqqut in
Godthåb Fjord. It’s about
a one hour trip in a speed
boat from Nuuk. The area
offers at least 10 or more
plants suitable for flavouring
aquavit. Here, we make do
with four different plants
Suluk # 04 2008 64
and the contents of a ptarmigan
crop which can contain
a delightful mixture of e.g.
buds of heather and Arctic
marsh willow and berries.
You get most spiciness
and flavour from the kayak-
formed leaves from qajaasaq,
bog Labrador tea
(ledum groenlandicum). But
you can also use the leaves
from lille qajaasaq, narrow
leafed Labrador tea with
its smaller, narrower leaves
that have an even stronger
flavour.
The thick leaves are
pull ed from the stems,
thus avoid ing the twigs
which give a bitter taste.
Put the leaves in a jar, pour
Brøndum aquavit over them
and leave to infuse for at
least a couple of months.
The aquavit is now ready to
drink and has the taste of a
»Greenlandic summer«. A
one to two year old qajaasaq-aquavit
has a lovely
sweet taste and is suitable as
an aperitif or mild bitter.
Quick angelica
Herb number two is sorlak,
roseroot (rhodiola rosea). As
before, the thick leaves are
pulled from the stems, put
into the aquavit and left to
infuse for a few months.
The third herb from Greenland’s
flora is angelica root
(angelica archangelica). You
can use stems, leaves or
seeds from the flowers, but
the root has absolutely the
best taste. Once the root
has been dug up carefully,
it can be placed in a plastic
bag and kept in the freezer.
When it’s time to put it in
the aquavit, it must be clean -
ed, peeled and cut into
slic es. The angelica root,
which provides a gin-like
taste, drips with flavour
and only needs to infuse
for a few weeks before the
aquavit is ready to drink.
However, as with most spicy