Description: The fruit of the domestic Service tree has been used as an antidiarrhetic cure-all since antiquity, because of its high content of tannins with their astringent properties. Soaked in water, or dried on a little straw, these fruits will assume their sweet and sour taste with a slightly bitter aftertaste, especially when it is the fruit of the Service tree, which thrives in warm regions.
This is the reason why you can get from a apparently "hostile" fruit a wide range of products: from the vinegar, prepared by the Romans with boiled wine (in which the fruit of the Service tree was put), to the beer of the Gauls, brewed with Service tree and other wild fruits, as well as the so-called "Curmie", an apple wine made by fermenting the crushed fruits in water. Not to mention the numerous jams and marmalades.
Ingredients: - 2 handful of ripe fruits - 1 liter of Grappa - some sugar
Preparation: A Grappa with the fruits of the Service tree can be obtained as follows: two handful ripe fruits, preferably a little dried, for three months in the sun, in a liter of Grappa with some sugar. Filter and then age it for other three months. The Grappa, which has a yellowish color and a light pear flavor, should be served with a cooled slice of pear.
