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Krupnik, a Polish honey liqueur

February 11, 2017 by Lois Britton 37 Comments

The Polish pastime of making flavored vodkas has caught on in our home in a big way. There aren’t many fruits in season now, so I made Krupnik, a vodka sweetened with honey and infused with spices.

IMG_2402

Krupnik originated in the area that is now Belarus in the 1600s, it was then part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Legend has it Krupnik may have first been made at a Benedictine Monastery in Niasviz.

This distant cousin of mead or miodowka has endless variations, with the taste changing based on the variety of honey used and the spices and or herbs added.

The links below are part of an Amazon affiliate program. If you make a purchase, Amazon sends me a small commission.

Another Krupnik recipe in the book uses, orange zest, and nutmeg, in addition to the honey, vodka, allspice, vanilla pod, clove, and cinnamon.

IMG_2451

Wielka księga nakewek

The honey flavored liqueur can be served at room temperature, chilled, or heated. My recipe, which I’ve translated from Wielka Ksiega Nalewek (The Big Book of Tinctures) suggests that if you serve Krupnik heated, try adding a small piece of chocolate and a dab of butter.

I’ve tried it warm and found the fumes overpowering. I’ll stick to room temp or chilled.

If you enjoyed this recipe, please leave a comment and rate it 5 Stars. Thanks in advance. 🙂

Na zdrowie,

Lois

(Amazon pays me a few cents for purchases via these links)
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Krupnik, a Polish honey liqueur

★★★★★ 4.8 from 6 reviews
  • Author: Polish Housewife
  • Prep Time: 5 mins
  • Cook Time: 20 mins
  • Total Time: 25 mins
  • Yield: 1 quart 1x
  • Category: Liqueur
  • Cuisine: Polish
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Description

A honey and spice liqueur recipe that dates back 400 years


Ingredients

Scale
  • 2 cups clover honey
  • 2 whole cloves
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • zest of 1/2 lemon, remove with vegetable peeler
  • 1/4 vanilla bean pod, sliced open
  • 1 allspice berry
  • 2 cups vodka

Instructions

  1. Pour honey into a saucepan
  2. Add cloves, cinnamon, lemon zest, vanilla, and allspice
  3. Warm (enough to thin, but keeping under a boil) and steep for 10 minutes
  4. Add vodka
  5. Remove from heat and let steep for a couple of hours
  6. Pour through strainer
  7. Pour into bottles
  8. Seal bottles
  9. Serve warm, at room temp, or chilled

Notes

If serving warm, add a small piece of chocolate and a small dab of butter

You can make this with spirytus, If using 2 cups of spirytus rather than 2 cups of vodka, add 2 cups of water to the honey before heating.

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @PolishHousewife on Instagram and hashtag it #polishhousewife

 

 

Lois Britton

An accountant by trade and a food blogger since 2009, Lois Britton fell in love with Polish cuisine during the years she lived in Poznań, Poland. As the creator of PolishHousewife.com,  she loves connecting readers with traditional Polish recipes. Lois has a graduate certificate in Food Writing and Photography from the University of South Florida. She is the author of The Polish Housewife Cookbook, available on Amazon and on her website.

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Filed Under: Easy, Liqueur, Polish, Polish Beverages & Liqueurs, Polish Pantry

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Ed Switalski

    February 12, 2017 at 12:24 pm

    Wouldn’t, the addition of vodka or spiritus and then simmering, lose the alcohol content of the drink? Ethanol, boils at 78.6 degrees Celsius. To simmer means to bring near a boil (95 degree Celsius). I would recommend letting the mixture cool down before adding any alcohol, and let the flavours infuse slowly and naturally. Cheers!

    ★★★★

    Reply
    • polishhousewife

      February 12, 2017 at 7:55 pm

      You make a scientifically sound point, Ed. I’m removing the simmer after the vodka is added. The cookbook took it further than I did, it wanted to boil the spiritus, maybe to make it less potent.

      In one of the other recipes, it also had you adding spiritus while it was on the heat, and the recipe said, “pray to God it doesn’t flame up.”

      One advantage I do see to the honey being warm, is that it’s less viscous and the vodka combines easily.

      Reply
  2. David

    February 12, 2017 at 1:12 pm

    This sounds so interesting, Lois. I love making homemade liqueurs and it could be fun to try this with different honeys.

    Reply
    • polishhousewife

      February 13, 2017 at 2:07 pm

      David, you could play around with the spice combination too.

      Reply
  3. Terenia murdock

    February 19, 2017 at 3:04 pm

    Thank you for this! I lost both my parents way before there time, mama at 61 and tata at 67. And never got a lot of there recipes. I look forward to making krupnik and many more recipes.

    Reply
    • polishhousewife

      February 19, 2017 at 3:35 pm

      It’s my pleasure, Terenia. I’m sorry you didn’t have more time with your dear parents, but hopefully revisiting their recipes will bring back many happy memories. Pozdrowiam!

      Reply
  4. Ed

    December 17, 2017 at 12:01 pm

    Thanks for the recipe. I found the result to be much too sweet, tasting almost like straight honey. Aside from the sweetness It did taste wonderful though and worked wonders on my cough. I wonder if the spyritus version is a bit less sweet. I believe Everclear would work in place of the spyritus.

    Also, I brought the mixture back to the boil after adding the vodka and then removed from heat and put a lid on it. Shouldn’t result in too much alcohol evaporating away and it let the spices steep at a warm temperature for longer.

    Thanks again!

    Reply
    • polishhousewife

      December 17, 2017 at 1:14 pm

      Hi, Ed, I think Everclear would be a good substitute for spyritus, or just use more vodka to dilute the sweetness. I’m glad to hear it helped your cough!

      Reply
      • Laura M Lake

        December 10, 2020 at 8:31 pm

        My grandma squeezed the lemon juice in as well. We kids got the tiniest drop of this when we were sick. She boiled it a bit, on purpose, because she wanted it to be lower alcohol. Its three years later, but thought i would chip in.

        Reply
        • polishhousewife

          December 12, 2020 at 6:59 am

          Thanks, Laura!

          Reply
  5. John Bryk

    March 19, 2018 at 7:22 pm

    Don’t boil honey.
    I’m a beekeeper. Trust me.

    Reply
    • polishhousewife

      March 19, 2018 at 8:26 pm

      Thanks for the tip, John. I defer to your expertise! 🙂

      Reply
    • WILF SUKOWSKI

      December 21, 2020 at 5:21 pm

      I agree with John. You should never heat honey above 110F or you will lose all the natural vitamins and biproducts of pure natural honey. If you use honey from a store, it wont matter because it has been pasteurized above 140 degrees and will have no natural additives or vitamins left. The pasteurization kills any helpful additives in the pure raw honey.

      I also am a beekeeper for many years and have made mead and other liquor based drinks using honey.

      Reply
  6. Rob

    March 24, 2018 at 6:07 am

    Did you alter your recipe lately? …and update your website? I could swear i had made a recipe for “the polishHousewife” but this is not the recipe!! 🙁 The one i am looking for includded peppercorns.

    Reply
    • polishhousewife

      March 24, 2018 at 9:27 am

      Hi Rob, the only changes to the recipe have been to incorporate reader recommendaitons regarding the temperature during the preparation process. It must have been another website.

      Reply
  7. Eugene boryca

    September 5, 2018 at 8:07 pm

    Great

    Reply
  8. Susan Dechant

    November 17, 2018 at 2:37 pm

    I noticed other recipes use water in the mix, but yours does not. Is this correct?

    Thank you.

    Reply
    • polishhousewife

      November 17, 2018 at 8:30 pm

      Usually, they’re adding water if they’re making it with spiritus, 96% alcohol, rather than vodka. If it seems too strong with vodka, you could add a spoon or two (of water) at a time until you get the strength you like.

      Reply
  9. Liz

    October 16, 2019 at 9:32 am

    How long does this keep?

    Reply
    • polishhousewife

      October 16, 2019 at 9:50 am

      I want to say indefinitely, Liz, but a year or two is probably a better answer. It has a long shelf-life.

      Reply
  10. Susan M Balunda

    December 6, 2019 at 9:41 pm

    I’m going to try making this this weekend. It sounds delicious.

    ★★★★★

    Reply
  11. Mike, Sweden

    January 15, 2020 at 8:58 am

    I make this recipe often. I use spirits and honey from my own bee hives. Always tastes delicious. Thank you!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • polishhousewife

      January 15, 2020 at 9:59 am

      Your own honey, how marvelous!

      Reply
  12. Penelope

    February 14, 2020 at 3:20 pm

    Thank you so much for this recipe! My father’s grandparents on both sides were Polish immigrants. His mother told me about krupnik but I have never lived in a place where it was available locally. Now I can make it myself! I made it at Christmas time for my husband and I and for my best girlfriend and her husband (since she too has Polish-born great-grandparents) and it was a huge hit with everyone! My little boys (who were NOT allowed to taste…but didn’t really want to, either LOL) said that it made the kitchen smell so Christmas-y.

    I used both lemon and orange zest, and that was nice. I also used 1/2 a vanilla bean pod because I love it and it was Christmas so I was splurging. I did also use grated nutmeg and I will NOT do that again as it did make the mixture a tiny bit cloudy. Might try a whole nutmeg cracked in half or something like that, but the powdered stuff was a bad idea since I wanted it to be pretty in the jar I gave to my best girlfriend.

    I want to second the motion about it being very good for a cold or cough. I had a small serving one evening when I had a sore throat and WHOA did that burn! But the sore throat was gone by the next morning!

    Thank you again for the awesome recipe!!!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
  13. Greg

    August 15, 2020 at 4:56 pm

    Love this recipe
    Greetings from Australia
    I also have my own bee hives so use my own raw honey
    I followed your recipe exactly except I used a product called TriVoski (22% alcohol) instead of vodka
    The final product would end up at about 11% alcohol I guess
    The final product was amazing
    My wife wouldn’t let it cool down before tasting
    Not sure I want to experiment with the spices as I think
    you have it spot on
    As a Pharmacist I can see how it would treat a sore throat

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • polishhousewife

      August 16, 2020 at 12:26 pm

      Hello Greg, I’m so happy to hear that you enjoyed the krupnik and appreciate your professional advice. I wonder if TriVoski is something I can buy in the USA.

      Reply
  14. Robes

    November 30, 2020 at 8:27 pm

    I used a small amount of water to boil the spice on low fire. I mixed clover honey and basic honey. I think too much clover could be overpowering. I also used a few small slices of candied ginger chopped fine. Every time I make it it tastes better.

    Reply
  15. Alan

    March 7, 2021 at 9:42 am

    A wonderful recipe – thank you.

    ★★★★★

    Reply
  16. Sachin Lawande

    June 1, 2021 at 8:55 am

    My fried got a bottle of Krupnik from Polan in 2018 … now (in June 2021) I still havent opened it and am seeing some coagulate particles floating around. Has it gone bad? Please advise.

    Reply
    • polishhousewife

      June 2, 2021 at 12:10 pm

      I’m no expert, Sachin. I’ve never kept a bottle that long.

      Reply
  17. Beth

    December 4, 2021 at 5:58 pm

    Hi there, does this keep for long if you don’t use “canning” techniques? I’m having a hard time finding the shelf life and whether you need to use a canning process? What if I just put the drink in mason jars and refrigerated? Thanks!

    Reply
    • polishhousewife

      December 13, 2021 at 1:38 pm

      Mason jars and refrigerating will work just fine. Ideally, I would say the shelf-life is one year. It’s not so much that it goes bad, but the flavors may deteriorate over time.

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. 5 Polish Flavored Liqueurs (Nalewki) - Polish Housewife says:
    October 17, 2018 at 3:10 am

    […] Honey spice liqueur – Krupnik, the same name is also given to a barley soup, but we’re talking about the liqueur (no barley), it’s reported to be very good for a cold or cough. […]

    Reply
  2. Krupnik - Polish Housewife says:
    January 13, 2021 at 9:56 am

    […] has been a Krupnik recipe on my website for years. It’s a very popular honey and spice liqueur. This Krupnik is a […]

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  3. Krupnik: A Polish Honey Liqueur - First Pour Cocktails says:
    March 30, 2021 at 9:19 pm

    […] Polish Housewife provided the basic template for this recipe, and I consulted other sources to modify it to our […]

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  4. 10+ Most Popular Polish Drinks To Search For In 2022 says:
    March 27, 2022 at 7:48 am

    […] 6. Krupnik – Polish Honey Liqueur […]

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  5. What Is Krupnik Vodka Made Of? - BlackTailNYC.com says:
    June 10, 2022 at 4:48 pm

    […] traditional vodka-based polish honey liqueur is enhanced by the addition of spices and aromatic herbs in order to create a truly exciting […]

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