Although homemade liqueurs require quite a bit of patience and waiting time before you can finally have a taste, they make a wonderful addition to the dinner table. It’s the ultimate gesture of Italian hospitality to offer guests a strong and aromatic digestivo (usually a herbal-based liqueur) at the end of the meal. As the name suggests, digestivi or digestifs are thought to aid digestion.
This fragrant liqueur is inspired by some of the herbs of the Mediterranean scrub that you can find growing rampant along the Maremman coastline: bay laurel and a hint of rosemary. Not by chance, rosmarino in Italian references the sea (marino, or marine), which it commonly grows near.
A nice addition to this liqueur would be a couple of tablespoons of mirto – berries from the myrtle plant, which are also used in the not-far-away islands of Sardinia and Corsica for traditional liqueurs. The berries’ flavour profile is sometimes likened to a mixture of rosemary and juniper (which you can also find among the Maremman scrub). Sage leaves are a nice addition, too.