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Alcoholic drinks from Belgium, north-east France, Normandy

Frênette (ash-leaf drink, cidre de frêne)frênette

Frênette is a light, fizzy country drink made by fermenting sugared water flavoured with ash leaves. Modern recipes infuse the leaves, add sugar, roasted chicory or orange peel and a little tartaric or citric acid, ferment with brewer's yeast for about ten days, then bottle it to build fizz. Older versions are said to have used only the leaves, with sugar from ash manna and aphid honeydew.

A short entry: the sources we found record only what is said here about Frênette itself.

DocumentedAlcoholic drinks17 days – 31 days

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceOne 18 L batch from a published home recipe (PasseportSanté); no standard or tested recipe was found.
Ash leaves20 g[pps-frenette]
Roasted chicory root20 gRoasted about 1 hour near 100 °C, then boiled 15 minutes; or orange peel instead[pps-frenette]
Tartaric acid15 g20 g citric acid in the orange-peel version[pps-frenette]
Sugar1 kg[pps-frenette]
Water, preferably soft18 L[pps-frenette]
Brewer's yeast1 sachet[pps-frenette]
Starterdefined-culture: brewer's yeast in the published recipe

Total time across the recorded steps: 17 days – 31 days

Start
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Close-up: water moving into a leaf

What changes: Boiling water is poured over ash leaves and left to steep

Step 1 of 4
Infuse the ash leaves
Time
1–2 h
Reported
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Output: ash-leaf infusion.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Frênette is a light, fizzy country drink made by fermenting sugared water flavoured with ash leaves. Modern recipes infuse the leaves, add sugar, roasted chicory or orange peel and a little tartaric or citric acid, ferment with brewer's yeast for about ten days, then bottle it to build fizz. Older versions are said to have used only the leaves, with sugar from ash manna and aphid honeydew. Made in 4 steps over 17 days – 31 days. The longest step, bottle and let it build fizz, takes 7–21 days (PasseportSanté 2021).

Key numbers
Main step7–21 daysReported[pps-frenette]Bottle and let it build fizz
Temperature22–28 °CReported[pps-frenette]Mix with chicory decoction, sugar syrup and acid; add yeast

What makes this one different

Frênette is flavoured with ash leaves rather than fruit, so almost all its sugar is added. Like a small beer or ginger beer, it is a short ferment finished in sealed bottles for fizz.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Original frênetteSaid to use only ash leaves, with sugar from ash manna and the honeydew of the aphid Gossyparia ulmi (fr WP).
  • Orange-peel frênette20 g ash leaves boiled 30 minutes with the peel of four oranges in 2 L water, then 1 kg sugar, 20 g citric acid and 16 L water.

Safety

The recipe page bottles the drink in carefully corked bottles tied down with wire, and lists thick-glass bottles made for cider or beer among the supplies. The drink builds its fizz in the bottle.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

The bitter bark of young ash twigs was long used against fever, which earned the tree the name "quinquina of Europe" (Häne and Kaennel Dobbertin). Ash leaves steeped in sugared water give frênette, a tonic, refreshing drink with a very old tradition in some regions of France.

  1. [pps-frenette] PasseportSanté, Herbier médicinal, recette, La frênette, updated 22 January 2021web
  2. [hane2006] Häne K., Kaennel Dobbertin M. 2006, Le frêne, arbre aux mille vertus, La Forêt 59(9):20–21web
  3. [s1] Wikipedia (fr), 'Frênette' (outline only)wiki