Oh Man! I've nearly cracked it ... Original Ettan Lös Stark

[squeezyjohn]

I've been enjoying Ettan lös for the first time in a long time and it got me thinking about the plain snus I'd made about a month ago. I could taste all the things in Ettan that I was disappointed with in my own snus - but somehow it was smoother in Ettan.

Anyway - it made me have another taste of my homemade plain snus that had been sitting in my fridge to compare them...

And the few weeks of storage has made them taste almost identical! I followed an old Ettan type recipe to make this one and the result is that they taste almost the same now! There was a procedure in the original recipe that said that it needed long storage at cold temps to mellow out, but I didn't pay much attention to it fool that I am.

Mine is made from more robust tobacco to start with - and the nicotine is higher. On the up side it tastes like Ettan Stark to start with - downside is still that it becomes more bitter after about 20 minutes in. But that initial taste is exquisite!

I'm most definitely getting there with homemade snus. The funky tastes I got were not a horrible mistake - those tastes are all there in Ettan and I am definitely getting closer!

[Skell18]

Sounding good mate, sounds like it just needs some tweaks to get right

[daz]

squeezy you'r crack it in the end mate what with all the hard work you've put into it, just let us all know when you do!

[whalen]

Mad science. ?.....

[daz]

Mad science. ?.....

love that film

[daz]

ok hands up i got it all wrong again the film i woz thinking about woz ..weird science .. close but no cigar..........

[Snusdog]

Mine is made from more robust tobacco to start with - and the nicotine is higher. On the up side it tastes like Ettan Stark to start with - downside is still that it becomes more bitter after about 20 minutes in. But that initial taste is exquisite!

Well done bro!!

Hey I wonder if the bitterness will not ultimately be corrected by the blend you are using. I would think there is a more neutral or milder tasting leaf/part of the leaf that will assume the overall flavor.....while mellowing the bitterness in the other leaves.

Might be a good question to ask Jimmy or GN or both

When you figure it out..........I want a tin.......in one of the cool cans...........and I'll pay ya for it......seriously

After all the reading and following all the treads............I gotta know how it turns out

[Ansel]

Well done Squeezy! :-)

[miha]

hey squeezyjohn could you tell me your recipe? i really want to make some good snus..

[squeezyjohn]

300g Dark Air Cured tobacco flour (finely ground tobacco leaves)
480ml of sauce 1

Sauce 1:
600ml water
1teaspoon fennel seeds
1 liquorice root
34g Kosher Salt

The fennel and liquorice was crushed in a pestle and mortar then simmered in the water for 30 mins - the seeds and root were strained out and the salt dissolved in the remaining liquid and made up to 480ml with previously boiled water.

Sauce 1 and the tobacco flour were combined thoroughly in a glass jar and placed in an oven at 80ºC for 48 hours - the temperature of the snus mix was checked at regular intervals and was always between 70 and 75ºC.

Then sauce 2 was added to the mixture:

Sauce 2
6 teaspoons of lye water
100ml boiled water

The mixture was left to cool down and then aged in the fridge for 3 weeks



That's the recipe! I think there are many improvements that could be made for the home kitchen maker over this - and I would definitely recommend just a plain air-cured burley type tobacco for this particular attempt at getting an Ettan type flavour. Whalen thinks that I should basically add sauce 1 and 2 both at the beginning before cooking and for the next cook I am going to try that out - I think it will mean that the snus will not have to rest for 3 weeks at the end of the process and will be more smooth tasting.

Cheers

Squeezy

[tattooer601]

Squezzy,
Lye water ? This must cause the same chemical reaction as Soda Carbonate when used in snus recipes,am I thinking correct here?

How is the lye water prepared

[squeezyjohn]

Tattooer - Lye water is a strong potassium carbonate solution and you're right, does exactly the same thing as Sodium Carbonate. Potassium Carbonate is what Odenssnus uses - and is in all the old traditional recipes.

The bonus is that you can buy it very cheap and food-grade from nearly every far-eastern (Chinese, Japanese, Korean) supermarket as they use it in the preparation of certain types of noodles. Working out which bottle is actually lye water can be somewhat challenging though if there's no English writing on it though

[miha]

Thanks Squeezy i'll try that. but i think it would be better to add the aroma in the end not in the beginning

[squeezyjohn]

You are right! Generally you add the aromatic elements at the end - but not in this case.

The fennel and liquorice are only added as natural non-sugar sweetening agents. Those flavours are not destroyed by heating so it makes sense to add them at the start of the process so the flavours are fully blended with the tobacco by the end of the procedure.

Cheers

Squeezy

[miha]

but the main compound of the liquorice is glycyrrhizic acid which gives it it's distinctive flavour and is then lost durring the neutralisation process