this is a small excerpt from a book i bought years ago that has become impossibly rare and expensive. joseph merory’s food flavorings (1960)
i was hoping to draw attention to the technique of making a fruit brandy by distilling first and fermenting second which might come across to some as kind of crazy. to me the idea of distilling unfermented fruit should be widely known as a tool for the home distiller. often people have backyard fruit trees but not the time or space or expertise to ferment the fruit. excellent brandies can still be made in short amounts of time by pulping the fruit then fortifying it with a spirit such as vodka before distillation to collect the wonderful aroma.
p. 298
Property of Fruit Brandies
Fruit brandies take their names from the fruit from which they are manufactured. They are reduced in alcoholic strength by the addition of water after distillation to make them drinkable.
Any fruit may be used for the production of fruit brandies. There are four ways in which to produce fruit brandies.
Crush the fruits, allow the pulp to ferment, and then distill the fermented mash.
Crush the fruits, allow the pulp to ferment, express the juice, continuing fermentation, and then proceed with fractional distillation of the cleared juice. The middle fraction of the distillation can be used to fortify fruit flavors.
In this method the fermented and cleared juice of the second procedure is concentrated by freezing and centrifuging to an alcohol content of 30 per cent and then distilled. The middle fraction of the distillation yields the finest fruit flavor essence. It is useful as a natural fortifier of dessert wine, champagne, fruit flavored brandies, and fruit flavors.
In full flavor brandy, the evolution of carbon dioxide during fermentation tends to volatilize some of the aromatic, volatile flavor constituents. In order to produce a full flavored brandy the aromatic fraction may be removed by distillation before fermentation and is then added to the distilled brandy. To obtain the best possible yield, fruit should be subjected to slow fermentation.
BONUS INFORMATION FROM MERORY FOR THOSE CONCERNED WITH PRUSSIC AKA HYDROCYANIC ACID