Not only a popular alcoholic drink, but also a very healthy product, which, moreover, has an excellent taste and is very easy to prepare. All that is needed, ? find suitable berries and pick up a high-quality alcohol base.
What is the difference between tinctures and liqueurs
These two drinks are often confused as both contain the same ingredients. Meanwhile, pour? it is a light alcoholic drink in which the alcohol concentration does not exceed 20%. Basically, liqueurs are obtained as a result of the fermentation of fresh fruits and berries.
Tincture? healing extract from medicinal herbs, flowers, roots, fruits and berries. It is stronger than liqueur and is most often consumed in small quantities.
Tinctures improve the condition of the body, raise immunity. They are bitter, spicy and sweet. The strength of bitter and spicy tinctures ranges from 30 to 60%, sweet? does not exceed 25%.
- Bitters are obtained by infusing a water-alcohol base on medicinal herbs, seeds, roots, berries, fruit peels, etc.
- Spicy tinctures, as the name implies, are extracts from spices and spices.
- Sweet infusions are obtained by adding sugar syrup to a bitter or spicy base.
Important: If homemade moonshine is used for tinctures, it is additionally purified by distillation or passed through activated carbon
By default, all berries are washed before use, shake off excess moisture, and if possible dry, unless otherwise specifically specified in the recipe. You can crush the berries in a blender, but it is advisable to do it manually with an ordinary wooden pusher.
If the tincture is made from blackcurrant, it is better to use only the peel. To do this, the currants are washed, the pulp is squeezed out and separated from the shells. The resulting peel is used for infusions. Thanks to this, the finished drink is not so sour. By the way, the main taste, color and smell of currants is found just in the skin!
To prepare any tinctures, the amount of vegetable raw materials provided for in the recipe is poured into a glass container, poured with alcohol and left for one? two weeks in a warm, preferably dark place. The higher the ambient temperature, the faster the flavoring substances interact with alcohol. After the specified period, the contents are filtered and left for a few more days, but at a lower temperature (10 - 15 0). As a rule, soon the precipitate falls again. It is also filtered out. The resulting drink is the tincture.
Important. Sometimes pure 96% alcohol is used for tinctures, but it has been experimentally proven that the optimal strength of the alcohol component is 70%. The degree may be weaker, but not lower than 45 0.
What berries are best?
In principle, any berries are suitable, but alcohol tinctures from cranberries and chokeberries are especially famous. Currant tincture is also very tasty. Win-win options? raspberries, blackberries, cherries, blackthorns. Many people prefer to use lingonberries for this purpose because of the beautiful color, unique smell and taste of the finished drink.
The most wonderful thing is that tinctures can also be prepared in winter using frozen berries. Moreover, even in summer, fresh, freshly picked berries are recommended to be frozen before laying. So they give more juice.
Often in recipes they give a recommendation to pull out the seeds from cherries, because of the hydrocyanic acid allegedly contained in them. However, harmful substances from the bones pass into alcohol only with prolonged infusion (not earlier than six months later). If the tincture is filtered in time, there will be no harm from the seeds.
Before infusing cranberries, it is advised to ferment a little. To do this, the berries are crushed, covered with a small amount of sugar and left for a couple of days. After the foam appears, start preparing the tincture.
Important. This method can only be used for cranberries harvested independently. Their supermarket berry may not have yeast on it. Such cranberries will not ferment, but simply deteriorate.
Basic tincture recipes
The best recipes for homemade berry tinctures
bitter cherry
- 2 kg cherries
- 1 liter moonshine
To get a noble cherry taste, the berries are pre-dried in the sun or in the oven. Cherries prepared in this way are poured into a three-liter jar, poured with purified moonshine and insisted for 60-90 days, shaking the contents from time to time.
Bitter cherry special
They do everything in the same way as in the previous recipe, only prepare three servings of cherry tincture. The first is kept for a month and a half, the second? two weeks, third? 10 days, after which all three tinctures are mixed and a little sugar or honey is added.
cherry spicy
- 2 kg cherries
- 1 liter moonshine
- 10 st. l. Sahara
- 10 pieces. carnations
- 0.5 tsp cinnamon
- 0.5 tsp nutmeg
Dried cherries are poured into a bottle in small portions, mixed with spices and sugar. The dishes are filled to 2/3 of the volume. They fill it with good moonshine and do not cover it with a lid, but tie the neck of the bottle with a thick cloth (the finished drink will be softer). Insist for two months on a window from the sunny side, after which it is filtered.
blueberry spicy
- 1 liter moonshine
- ? Art. dried blueberries
- 2 tbsp. l. crushed almonds
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground zest
- 1 tsp carnations
- 1 tsp star anise
Prepare according to the basic recipe, insist 1-2 weeks.
Currant
Sugar is thoroughly mixed in vodka and poured over berries. The jar is closed and shaken vigorously. After two weeks, the infusion is filtered and bottled. It is advisable to let the drink stand for a couple more weeks for final maturation.
blackcurrant noble
- 800 g blackcurrant
- 1 liter moonshine
- 500 g sugar
- 400 ml water
Mix water and sugar, put on fire. After boiling, pour in the berries and boil for just a couple of minutes. The heating is stopped, the berries are kneaded, the resulting jam? cooled to room temperature, transferred to a prepared container and poured with an alcohol base. Three weeks are insisted, after which the infusion is filtered and additionally driven through a cotton filter. Store preferably in a cold cellar. The longer the drink sits, the nobler its taste becomes.
Rowan with sugar
- 6 kg rowan
- 0.5 kg sugar
- moonshine
A ten-liter bottle is filled 2/3 with rowan with sugar. Pour in moonshine so that the berries are completely covered. In the first week, it is topped up as necessary.
They insist for a month, then the infusion is drained and a fresh portion of moonshine is poured. They stand for another month and a half, then both infusions are mixed and the drink is allowed to stand for at least another week (the longer the better).
Cranberry insidious
- 1 st. cranberries
- 0.5 l moonshine of the highest quality
- 1 st. l. Sahara
- 50 ml water
Cranberries are poured into a liter jar. The berries are crushed into gruel with a wooden pusher, poured with moonshine, mixed well, closed and left to infuse in a dark and warm place for two weeks. The resulting infusion is filtered. If the drink turned out to be sour, add a little sugar syrup. Store in the basement or in the refrigerator.
It tastes more like cranberry juice: the degree is almost not felt, so when using it, you need to be careful not to inadvertently get drunk.
Important. As an exception, some tinctures need to be further oxygenated. But, as a rule, it is not recommended to open the lid during infusion in order to avoid unwanted oxidation of alcohol.
Klyukovka Academician Nesmeyanov
According to history, this recipe was invented by an academician, a well-known organic chemist, A.N. Nesmeyanov.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup cranberries
- 1 glass of pure alcohol
- 1 cup of sugar
Cranberries are ground with sugar, poured with alcohol and left for a week. Squeeze through gauze. You can take less sugar. This recipe was appreciated by the employees of Moscow University.
Quick klukovka commander Ivan Konev
- 500-700 g cranberries
- 0.5 l vodka
- 1 medium lemon
- 1.5 st. l. Sahara
The washed berries are scalded with boiling water and thoroughly kneaded into a homogeneous mass. Pour into a liter jar, pour good moonshine, add lemon juice and sugar. Insist at room temperature for several days, then filter. The tincture is ready. This drink is used for treatment, and just for fun.
