Recipes for alcoholic tinctures at home. How to make cranberry tincture - "Klukovka"

10.10.2019 Restaurant notes
The best recipes for homemade liqueurs on currant vodka

Many people prefer homemade drinks prepared with their own hands to ready-made store drinks. Tinctures and liqueurs aged with natural ingredients significantly outperform those purchased at the supermarket.

Homemade alcohol tinctures are very popular, but in fact, you can cook with other alcoholic beverages. The main ingredient can be:

  • Alcohol or vodka;
  • Wine;
  • Cognac;
  • Gin;
  • Rum or whiskey.

If you make homemade tinctures with ingredients such as cognac or gin, the task becomes a little more complicated. It is necessary to fight the original smell and taste of such alcohol or find a combination of aromas, as well as choose the right fruits and berries, which, together with the main ingredient, will create the desired flavor picture.

Tincture liqueurs at home are best prepared with alcohol. It is the best solvent, and the greater its proportion in the solution, the richer and stronger the drink will be. The alcoholic tincture should have a degree of at least 45, the most optimal value is 60. At this level of alcohol, the drink will be prepared much faster, and the taste will be more intense.

Don't worry about the strength of the alcohol. After the end of the cooking process, it can be diluted to the desired degree. If you decide to start your own production, you need to be patient. The cooking period can take anywhere from 2 weeks to 6 months, depending on the ingredients used and the desired result.

Classification of home spirits

Homemade alcohol tinctures can be roughly divided into:

  • Bitter - such a drink has a strength of 40 to 60% and is most often prepared on the basis of herbs, leaves, roots, seeds or berries. Spices and ground nuts are also often added to enhance the aftertaste;
  • Sweet - their strength is reduced to 20-30%, and infused with apples or pears, or berries: currants and mountain ash. When preparing them, a large amount of sugar is used;
  • Spicy - the number of degrees is from 40 to 60%. Various spices are used for infusion, and the drink itself is prepared for further distillation on a moonshine still.

Sweet alcoholic tinctures, in turn, are classified according to the amount of sugar in their composition:

  • If up to 0.3 kg of sugar is used per 1 liter of drink, this is a tincture;
  • When adding 0.3-0.4 kg of granulated sugar - you get a liqueur;
  • If the amount exceeds 0.5 kg per 1 liter of drink, it is liqueur.

How to properly dilute alcohol at home

Before making a tincture from alcohol, it is necessary to determine the category of the future drink. Pure medical 96% alcohol is used in only a few recipes, in all other cases it must be properly diluted with water to the desired degree.

What if there is no alcohol meter at home? The calculation scheme is quite simple. If you have 1 liter of 96% alcohol, this means that 1000 ml of liquid contains 960 ml of pure 100% alcohol. Let's say that you need to use 50% vodka to prepare the liqueur, that is, 1 liter of liquid should contain 500 ml of pure alcohol. To correctly calculate the amount of water required, the original volume (1 liter) should be multiplied by the initial degree (96) and divided by the desired one (50). Thus, we get the total amount of liquid: (1x96): 50 = 1.92 liters.

It turns out that 920 ml of water must be added to 1 liter of medical alcohol (96%) to obtain a solution with a strength of 50%. It is important to carry out the procedure itself correctly. When mixing, it is necessary to pour alcohol into the water, and not vice versa, but it is better to use a chilled liquid. When mixed with warm water, alcohol can cloud and develop an unpleasant smell and taste.

Tinctures for alcohol at home basic recipe

To prepare alcoholic tinctures at home, a wide variety of recipes are used. In order not to get lost among them, they can be conditionally divided into certain groups.

Tinctures for alcohol best quick recipes

Based on the classification, three basic cooking recipes can be derived:

  1. Bitter Tincture Recipe;
  2. Spicy;
  3. Sweet.

Basic recipe bitter

Homemade alcohol tincture is a bitter recipe that involves the use of tart berries, seeds, leaves and roots. The ingredients are placed in a three-quarter glass container and poured over with alcohol. The contents are kept for the amount of time specified in the recipe, shaking occasionally. Then it is filtered through cheesecloth, and the finished drink is insisted for a couple of months.

Spicy basic recipe

To prepare the spicy tincture and liqueur, use the ingredients specified in the recipe. They are mixed with the required amount of alcohol and infused for the specified time. Then the resulting liquid is run through the moonshine still to achieve the final result.

Basic recipe sweet

A similar vodka-based berry tincture is prepared according to the bitter principle. The only difference lies in the sugar syrup, which is mixed with the finished drink. The ingredients are heated to mix the ingredients more thoroughly (but not boiled) and bottled for storage.

Homemade vodka liqueurs and liqueurs can be prepared with any desired ingredients. Most often, sweet berries or crushed fruits are used, and their combination gives an excellent result and a high-quality drink.

In traditional recipes, cherries, plums or raspberries are most commonly used. These sweet berries make the liqueur soft and flavorful. The alcohol prepared in this way has an excellent taste and is significantly superior to the product purchased in the store.

The beauty of homemade liqueurs also lies in their strength. Some prefer a light dessert drink for a sweet table, others - a stronger one for a feast. Everyone will be able to cook according to their taste and desire.

Currants are very popular in the preparation of homemade liqueurs and liqueurs. Both black and red, it is widely used in the field. Many recipes based on this berry are prepared quite simply, and the result exceeds all expectations.

Currant liqueurs are made with vodka, alcohol, cognac and even gin. In various versions, both whole berries and squeezed juice are used for cooking. For a richer taste, cherry leaves are often added, which give the alcohol new notes and aromas.

Especially tasty liqueur is made from white currant. Strong and aromatic, it is easy to drink and does not cause hangovers. Any recipe can be varied with spices such as cloves, cinnamon or vanilla by adding them to the syrup. Berry and citrus flavors also work well.

Many homemade drinks can be healthy as well as tasty. For example, black chokeberry alcohol liquor has healing properties. The tart red berry is also used in many recipes and helps with colds.

Homemade wines and tinctures whose recipes attract with their variety can be prepared easily and quickly if you know some secrets:

  • Before placing the berries in a prepared container for infusion, professionals recommend freezing them slightly. This procedure will allow you to get more juice;
  • It is not recommended that the bottle is exposed to sunlight; it must be stored in a dark place. Some recipes include steeping in the sun, which lightens the drink and gives it a smoky flavor;
  • If the berries or fruits are pre-fried, then caramel is formed from fructose. Thanks to this, the taste will have a more noble and aromatic;
  • It is not recommended to open the lid during the preparation process, this is fraught with the ingress of unwanted oxygen and bacteria into the drink.

By following these small rules, even a beginner will be able to surprise guests with a good and high-quality homemade liqueur.

Outcome

When preparing vodka tinctures at home, you can be sure of the quality of the consumed product. The taste of the drink depends only on your wishes, which opens up a huge palette of possibilities for imagination. Properly prepared homemade alcohol is easy to drink and has a pleasant fruity aroma.

Video recipe: tincture of currant berries at home

You can easily make alcohol tinctures yourself. Such a drink turns out to be strong and aromatic, and is not inferior in quality to store-bought alcohol. Homemade products are made from fresh fruits, berries or herbs with the addition of vodka or brandy. Each of the alcoholic tinctures is slightly different in taste - it depends on the type of fruit, the duration of infusion, and many other factors. They can be safely taken to the festive table at any time of the year. In addition, during the preparation of homemade tincture, you can accurately verify the quality of raw materials, the absence of dyes and synthetic flavors.

Alcoholic tincture consists of any kind of strong alcohol and base. If you combine these two components, the liquid is saturated with taste and aroma, while not losing strength. At home, homemade tinctures are prepared from a week to several months, depending on the type of the main raw material. You can also use not the best quality fruits and berries. They can be partially lined or spoiled - all of these areas are easy to remove, and the rest of the parts can be taken as a basis.

The process of making tinctures at home includes several stages:

  • preparation of raw materials - fruits, berries or herbs are cleaned of dirt and impurities, crushed or pureed (depending on the recipe);
  • insisting - the duration of this stage can reach up to several months;
  • filtering - ready-made tinctures do not contain impurities and residues of raw materials;
  • storage - the liquid is poured into glass containers and kept in a cold room for several years.

Recipes for alcohol tinctures are simple and affordable; you do not need to purchase special equipment to prepare them. Alcohol is used to prepare drinks with various flavors. Some of them can be used also for medicinal purposes - herbal extracts are used to improve appetite, restore the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract, and also to relieve inflammation.

Recipes

A huge number of homemade tincture recipes allows you to choose the simplest and most delicious. Today, you can find a huge number of ways to diversify a recipe by combining your favorite flavors. Including there are quick methods of preparation - they will come in handy if you urgently need a drink for a holiday or a visit of guests.

For lovers of healthy alcoholic tinctures prepared with their own hands, there are several options:

  • herbal drinks - they are also used for medicinal purposes;
  • berry tinctures - sweet and aromatic, they can even be made from jam;
  • fruit liqueurs are a great way to find use for a rich harvest of apples, pears, and other fruits.

Cedar alcohol tincture

For you need 4 tablespoons of nuts, not peeled from the shell and 500 ml of vodka or alcohol. For taste and aroma, you can add 1-2 tablespoons of sugar and vanillin, as well as currant leaves and grated lemon zest. Cooking takes place in several stages:

  • boiling water is poured into the nuts in a separate container and drain the water, repeat the procedure three times - so the finished liqueur will not taste bitter;
  • place all the ingredients in a glass bottle, add alcohol and leave warm for 10 days;
  • strain the tincture, pour into a bottle for storage;
  • after another 4 days, it is ready for use.

The recipe for cedar tincture is simple, but you need high-quality nuts for it. They should have a strong shell, free from unpleasant odors and signs of deterioration. Before cooking, nuts must be sorted out and cleaned of impurities.

Cranberry tincture with alcohol

The cranberry tincture turns out to be thick and rich, with a bright aroma of spices. For 2 liters of alcohol or vodka, you need 400 g of fresh berries, a few tablespoons of honey and lemon peel to taste. Lovers of sweet liqueurs can additionally add 2-3 tablespoons of sugar.

Tincture recipe:

  • rinse the berries and wash them to a puree state, leave in a warm place for 2 days;
  • add 1 liter of alcohol and leave to infuse for a week;
  • strain the tincture, pour the liquid into a separate container and leave, and pour the remaining alcohol over the berries;
  • after a week, strain the liqueur, combine the liquid from two bottles, add inter and spices;
  • leave for another week, and then strain and serve.

In winter, this liqueur can be prepared from frozen berries. They do not differ in taste and retain all their useful properties. However, after defrosting, the aroma may become less saturated, therefore it is recommended to increase their dosage to 450-500 g per 2 liters of alcohol.

Chokeberry tincture on alcohol

Rowan berry tincture is not only delicious alcohol, but also a well-known medicine. In winter, it boosts immunity and helps to cope with colds. For 1 liter of vodka or alcohol, you will need 1-1.5 kg of ripe berries, 500 g of sugar and a few tablespoons of dry cloves. The filling is prepared according to the following recipe:

  • rinse and sort out the berries, crush them to a gruel state and leave warm for several days;
  • add sugar and spices, add alcohol and leave in a dark room for 2 months;
  • strain the liquid, pour into a storage container and serve.

Rowan berries have a characteristic sour taste, so the tincture of them is prepared with the addition of a large amount of sugar. Rowan also goes well with other red berries: cherries or currants.

Viburnum tincture on alcohol

Kalina is an excellent protection against colds and viral infections, so you should definitely stock up on such a drink for the winter. For 1 liter of alcohol, you will need 1 kg of viburnum berries and a few tablespoons of sugar. The cooking process is simple:

  • wash the berries and crush them to a state of gruel;
  • add sugar and alcohol, leave in a glass container in a dark room;
  • strain the tincture after 3 weeks - it is ready for use.

Homemade alcohol tincture recipes may vary. So, sugar can be easily replaced with honey, add cinnamon and cloves. Spices go well with the bitter taste of berries, and honey is also considered an effective medicine.

Lingonberry tincture on alcohol

Lingonberry liqueur has a bright ruby ​​hue, fresh aroma and bitter taste. This berry is a valuable source of vitamin C, which is preserved after infusion and is present in the tincture. For 500 ml of vodka or alcohol, you should take 6 full spoons of berries and start cooking:

  • sort out and rinse the berries, grind to a state of gruel;
  • pour alcohol, add a few tablespoons of sugar if desired;
  • leave for 3 weeks, then strain and serve.

A really tasty tincture is obtained from a berry mixture. Lingonberries are recommended to be combined with raspberries and rose hips in equal proportions. If you add honey instead of sugar, the liqueur will be thicker and more aromatic.

Apple tincture with alcohol

For 1 liter of alcohol, you need to take 1 kg of fresh apples, a few tablespoons of honey and half a spoonful of cinnamon powder. The tincture is prepared as follows:

  • wash and peel apples, remove pits, cut fruit into thin slices;
  • add honey and spices, add alcohol and leave warm under the lid, stirring occasionally;
  • after 10 days, strain and pour into a container for long-term storage.

The apple tincture is ready. It can be drunk cold or heated over a fire with spices. With the addition of honey, its consistency becomes thicker, and the shade is more intense. Using the same recipe, you can make a delicious and healthy apple liqueur on cognac.

Red currant tincture with alcohol

Homemade alcohol and currant tincture has a bright ruby ​​hue. The berries contain a huge amount of vitamins and minerals, thanks to which you can protect yourself from infection in the off-season and strengthen the immune system. For a classic liqueur recipe, you will need 1 liter of vodka and 500 g of ripe berries, you can also add honey or sugar to taste.

Even a beginner can handle the preparation of currant liqueur:

  • Rinse fresh berries under water and fill the jar halfway;
  • add sugar or honey, fill the container with alcohol completely;
  • insist 3 weeks in a warm dark room, then strain;
  • the tincture is ready for use.

Pouring can be prepared from any kind of red currant. For flavor, it is also recommended to add a few fresh twigs with leaves. They will not only give a bright aroma, but also supplement the drink with useful vitamins and minerals.

Cherry tincture with alcohol

There are many ways to cook. The berries have a characteristic sour taste, but many people like the sweeter drinks. The taste is corrected by the addition of additional components, sugar and spices. For a fragrant spicy liqueur, you will need 1 kg of berries, 1 liter of vodka, 10 tablespoons of sugar and spices to taste (cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg).

Cherry tincture is not fast. It must be prepared in several stages so that the liquid absorbs all the taste and useful properties of the berries:

  • wash the cherries and pierce each with a toothpick, the bones can be left;
  • put the berries with sugar and spices in a glass container, pour alcohol (the berries are put in layers, sprinkling each with sugar and spices);
  • pour alcohol and send to infuse under a lid or gauze, stirring occasionally;
  • after 2 months, the liqueur can be filtered and put on the table.

There are other recipes for cherry tincture. Some people advise removing the pits first so that the taste is softer and the bitterness disappears. However, when preparing large volumes of drink, this method will take a huge amount of time.

Lemon alcohol tincture

Light refreshing is perfect on a hot summer day. Traditionally, it is prepared with lemon zest and mint leaves - it is they that give a special softness to the taste and freshness of the aroma. For 1 liter of vodka, you will need the zest of 5 medium ripe lemons, 150 g of fresh mint leaves (you can replace 50 g of dried raw materials). Additionally, you can add sugar.

The filling is prepared according to a simple recipe:

  • wash the lemons and peel the rind so that only its yellow part remains;
  • put the zest tightly in a glass container along with mint leaves and sugar, pour over with alcohol;
  • for 10 days, insist in warmth, periodically stirring the jar;
  • strain through coarse cheesecloth and pour into a bottle for long-term storage - the liqueur is ready for use.

It can be cooked both in winter and summer. The zest contains a huge amount of vitamin C, which is absorbed by the liquid when infused. This drink is especially useful during the period of seasonal immunodeficiency in order to avoid a cold infection.

Plum alcohol tincture

Ripe plums are a great reason to cook. Among the purchased drinks, you can also find alcohol based on plum or plum seeds, but a truly natural and healthy product should be made on your own. The taste is slightly tart, but sweet even without added sugar. For 1 liter of alcohol or vodka, you should take 1 kg of ripe berries, 200 g of sugar and a couple of sprigs of mint.

Even a beginner can handle the preparation of a drink:

  • Wash plums and put in a glass container, pour alcohol;
  • strain the tincture after 2 weeks;
  • from the plums, cook a thick syrup with the addition of sugar;
  • combine tincture and syrup in a glass bottle, add mint and other ingredients to taste;
  • insist for a day, and the liqueur is ready.

Differs in thick color and bright aroma. It should be served with light meals, fruits and desserts. If you manage to collect a rich harvest of berries, it is recommended to set aside some for homemade wine on plums.

Raspberry

Tinting their fresh raspberries is a great way to remember the hot summers in the frosty winters. It is recommended to cook it during the harvest season, but frozen berries will work as well. For 1 liter of alcohol, you will need 1.5 kg of raspberries, as well as 250 g of sugar and water. The recipe is so simple that it's hard to go wrong:

  • Rinse raspberries well and put them in a glass container, add alcohol and leave warm for 5 days;
  • boil a thick syrup from water and sugar, constantly stirring it over low heat;
  • strain the tincture and combine it with syrup, leave for a few more days;
  • the drink is ready - it can be served at the table.

Pouring on raspberries turns out sugary sweet. It is recommended to be served with desserts or fruit slices. To slightly dilute the taste, raspberries can be combined with lingonberries, cranberries, or other sour fruits.

Blackberry

This aromatic blackberry liqueur, prepared with your own hands, is not only a sweet tasty drink, but also a source of nutrients. They are found not only in the berries, but also in the leaves of the plant, so they can also be added to the liqueur. For a classic recipe, you will need 1 liter of vodka or alcohol, 500 g of ripe berries, 5 tablespoons of sugar and a few twigs with leaves. You can also add lemon zest from half of the fruit to enhance the flavor.

Blackberry Tincture Recipe:

  • put the berries in a jar, add additional ingredients, cover with sugar and pour alcohol;
  • insist 2 months, stirring the contents of the jar every few days;
  • strain the tincture, pour the liquid into a glass bottle with a sealed lid.

It is better to work with blackberries with thin gloves. Berries contain a large amount of dyes, which are then poorly washed off the skin of the hands. It is they who give the finished drink a rich dark shade.

Juniper

Juniper berries are used in folk medicine for diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, immunodeficiencies, lung diseases and dermatological problems. They are taken orally as part of a tasty and healthy tincture that is easy to prepare yourself. For 1 liter of vodka or alcohol, you will need 5 g of berries and 25 g of honey. These components are combined and insisted for 10 days in a warm place. Then the drink must be filtered and drunk according to the instructions.

Juniper tincture is recommended for medicinal purposes. If you drink 1 spoonful before meals every day, you can significantly strengthen the immune system and prevent seasonal colds. Juniper extract has antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties, therefore it is also present in the composition of pharmaceutical drugs.

Blueberry

It is very easy to preserve the sweet taste and aroma of ripe blueberries - just make a healthy homemade liqueur. For 1 liter of vodka, you need to take 1 kg of berries and 250 sugar (more or less), combine them and leave for 2-3 weeks, stirring constantly. Then it remains to strain the liquid, pour into a beautiful decanter and serve.

Blueberries are the main product recommended by doctors to maintain visual acuity at any age. The extract of these berries is present in vitamin supplements, syrups and tablets. However, the tincture turns out to be not only healthy, but also tasty. It may well replace purchased alcohol on the festive table.

Sea buckthorn

If you take 1 kg of sea buckthorn fruits, 1 liter of vodka and 500 g of sugar, and then leave for 2 weeks, you will get an original alcoholic drink of our own production. It has a characteristic sourness, so it is rarely cooked without the addition of honey or sugar. Sea buckthorn fruits are excellent for coughing, strengthen the immune system, and calm the nervous system. Plus, it's just delicious and looks great at any meal.

Homemade tinctures will surely please guests and households. A variety of tastes will allow everyone to find a suitable recipe, and even a beginner can cope with the preparation of a drink. Fruits and berries, medicinal herbs, honey and spices - all these products are much healthier than the highest quality store alcohol. In addition, the liqueurs have a long shelf life. If cooked in large quantities during the harvest season, they will always be at hand to please unexpected guests.

I would never have thought that I myself would prepare liqueur from homemade berries and fruits. Sweet and tasty vodka based on fresh berries, taking in all the juice collected over the summer. Pouring is no longer just alcohol, but a delicious, slightly alcoholic refined drink made at home. I can already imagine how I will buy beautiful glasses for liqueur and a beautiful decanter. Everyone has their own recipe for liqueur, I tried several and will describe all my experiments and variations in one post. I see no reason to paint a hundred homemade liqueur recipes, because the principle of preparation is the same and the recipe is universal. You need to mix vodka, berries and sugar, and time will do its job. Whether you mix everything at once, or alternate in stages, the result will be one, stunning homemade liqueur according to the simplest recipe. And most importantly, your guests will be surprised again, each of them will want to receive such a gift from you when leaving you home.

I would like to note right away that the liqueur does not require pharmaceutical accuracy, which immediately sweeps aside all obstacles with weight measures (usually vodka: berries: sugar goes in proportions of 1: 1: 1 and very little water to dilute sugar, if not a strong liqueur is needed, for stronger water we exclude and use vodka). You can start to insist on the filling already at your own dacha, then take it home if you do not live in your own country house (oh, dreamily you rolled your eyes upstairs and sighed, somewhere there is my future cellar with wooden shelves, on which in even rows like jars of jam and bottles of liqueurs and liqueurs are placed on the showcase).

Do not bother with kg, take a convenient container, for example, a three or a liter jar and measure everything with it (one jar is one part of a product).

If you use 1 liter of vodka, then you will get almost three times more liqueur at the output, due to the juice of berries and sugar that you add.

Berries of different acidity require different amounts of sugar. By default, stick to the recipe, but the second time you decide for yourself whether to leave as much as there is or subtract it depending on the sweetness of your liqueur. I even add a little sugar to cranberries or lingonberries.

INGREDIENTS:

  • berries one part (I have a liter jar of berries, about 800 grams of raspberries or 900 grams of cherries fit into it)
  • vodka (for a liter jar of berries, it took a little less than a liter of vodka, about 800 ml)
  • sugar one part (I usually measure sugar in the same jar)
  • water 1/10 of one part of the berries (you can completely exclude, but I do not drink strong alcohol, therefore I follow the recipe and usually add, i.e. if you use a 1 liter jar, then 100 ml of water will be needed.)

COOKING:

In general, you can follow the simplest recipe, mixing everything at once in one large container and closing with a tight lid (if you like it stronger, then you do not add water at all, only vodka, sugar, berries in equal parts), remember that the size of your container increases by three times, you have three parts of a different product. I divide everything into three parts and put it by eye in three identical cans.

It should be remembered that here you will have to shake your liqueur well every three days so that the sugar that has dropped to the bottom of the jar mixes with the vodka and melts, this is of course a hassle, there is a lot of sugar and it does not dissolve so quickly in vodka. Don't worry, time will do its job and in a month and a half your liqueur will be ready, the longer it costs, the cooler the liqueur.

I put as much sugar in the liqueur as I put berries

There is another way that I liked, here you do not need to constantly shake and turn your liqueur in the hope that the sugar is about to mix with vodka and dissolve (this moment always annoyed me and it seemed that it would never dissolve, although it is not so , I was still annoyed by the constant shaking of the bottle or can).

So way 2:

Put clean and dry berries in the jar, they should not reach the edge of the jar by at least 3-4 cm, fill with vodka, close the lid tightly and put away for 4-5 weeks in a dark place, I have a kitchen cabinet. The filling now needs room temperature, no need to put it in the refrigerator and occupy the shelves. If you have a summer terrace and want to put it there, no problem, the tincture will be infused there, diffusion will do its job even at low temperatures, but you should still make sure that it does not freeze into ice from the autumn night frosts, which can to be.

Usually everyone writes that, depending on the tenderness or elasticity of the peel of the berries, they are dried before pouring with vodka or pierced so that they would give their juice more easily, I never do this and you don’t bother, everything is much simpler, read on. I don’t pierce the cherries and don’t wither; I also pour cranberries and lingonberries with vodka, as well as the most delicate raspberries. In five weeks, vodka penetrates into the berry and saturates it so that it becomes like dried and easily gives up its juice later.

After 4-5 weeks, your berries gave the juice to the vodka and it turned into the color of the berries. We drain the resulting berry-vodka infusion, we will pour it into the bottle and close it, remove it to the same place where the jar of berries was, this is half of our liqueur, have you noticed how much vodka the berries have absorbed?

We continue to cook the second part of the liqueur, then we mix both in one bottle.

So, from the jar of berries you have only berries poured with vodka, they even continue to exude it from themselves. Our task is to fill them 1: 1 with sugar. It's easier to do this in a container that is twice as large and if you are not going to dilute your liqueur with water for the smallest strength, then this is how it should be. eat (this is the case when water is not used in the recipe at all, i.e. it is excluded from the recipe at this stage). As I said above, I add it and do such manipulations.

I divide the berries from the jar into two parts and cover them with sugar (half the berries, half the sugar), then transfer the remaining second half of the berries to the jar where the sugar was, because we had a jar of sugar equal to the jar of berries. It turned out two cans of sugar: berry 1: 1. I fill them with boiling water of the same water (do not forget to divide the water into two cans).

Boiling water will help dilute the sugar and slightly remove the degree in the liqueur. You can exclude water, but then the sugar will dissolve longer, you will have to go to the jar longer and shake it from time to time.

Another little secret is the one that will help you avoid the hassle of "piercing" or drying in the sun, dense berries such as cherries or cranberries, making liqueur.

Our berries, infused with vodka, became liquid and very alcoholic and juicy. When you fill them with sugar, you can lightly press down on them and let their vodka juice flow. This will simplify and speed up the task of dissolving the sugar, especially for those who do not add water to the liqueur. In our case, excess moisture for melting sugar is always beneficial.



You can watch a video on the Internet of what alcohol tinctures exist at home. Drinks can act as a medicinal or alcoholic beverage. You can find a wide variety of recipes for alcohol tinctures at home.

3 groups of medicinal drinks

Tincture is understood as a strong alcoholic drink obtained as a result of the process of infusion of vodka with various components. Sugar is also added there. This process is quite complicated. In no case should the name of this drink be confused with liqueur. The second is obtained by fermentation and combining alcohol with fruit drink, and in the first, the active components themselves pass into alcohol. not only tasty, but also healthy.

There are many recipes for alcohol tinctures at home with a photo. But before you cook them, it's important to know how they are classified.

Tinctures are bitter. They have a strength of up to 60%. Such a remedy appears as a result of the infusion of alcohol with herbs, seeds, leaves, berries and roots.
You can find spicy tinctures. They usually have the same strength as bitters. Such funds are obtained in the process of infusion of alcohol with various spices.
There are also sugary drinks. Their strength is up to 25%. This product contains up to 310 grams of sugar per liter of liquid. Here alcohol is infused with various fruits, berries and roots.




The foundation

Having memorized the basic recipe for bitters, then you can prepare any drink. To prepare it, mark 2/3 of clean and dry berries or fruits in a bowl. Then they should be filled with alcohol. The dishes must be tightly closed and put in a dark place for a certain time. Shake the drink every 3. Then the tincture must be filtered and poured into another container. After that, the drink must again be placed in a dark place for a month.
The basis of the recipe for spicy tinctures is very simple. It is necessary to pour the prepared spices with a liter of alcohol. You need to infuse the drink for a certain time. Then it must be filtered.
For sweet infusions, you will first need to prepare a bitter drink, and then add 310 ml of sweet syrup to it per 1 liter of tincture. The syrup is easy to prepare. To do this, it is enough to combine sugar and water in equal parts and heat it up a little, without bringing to a boil. Sweet tincture can be poured into containers and stored in a dark and cool place.

Useful Tips

Freeze the berries a little before starting cooking. Thus, they will be able to give a lot more juice.
Store the tinctures in a dark and warm place. If left in the sun, the color will be lighter.
If the infusion temperature is high, then the substances will interact faster with alcohol.
If desired, fruits or berries can be fried. This will give the tincture a noble shade.
You need to wait until the very end of the infusion and you cannot open the lid, because oxygen can get there, which negatively affects alcohol. Cook the real one.




The best recipes for making tinctures

Recipes for alcohol tinctures at home from berries are very popular.

Berry tincture

Cranberries contain a large amount of vitamins and nutrients. They have a very positive effect on the human body. The berry has anti-inflammatory properties, is able to strengthen the nervous system, normalizes the digestive system.

Cranberries can be used to make liqueurs and liqueurs. They turn out to be very aromatic. Many have already learned the recipes for alcohol tinctures at home with cranberries. They can serve as the perfect drink for a festive table.

Ingredients:
310 grams of berries;
500 ml of alcohol;
3 tbsp. l. Sahara.

Preparation:

1. First of all, the berries must be washed.
2. Then the cranberries need to be scrolled in a meat grinder.
3. The resulting berry mass should be placed in a separate cup.
4. It is necessary to pour alcohol over the cranberries. You can also add sugar and water there.
5. Cover the bowl and store in a dark place for 21 days.
6. At the end of the time, the product must be filtered and removed to a dark place for 5 days. The cranberry tincture is ready!




Jam tincture

Ingredients:
500 ml of jam;
500 ml of vodka.

Preparation:

1. The jam itself is sweet, so there is no need to add sugar. Put the jam in a glass dish. Fill it with vodka and mix everything.
2. The dishes must be closed with a lid and left to infuse for a couple of months. It is recommended to shake the drink every three days.
3. At the end of infusion, the drink must be filtered. Sometimes it is necessary to carry out filtration several times until the tincture brightens.
4. The drink is ready. It is better to store such a tincture in a glass container in a cool place. Under no circumstances should air get inside the can.

Tincture of jam with spices

Many people prefer to prepare such a tincture from freshly boiled jam. There are recipes for alcohol tinctures at home on the Internet, where you can download them for free without any problems.

Ingredients:
510 grams of jam;
510 ml of brandy;
Carnation;
cinnamon on the tip of a knife.

Preparation:

1. The jam must be transferred to a glass container. Add cinnamon and some cloves to it. After that, all the contents must be filled with an alcoholic drink.
2. The jar must be tightly closed so that air does not enter.
3. The drink should be infused for 2 months in a dark place.
4. After that, the tincture must be filtered with gauze. Then the drink needs to be bottled. The tincture should be insisted for another week. After which it can be consumed.




Tincture of pine nuts with alcohol

Pine nut is a symbol of Siberia. It grows exclusively in the taiga. This is a very unique plant. It can live up to a couple of hundred years. It has long been known about the beneficial properties of cedar. Nuts can be consumed in any form. They contain biological components necessary for a person. There are healing recipes for alcohol tinctures at home on pine nuts. and keep warm in the cold winter.

What is the use of cedar?

Tincture on pine nuts normalizes the digestive tract.
It renews the skin after damage. Participates in the accelerated wound healing process.
Eliminates salt complications.
Cedar tincture purifies the blood and renews the process of its flow.
She is able to strengthen the immune system.
It has a beneficial effect on the male reproductive system.

Cedar tincture is used in the treatment of various ailments. But before using it is necessary to consult a doctor.

An easy way to make cedar liqueur

Only whole nuts should be selected before cooking. The best time to buy them is autumn. The shell should be a nice brown color. If the nut is of a different color, then it is better not to take it.

Ingredients:
Pine nuts;
water;
ethanol.

Preparation:

1. First of all, the prepared nuts must be scalded with boiling water. Then the nuts need to be washed. Such actions must be carried out several times.
2. This will help get rid of various oxidation products. Dry the nuts in a dark place.
3. Now, if you wish, you can put whole or chopped nuts into the prepared dishes. They should fill almost the entire container.
4. Then the nuts should be poured with alcohol so that it covers the nuts by a couple of centimeters.
5. Now the dishes must be tightly closed with a lid and placed in a dark place for 14 days.
6. After the time has elapsed, the tincture must be filtered using gauze.
7. It is very important to know that you need to store such a drink in a dark place. Cedar tincture can be used internally, 20 drops per 55 ml of water, and for external use, the drink must be diluted at a rate of 2: 7. It is recommended to take the tincture a couple of times a day after meals.




Contraindications of cedar tincture

Pine nut tincture has a number of contraindications.
You can not use the tincture inside with individual intolerance to one of the components.
It is not allowed to use cedar tincture for pregnant and lactating women.

Alcohol tincture of cedar is considered a unique remedy that helps to cope with many diseases. will refresh you in hot summer.

Tincture of cedar and honey

You can prepare an equally useful cedar tincture with the addition of honey.

Ingredients:
Pine nuts;
honey;
alcohol.

Preparation:

First, you need to prepare the nuts and choose only high-quality raw materials. We need to take 250 grams of a nut and pour 500 ml of alcohol. The container should be screwed on tightly and placed in a dark place for 14 days.

Then the drink must be filtered. Then you need to take a couple of large spoons of honey and melt in a water bath, if it is candied. Dilute it a little with water and cool. Pour this mass into the prepared tincture. Mix everything thoroughly and pour into a dark bowl. Leave the drink for a few more days in a dark place. The finished tincture must be stored in the refrigerator.

Continuing our search in the endless world of alcohol, we decided to turn to strong liqueurs - an ancient branch of daring experiments, which has grown to the present day into a large-scale independent culture. How to prepare tinctures at home: choosing combinations, skillfully handling ingredients and storing the composition - Vyacheslav Lankin, bar manager of the Delicatessen restaurant and a renowned master of the industry, helped us with these questions.

Brief historical background

No one knows exactly when exactly the first time a person thought of insisting on alcohol on any other ingredients, but historians believe that the first tinctures began to be produced by the ancient Chinese - approximately in the 3rd millennium BC. NS. Later, the recipe for the preparation of tinctures - both medicinal and not - reached ancient Greece and Ancient Rome through Asia, and, of course, came to Russia much later - only by the 10th century AD. NS.

The first Russian liqueur is the so-called "Erofei vodka", which was prepared on the basis of anise, nuts, mint and, of course, vodka. Later, the Russian people, already inclined to experiment with alcoholic beverages, experimentally brought out thousands of intricate recipes - tinctures were heated, cooled, diluted, painted (for example, with cornflower flowers) and attributed medicinal properties to them. At the same time, rowan was also in the same associative row with vodka, which was used more often than other berries as the main ingredient in tinctures and whose bitterness was masked by not very high-quality moonshine.

Basic rules

As in any responsible business, you first need to immerse yourself in theory, even if at first glance this very matter seems obvious. So, it is customary to call tinctures alcoholic beverages, usually up to 45% of the strength, which are obtained by infusing alcohol on fruits, berries, seeds and herbs - usually with the addition of sugar and many other ingredients. Naturally, in each case, everything is a little more complicated than just mixing alcohol and berries, but more on that later. In terms of time, the production process of tincture can take up to seven weeks - in general, you have to be patient and not open the can ahead of time.

Do not confuse liqueurs with liqueurs - these are two different categories of drinks. The latter are most often obtained by fermentation (or, conversely, simple mixing of alcohol with fruit drink, if we talk about industrial quantities). They are also distinguished by the level of alcohol content - no more than 20%.

The meaning of the infusion process itself is that all biologically active substances and essential oils of the main ingredient of the tincture are converted into alcohol. This tincture takes from two to seven weeks. You can speed up this process - if you heat the composition to about 50 degrees. But we do not recommend that you do this - it will most likely turn out worse (on the other hand, you can experiment endlessly).

A sort of alcohol close to tinctures is bitter. It includes bitters, some liqueurs and rare vermouths.

How to make the tincture yourself

It is worth understanding one thing in advance: the culture of tinctures is an endless chain of trial and error. There are many classic recipes or simply guaranteed successful combinations, but some of them turn out to be frankly spoiled, and in other cases, on the contrary, they acquire additional flavoring bonuses. Everything will depend on the compatibility, the set of ingredients and the storage conditions of the tincture - each of these points guarantees you a lot of pitfalls and a whole universe for experimentation. Here we will try to dwell on the last point in more detail, and also give a couple of proven recipes to get you started.


Alcohol selection
and the main ingredient of the tincture

The easiest way is to experiment with the simplest beverages in terms of taste. In fact, you can insist on simple alcohol - it will be much easier to handle such drinks, but much less interesting. More complex spirits are another matter: gin, grappa, even rum, bourbon and whiskey.

For such drinks, you need to carefully select a pair. The main rule is that you need to either supplement or completely interrupt the original taste of alcohol with the main ingredient. For example, juniper gin (although it seems simple and transparent) is not so easy to curb - for this, sweet berries are most often used: currants, raspberries and others.

The second important question is how many berries or fruits to put in the jar. Let's say right away: you shouldn't feel sorry for the product: the more berries there are, the brighter and richer the taste of the final potion. It is also important to understand this rule: the more berries, the more juice will be released into the tincture and the more alcohol will drop in degrees, which is usually not very good - here you have to find a balance, and better on your own, according to your personal taste.

Storage

To store the tincture, first of all, you need to acquire the correct capacity: not too narrow glass containers with a sealed lid and always transparent - in order to follow the process. Another important thing that you definitely have to stock up on is your patience. Frequent opening of the lid "for testing" or "sniffing" can lead to disastrous consequences.

Vyacheslav Lankin

bar manager of the restaurant Delicatessen

“When I set out to prepare my first such tincture - then it was gin on raspberries - it captivated me so much that I was happy to show it to all my friends, open the can and let it smell. Over time, because of this, the berries that floated to the surface began to become moldy (and this even though the gin was 57 degrees). So remember - it is contraindicated to open in vain. And with emerging berries, you can fight with the help of special weights and chintz ”.

It is easier and best to store the magic jar at normal room temperature - leave the rest of the options to the experimental area. But the meaning of the temperature regime in general is quite simple: an increase in temperature increases the diffusion rate, so the tincture is prepared faster. But not always, however, it is better for her.

Another important detail from the storage area is the rays of light. If you leave the container in a dark closet, the tincture will turn out to be darker in color and seem to be thicker in appearance. This is the classic version. But you can go further and put it in the sun (for example, on the roof of your villa) - the color will fade, it will become more rusty and lighter, and the tincture itself, no matter how strange it may sound, will acquire a smoked taste and smell.


You can uncork the potion after two weeks of infusion. Only after that does it make sense to somehow taste and smell the tincture. And then in the event that you use juicy berries or fruits. It will take much longer to insist on solid, dried ingredients or seeds and seeds.

The easiest way to determine the degree of doneness is visually - when the color of alcohol and berries is mixed, and the contents of your jar are almost 100 percent uniform, you can stop infusion. An exception is your personal experience or the seeds contained in fruits and berries, for the sake of additional astringency of which you can continue to insist and wait a long time for the coveted result.

The final stage before consumption is the separation of the fruit from the alcohol. First, you need to strain everything through a fine sieve, pouring the berries soaked in alcohol there, and leave it for 20-30 minutes. The question remains whether to squeeze the berries or not. Here everything is also quite simple - you can squeeze out everything except berries, which are a gruel in a shell (like currants and raspberries) - then these small residues will not be drained in any way. And the rest is all - the tincture is ready.

Some additional tips

2. Before putting the berries in the tincture, they should be frozen - the ice will destroy the structure, and they will give away juices and other elements faster.

3. There is an opinion that the readiness of the tincture should be determined by the berries that have floated to the surface. In fact, this is not the case. In any case, this thesis should not be used.

4. Another common opinion: harmful acids are released from the seeds of the berries during the infusion. This is true, but you should not be afraid of them - the doses are too small to cause any harm to a person.