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Almost everyone has tried linden tea – delicious and very healthy. But linden inflorescences are used not only for decoctions – since ancient times, housewives made healing alcoholic infusions on them. And the owners, in turn, appreciated that such mixtures also have a pleasant taste and aroma – the drink began to be consumed “not only for health, but also for pleasure.” Well – let’s get acquainted with a variety of “drinking” tinctures on linden!
Independent linden tinctures on vodka are very fragrant, have a beautiful straw color, but are poor in taste. Therefore, in most cases, other ingredients are added to them: herbs, spices, and most often linden honey, the taste of which goes well with the taste of the flowers themselves. Today we will look at 4 recipes for liquor with linden: from the simplest, with honey, to more complex ones, with different spices, and we will also learn how to prepare Count Razumovsky’s Tincture – one of the options for erofeyich with linden.
Linden tincture is a drink that can be prepared all year round. In one day, so much raw material can be prepared that is enough for the whole winter – for teas, and for decoctions, and for other pleasures. Quite a bit goes into drinking tinctures of dried lime blossom – after all, this is a medicinal plant.
Prepared drinks should not be lapped up with cans, but it’s quite possible to skip a couple of shots at dinner – like, for example, “boyars”, rose hips or junipers. It will be especially useful to add such an aperitif to your diet for bronchitis (including chronic), tonsillitis, and indigestion. Also, “lipovka” is a traditional folk remedy for frequent convulsions. In general, we combine the useful with the invigorating, amusing and tonic!
Recipe number 1: A simple linden tincture with honey
For this tincture, you need nothing at all: half a liter of vodka or good 45% moonshine, a teaspoon with a slide of linden blossom and a couple of teaspoons of linden or other light flower honey.
Cooking is also extremely simple – put the linden in a jar, pour it with alcohol and stand for a week. After that, filter. Mix honey in 50 ml of warm water, cool slightly and pour in a thin stream into the tincture. Let it brew in a dark place until precipitation occurs – three to four days, after which – decanted or passed through a cotton swab and that’s it, you can try!
If desired, the taste of this tincture can be enriched by adding a couple of slices of lemon along with zest or a pinch or two of mint and 3-4 cloves to the linden.
Linden tinctures go well with lemon – you can add it to a drink or just eat it!
Recipe number 2: Linden tincture with ginger and spices
This tincture has a bright herbal taste and a slight ginger pungency. In the original, it is bitter, but if desired, you can add a little sugar for softness. We will need:
- Moonshine 45% or vodka – 3 liters
- Dried lime blossom – 4-5 tablespoons
- Ginger root (dried) – 5 grams
- Eleutherococcus root – 1 teaspoon
- Star anise – 3-4 stars
- Carnation – 4 buttons
It is also easy to prepare such a tincture. All ingredients are thrown into a 3-liter jar, filled with alcohol and sent to a dark, warm place for 10 days. At the end of this period, the tincture is filtered. You can add a little sugar to it – 1-2 teaspoons, mix thoroughly and stand for another 5-7 days. If after that a precipitate has fallen out, filter through a cotton swab or filter paper. Ready!
Recipe No. 3: Old-fashioned lime tincture with dried raspberries and herbs
This recipe is taken from an old cookbook and should result in a slightly sour-bitter drink with a complex raspberry-herb flavor, around 35% ABV. Sugar, again, is not part of the tincture, but it can be added to soften the taste and increase the drinkability.
Ingredients:
- Alcohol 70° – 500 ml
- Dried raspberries – 50 grams
- Linden blossom – 30 grams
- Oregano – 15 grams
- Calamus root – 10 grams
- Water – 400-500 ml
Pour a mixture of dried raspberries, lindens and herbs into a jar, pour alcohol over it and put in a dark place for 7-10 days. After insisting – filter through several layers of gauze, squeeze out the rest. Take clean, unboiled spring water and mix it with the infusion until it acquires a strength of about 35%. If necessary, add sugar, let rest for 4-5 days and filter again through a cotton filter.
Recipe number 4: “Tincture of Count Razumovsky”
It is not known why this simple, in fact, tincture received the big name of the Razumovsky nobles. The drink is a subspecies of erofeich, but with a lime color in the composition (read more about erofeich in this article). Such drinks have been popular since the XNUMXth century – it is quite possible that one of the offspring of the family of the last hetman of the Zaporozhye Host was fond of making homemade alcohol. Or maybe there is nothing behind this name at all – who knows? Be that as it may, this drink is interesting, with a bitter-sharp taste, a beautiful “balm” color and a bright herbal aroma.
Ingredients:
- 1 liter of vodka
- 20 grams of lime blossom
- 10 grams of juniper – the subtleties of choosing berries in this article
- 10 grams mint
- 10 grams of anise
- 30 grams of sugar
- 5 grams ground ginger
Preparation:
All ingredients, except for ginger and sugar, are poured into a jar and filled with alcohol. The drink should be infused in a dark place for 2 to 3 weeks, until it acquires a dark, brown-red color. After that, the tincture must be filtered through several layers of gauze, the rest is squeezed out. Ground ginger and sugar are added to the liquid, everything is shaken well and sent for re-infusion for another 3-4 days. After that, the tincture of lime blossom, herbs and spices must be passed through a dense – cotton or paper – filter, and that’s it – it’s ready for use!
Do not forget that all the fake tinctures from today’s article are partly medicinal, you should not lean too much on them! The editors of the “Rum Diary” wish you to prepare more successful tinctures, and drink them – exclusively for the good!