Some distillers consider banana tincture to be a mediocre drink with an indistinct taste and ugly color. However, if you apply a few tricks, you get a good dessert alcohol.
For cooking, ripe and overripe (may not be conditioned) large bananas are required. It is important that the pulp is not rotten and moldy.
The standard alcohol base is store-bought vodka, diluted to 40-45% ethyl alcohol or double distillation moonshine. It is preferable to use cognac or aged rum, then tannic notes will appear in the tincture, and the color will become darker and more attractive.
Ingredients:
- bananas – 3 pieces;
- lemon – 1 piece;
- vodka (alcohol 40-45%, moonshine) – 0,5 liters;
- sugar (honey) – to taste.
The pulp of bananas contains almost no acids, so the taste of a pure banana tincture is very bland, with a clear advantage in the direction of sweetness and softness. You can balance the drink by adding lemon juice, and the zest will enrich the flavor. Sugar or liquid honey is best added after infusion and filtration, when the sweetness of the tincture is finally formed.
banana tincture recipe
1. Peel bananas, cut the flesh into large circles. If the pulp is crushed, then the finished tincture will be very difficult to filter. The skin can be used to feed indoor plants (the method is described at the end of the recipe).
2. Fold the circles in a plastic bag, close tightly. Leave in the freezer for 4-5 hours until completely frozen – the pulp should become firm. Freezing makes the banana pulp sweeter and more flavorful.
Attention! If the bananas are greenish, they must be frozen, otherwise the herbal flavor will appear in the tincture.
3. Pour boiling water over the lemon, then rinse in running water and wipe dry to remove the preservative from the surface, which is used to treat fruits before transportation.
4. With a knife or vegetable peeler, remove the zest from half a lemon – the yellow part of the peel without white bitter pulp.
5. Add frozen bananas to the infusion jar (remove from the bag, but do not defrost), pour in the zest and squeeze the juice from the lemon. Pour in the alcohol base (vodka, moonshine, etc.), mix, seal tightly. Alcohol should completely cover the bananas, if necessary, add more alcohol.
6. Leave the jar in a dark place at room temperature for 14 days. Shake once a day for the first 7 days, then leave it alone so that the turbidity settles to the bottom.
7. Carefully drain the banana tincture into another container, being careful not to touch the sediment at the bottom. Do not squeeze the pulp.
8. Filter the tincture through 2-3 layers of gauze, then through cotton or coffee filter.
9. Taste the drink, sweeten with sugar or honey if desired. Stir, pour into bottles for storage. Close hermetically.
10. Put for 25-30 days in a dark cool place (refrigerator or cellar) for aging. The taste will improve significantly.
If a precipitate appears, it can be filtered again through cotton wool or a coffee filter.
Away from direct sunlight, the shelf life of homemade banana tincture is up to 2 years. Fortress – 31-34% vol.
PS Due to the high content of potassium, calcium and phosphorus, the remaining banana peel makes an excellent tincture for fertilizing indoor plants and seedlings. To do this, put 3 skins in a three-liter jar, fill up to the neck with water at room temperature, close the lid and leave for 2 days. Then strain and dilute half with cold water (proportion 1:1). The resulting infusion can be watered with seedlings and indoor plants as with ordinary water.
