Homemade currant champagne

Homemade blackcurrant leaf champagne is a great alternative to the traditional grape drink. Hand-made champagne will not only help you cool off in the summer heat, but also create a friendly festive atmosphere. It has a pleasant aroma and excellent taste, it is easy to drink, but at the same time it can turn your head. In addition, a refreshing drink is quite simple to prepare at home.

The benefits and harms of champagne from currant leaves

Many people know firsthand about the benefits of blackcurrant leaves. In addition to the rich content of vitamins and minerals, the leaves synthesize vitamin C, which is then distributed to other parts of the plant. Remarkably, the largest amount of this vitamin accumulates by the end of the growing season – in August. If you collect raw materials for champagne during this period, then the benefits of the drink for the body will be maximum. Homemade sparkling drink has a tonic effect on the body, stimulates brain activity, and sharpens eyesight. But this positive effect is possible only with the use of champagne in moderation.

Limit the use of homemade blackcurrant champagne or completely abandon it for people suffering from:

• thrombophlebitis;
• inflammatory processes in the digestive organs;
• high pressure;
• arrhythmias;
• poor blood coagulation;
• mental disorders;
• alcoholism.

Ingredients for champagne from currant leaves

In order to make homemade champagne from currants, you need to prepare everything you need in advance – raw materials, containers and corks. From the ingredients you will need:

• Fresh black currant leaves. They must be clean, free of stains and traces of disease or activity of harmful insects. It is best to collect raw materials in dry weather, not earlier than 10 am, so that the dew has time to evaporate. Blackcurrant champagne leaves can be plucked by hand or cut with scissors.

  

• Yeast is needed to ferment blackcurrant champagne. It is advisable to use wine yeast, but if you could not get it, you can use regular dry yeast.
• Granulated sugar will help activate the fermentation process.
• Lemon will give the taste of champagne the necessary sourness and double the vitamin composition of the drink.

  

In the process of making homemade champagne, the right choice of packaging is just as important as quality raw materials. Glass bottles are suitable for fermentation. But you need to store the drink only in champagne bottles or other containers with thick walls that can withstand gas pressure. It is desirable that the glass be brown or dark green in color to protect the drink from oxidation. It is also worth preparing a little more traffic jams, just in case.

How to make homemade champagne from blackcurrant leaves

Making champagne at home is a risky business, especially if the preparation technology has not been tested before. Therefore, there is no need to rush to prepare a large volume of drink at once, you should start with a small portion. For a traditional recipe you will need:

• 30-40 g of black currant leaves;
• 1 medium lemon;
• Xnumx g of granulated sugar;
• 1 tsp wine yeast (or dry baker’s);
• 3 liter of drinking water.

Method of preparation:

1. Rinse the leaves thoroughly under running water and chop coarsely (you can not chop, but use whole ones). Put into a bottle.
2. Clean the lemon. Cut off the white zest from the skin. Cut the peel and pulp of the lemon into pieces, removing the seeds, and also put in a bottle. Then add sugar and pour cold boiled water.
3. Close the bottle with the mixture with a nylon lid and place it on the sunniest windowsill, where it is warmest. Within 2 days, until the sugar is completely dissolved, shake the contents gently from time to time.
4. After that, add yeast dissolved in a small amount of warm water into the mixture. Loosely cover the bottle with a lid and wait 2-3 hours, during which the fermentation process should begin.
5. After that, put a water seal (water seal) on the jar and transfer it to a cool place for 7-10 days.
6. After this time, strain the drink through several layers of gauze and refrigerate for a day. During this time, a precipitate will fall out, which must be disposed of by carefully pouring the champagne into a clean container. Then add 4 tbsp. l. sugar (preferably in the form of sugar syrup), stir and carefully pour into clean bottles. Close with corks very tightly (for this you can use plastic corks for champagne, but cork is better). To increase the strength and reliability of capping, corks are additionally strengthened with wire, then sealed with sealing wax or wax.
7. In this form, the bottles are moved to the basement or other cold place for 1-2 months.

Terms and conditions of storage

Homemade blackcurrant champagne, sealed with a cork stopper, can be stored for 1 year or a little more, but subject to certain rules:

1. The temperature in the room where currant champagne is stored should be between + 3-12 ° C. If it is impossible to create such conditions in the apartment, the bottle should be stored on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator.
2. Light has a detrimental effect on champagne, so the sun’s rays should not penetrate the room.
3. Humidity within 75%, with a decrease in this indicator, the cork will dry out.

And the most important rule – the bottle should be stored only in a horizontal position. Thus, the cork will always remain elastic and will not crumble when opened.

Conclusion

Blackcurrant leaf champagne is an economical and profitable option in terms of saving the family budget. Sparkling drink has a pronounced currant-lemon taste. And do not be upset if the first attempt is not successful. Next time it will definitely turn out, and, perhaps, soon homemade currant champagne will replace the factory drink from the festive table.