The spring month of Nisan is in full swing. Pesach is approaching with a shuffling cavalry gait – the main holiday of the Jews, “Jewish Passover”. It’s time to cook peysakhovka – Jewish vodka made from raisins, which has an amazing “caramel” taste.
We present you the original recipe for raisin moonshine, as well as several options for raisin tincture for those who have not yet acquired a distiller.
Peysahovka – the original recipe
Of course, the paysahovka was not invented in Israel – it was invented by the Ashkenazim (European Jews). The fact is that the Torah forbids the use of any alcohol on Pesach, except for grapes. Many Jews could not afford to buy expensive brandy, and it was not easy to get grapes in winter in Europe. But if a Jew wants to drink without breaking Kashrut, he will find a way to do it. Raisins, dried grapes, which contain a sufficient amount of natural, “wild” yeast and sugar, went into action.
According to the classic Jewish recipe, additional sugar, purchased yeast and other additives are not put into the payahovka. All you need is a good raisin, preferably homemade. If you cannot get dried grapes that have not been treated with chemicals, it is better to immediately go to the next section and make moonshine tincture on raisins, otherwise you will simply transfer the product. You need a lot of raisins, peysakhovka is not the cheapest drink these days, but it has an original taste, delicate aroma and a soft, cheerful effect – just right for dancing “Hava Nagila”. Well, or a “gypsy girl” – here, as the poet said: “if it happened to the Jews to drink in Russian, then they don’t care – they were baptized or circumcised!”
Everything you need for a passahovka:
- 2 kilograms of raisins;
- 10 liters of water;
- 100-150 grams of sugar (to activate fermentation);
In addition, grape mash may be needed if the mash does not ferment.
Stage 1: Sourdough starter
To begin with, our raisins need to be tested – to make a starter. To do this, we take 200 grams of dried fruit, half a liter of warm (about 40 °) water and 100 grams of sugar. The whole thing is put in a jar and mixed well, then it is settled in a warm place for a couple of hours.
Next, the raisin mass is removed from the liquid (do not drain!) And twisted with a meat grinder (blender, combine), after which it is sent back to the jar. It is also worth adding a few unwashed raisin berries to the container and putting it in a warm, dark place, tying the neck with gauze. If after 3-4 days foam has formed in the jar, the liquid has bubbled – you can be congratulated! Proceed to the next step. If not, look for another raisin, on this the yeast is killed by chemistry. You can use it to prepare a raisin tincture from moonshine, vodka or alcohol.
Step 2: Making Raisin Wine
We repeat the first stage, only on an enlarged scale:
- to facilitate the grinding of raisins, it must be soaked in warm water (2-3 liters) for a couple of hours;
- we pass swollen raisins through a meat grinder or combine;
- we throw the crushed mass into a jar, add the liquid in which it was soaked, and add the rest of the water – respectively, 7-8 liters. Water should be warm, best of all – from a source;
- we put the bottle under the water seal in a warm, dark place;
- waiting 3-5 weeks;
- as soon as the liquid has acquired a light pink color, a precipitate has fallen to the bottom, and the gurgling has stopped – the mash is drained through a tube. The sediment also needs to be squeezed into the wash through several layers of gauze.
Stage 3: Peyahovka distillation
The classic paisahovka recipe involves double or even triple distillation. Jewish festive vodka is a pure, noble product, so you should not be greedy when choosing heads and tails.
This article describes the general principles of moonshine distillation, and in this one you will find detailed instructions for distilling sugar mash.
- During the first distillation, 70-80 ml are taken. head fractions – they are not suitable for consumption.
- The volume of the main fraction depends on the strength – as soon as it falls below 35%, the selection stops (it will turn out a little less than 3 liters of distillate).
- At this stage, you can filter the moonshine to remove the yellowish tint, but you can do this later.
- The main fraction is diluted with two liters of water and re-sent to the distiller.
- The heads must be taken again, not less than 70 ml.
- At the output, we get about a liter of moonshine with a strength of 60 ° – the rest is sent to “tails”, which can be used later.
- If necessary, we dilute the drink again to 30 ° and distill it with the selection of heads and tails – this way it will become as pure as possible.
- The resulting 60-degree product is diluted with water to 40 ° (see the corresponding table or use a special calculator), after which the liquid must be filtered (if the color confuses) and sent to a dark place for 2-3 days.
That’s it, our passahovka is ready! It is supposed to drink from small glasses. Many recommend eating it with tsimes or forshmak. Standard vodka snacks are perfect for this vodka, as well as dried apricots, figs, dates and other dried fruits.
For goyim: several recipes for raisin tinctures
Would you like to try Jewish celebratory vodka, but the production technology seems too complicated for you? Moonshine tincture on raisins can imitate the taste and aroma of paisakhivka – there are several recipes for it. Any purified moonshine of double distillation will do, as well as vodka or alcohol.
At one time, without an appropriate theoretical base, I tried to prepare raisins in this way: I poured a handful of raisins and several barberries with a liter of 96% alcohol, insisted for 5 or 6 days, then diluted it with water and sugar syrup. To be honest, the drink came out so-so: there was practically no taste of raisins, only a distant aroma was guessed, which was noticeably interrupted by alcohol.
From this we conclude: either take a lot more raisins, or insist longer so that it has time to transfer its flavoring properties to alcohol, or use one of these recipes for raisin tinctures.
Recipe number 1: Homemade raisins
Delicious, fragrant moonshine tincture on raisins with a touch of cream soda and a deep tea color. Moonshine can be replaced with vodka or alcohol diluted to 50% – then the drink will be even softer.
We need:
- 0,5 liters of moonshine or vodka;
- a handful (pieces 10-15) of raisins;
- black tea (1 tsp);
- 8 pieces of peppercorns;
- 1 small lavrushka;
- sugar – 1 tablespoon;
- vanillin – on the tip of a knife.
To prepare, mix all the ingredients, pour vodka, shake well and insist in a dark place for 4 days. Filter the tincture well through a cotton filter, and that’s it – you can try!
Recipe number 2: Raisin tincture, healing
This tincture is recommended for a specific disease – an ovarian cyst. According to folk medicine, the composition has absorbable and restorative properties, as well as a good taste and aroma.
For preparation it is necessary:
- 400 grams of raisins (pitted);
- half a liter of vodka.
The ingredients are mixed and infused for quite a long time – 17 days. The resulting liquid is used 3 times a day for a teaspoon. I think it must be pretty tasty. And about the healing properties, it is better to ask a qualified physician.
Recipe number 3: tincture “Eastern”
In this recipe for raisin tincture on moonshine or vodka, dried apricots are the main ingredient, and raisins, which they say “creates a background”, set off the taste.
We need:
- 100 grams of dried apricots;
- 100 grams of raisins;
- 0,5 liters of vodka.
Wash dried fruits, dry, put in a jar, pour alcohol and leave for 2 weeks in a dark place. After settling, strain the tincture, squeeze the berries thoroughly, pass the resulting liquid through a cotton filter. If you don’t want dried apricots to interrupt raisins, add less, 75 grams, and raisins, on the contrary, put more – 120-150 grams. By the way, the berries left from this tincture can be used for baking and for other purposes.
Recipe number 4: Fragrant tincture with raisins
This recipe should give the most interesting results as it uses a lot of ingredients. It’s important to get the proportions right.
For 0.7 liters of vodka, moonshine or diluted alcohol you need:
- 400 grams of raisins;
- 250 g brown sugar (you can take white, but the effect will not be the same);
- 1 orange;
- 100 grams of candied fruits;
- 2 cinnamon sticks and 2 vanilla pods (a quarter teaspoon of vanilla or 2 sachets of vanilla sugar);
- half a teaspoon of nutmeg;
- a pinch of coriander, ginger, red and ground allspice;
- 6 carnations;
Three oranges on the zest, squeeze the juice from the fruit itself into a jar. Add all the other ingredients there, pour vodka, mix well. The jar should stand in a dark, warm place for about a week, periodically shaking it to dissolve the sugar. After infusion, the drink must be filtered twice: through several layers of gauze, and then through a cotton filter.
Some of these recipes could very well be brought to life by Easter – so hurry up!