Homemade peppercorns with honey on alcohol and vodka

The other day I had a chance to try home-made peppercorns (a friend indulges). I liked the drink, and therefore decided to share its recipe with you. What can you say about pepper? This is a very old tincture, almost from the “Petrine” times, it is used not only as an aperitif (and they excite the appetite very much), but also as a remedy, in particular for colds. In stores you will find several copies, for example, “Nemiroff with pepper”, where the latter is directly in the bottle. Not the worst option, but homemade is always better, especially if you cook it yourself.

A friend told me the recipe in general terms, so I had to study some more additional information (and then also cook it). What I can say for sure: of the ingredients, only pepper and honey are important, and the alcohol-containing mixture (vodka, moonshine, alcohol), of course, – the rest of the ingredients are not so important, but without them the taste will be poor. In general, let’s go directly to the recipe.

Peppercorn recipe with honey at home

To begin with, I will share a recipe for pepper for alcohol – this is exactly what my friend did. To prepare the tincture we need:

• 0,45 alcohol with a strength of 96%;
• 1 st. a spoonful of honey;
• 3 chili peppers (red);
• 1 st. a spoonful of dried paprika;
• black peppercorns, lemon peel, a pinch of propolis, vanilla sugar, cinnamon (bark).

A little about the ingredients:

• as mentioned above – honey and chili pepper are required, you can shamanize with the rest of the ingredients;
• alcohol can be taken with a lower strength, but in the end we need to bring it to 40% (see the article on how to properly dilute alcohol with water and find a link to a useful calculator in it);
• honey of the best quality – heather or acacia, in general, the most fragrant and fresh;
• chili peppers – pods 6-10 cm each, no thicker than the diameter of the neck of a vodka bottle, you can take fewer pods, three – this is for the strong in spirit, so to speak;
• the amount of paprika is also to your taste, but it is still desirable to pour it, otherwise it will not turn out tasty;
• peppercorns need to be crushed, the amount to taste (about 5-7 peas);
• lemon zest – cut with a knife for peeling vegetables, you need 3-5 strips without a white streak with an area of ​​u2bu4bXNUMX-XNUMX square meters. cm.;
• propolis – literally at the tip of a knife, if in lumps – freeze and grind (you can use a rolling pin between two sheets of paper);
• vanilla sugar – similarly, on the tip of a knife;
• cinnamon should be taken exactly in the form of a bark, that is, not crushed, a piece somewhere with a fingernail (1 cm), it is better not to put ground cinnamon at all.

Cooking homemade peppercorns with honey on alcohol

1. To begin with, pour approximately 2 ml of crystal clear water into an infusion container (ideally a 0,55-liter jar) and add alcohol to it. In total, we should get 1 liter of water-alcohol mixture.
2. We make longitudinal cuts in the chili pepper with a sharp knife and send the pods to the jar, put all the ingredients there (read the other option below).
3. We insist a week, often and intensively mix.
4. After the expiration of the period, we filter through a layer of cotton wool and let it stand for a couple more days, after which we decant (remove from the sediment with a rubber tube) and filter again, serve to the table.

This option is the simplest and least time consuming. My friend, as I understand it, did a little differently. All the ingredients (except honey) he insisted on alcohol, after which he diluted it to 40% and then added honey. He warmed up the honey. To do this, I recommend diluting it with water or a small amount of the resulting infusion, and then send it to the fire – heat it up, stirring constantly, somewhere up to 40 degrees, no more (at high temperatures, honey not only loses its beneficial properties, but also becomes hazardous to health ).

By the way, you can insist longer, but you need to do this very carefully – peppercorns can turn out to be very nuclear and you will drink it “newly”. You can put more honey – 2-3 spoons, it all depends on the hotness of the resulting drink (it is clear that tasting is needed before drinking). As for filtration, it will be difficult to clarify due to the presence of honey and paprika in peppercorns. You can take patience – just let it stand well and remove it from the sediment. A proven method of “professionals”: drive the drink through a filter that needs to be built from filter paper (sold for coffee machines, it seems), between two sheets of which a cotton circle from a women’s cosmetic bag should be placed. It seems to work like a tear =).

Of course, I could not ignore the less time-consuming recipe, on vodka this time. For this we need:

• Xnum l vodka;
• 1 pod of red chili;
• 4-7 peas of black pepper;
• 1 tablespoon of honey (more is possible, up to 3);
• 3 boxes of cloves.

The preparation is as follows: pour all the ingredients with vodka in a liter jar and leave to infuse in a dark place for 5 days. Shake well for the first three days, let stand for the last two. After 5 days, filter through a dense piece of cloth and drink with pleasure. This option will be similar to the Nemiroff peppercorn mentioned above.

How to drink peppercorns – it’s important

Really important point. Peppercorns should be drunk at room temperature, not lower and not higher – very chilled is not very good, warm – very “alcoholic”. The first glass burns strongly, the subsequent ones are drunk with much more pleasure. As an appetizer, anything is suitable, from a small cucumber to a chunk of meat. Very pleased with fried potatoes. I am sure that in winter pepper will be to your taste even more.

Peppercorn itself is very spicy, so you should think about your health before using it. Of course, it is not recommended to taste it for people suffering from diseases of the gastrointestinal tract and liver. With my gastritis, I did not feel any discomfort, although I often suffer from heartburn. Draw your own conclusions!

I actively-passively prepare various tinctures and liquors at home. I will keep you posted on my “field” research!

And in this article, that same comrade – Don Anointed – described several more ways to prepare peppercorns. Check it out!

UPD # 1 from 21.09.2014. Today I took a sample from my first pepper with the following ingredients: 0,45 ml of alcohol, water up to 1 liter of the total mixture, 1,5 “Spark” peppers (large, about 14 cm) and 1 chili pepper, which turned out to be why something not spicy, 1 tbsp. spoon of honey, 3 pcs. allspice, with half a marigold of cinnamon bark, half a clove of garlic for the experiment, 1 clove bud, 0,5 tbsp. paprika spoons. The first pancake is lumpy – it smells like pickle from a tomato, the taste is just nuclear, I don’t know if anyone will drink it. Now I run it through a cotton filter, clean it with charcoal, add a couple of tablespoons of honey and put it in the refrigerator – it might help. I will definitely write.

UPD # 2 dated 02.12.2014. Stayed for over two months. It turned out to be a wonderful drink with exquisite taste. The aging has made homemade peppercorn one of the best drinks I have ever made at home. I highly recommend the above recipes.