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By chance, I ended up on a birthday party with a friend. The hostess, as expected, set the table. And everything seemed to be as usual, but then I noticed that there was no store-bought wine on the table, but there were home-made tinctures and liqueurs from plums, sea buckthorn, mountain ash.
As it turned out, the owners have been experimenting with homemade alcohol for a long time and do not make a secret of their recipes.
Later, I thought about it. But it’s true, you can try to make the tincture yourself. Moreover, the garden was bursting with chokeberry. What good is lost?
A story from a subscriber Michael, who has only recently started reading our blog.
Why I decided to make alcohol myself
This is not the first time I have come across low-quality alcohol in a store, and even at “biting” prices.
Therefore, the thought began to creep into my head more and more often: “How did ordinary people do without shops before? Where did you get alcohol for feasts? And this thought became more and more insistent.
Naturally, moonshine – as it is – did not suit me, and my guests did not deserve such a fate. I involuntarily recalled my rural childhood and my hospitable grandmother, who always had a bottle of chokeberry tincture in store for dear guests.
Inspired by memories, I began to look for records of the preparation of this tincture in the old family recipe book. And now I share with you the found family secret.
What are the ingredients needed to make the tincture?
The ingredients for the tincture are simple, and the recipe itself is simple. The most important thing is to harvest chokeberries in time: in September-early October, before the first night frosts. And, of course, you need high-quality vodka or good moonshine.
Looking ahead, I will say that the tincture turned out excellent
So, the ingredients:
- 1 kg of washed chokeberry berries;
- Xnum l vodka;
- Xnumx g of granulated sugar;
- 5-6 cherry leaves (optional)
- 3-4 pcs. dry cloves (to taste)
Kitchen utensils I needed:
- 2 liter jar with lid;
- pan;
- sieve.
Financial costs for 1,1 liters of tincture – 450 rubles. for sugar and vodka.
The cooking process
I prepared all the necessary ingredients: I carefully sorted out the mountain ash, removing the stalks and low-quality fruits. The berries were washed in advance in cold water and dried on a towel. Take an old towel, because chokeberry stains are practically not washed off.
At the bottom of the jar I put cherry leaves and cloves. Then he folded all the berries and covered them with sugar. I carefully mixed everything and let it stand for 10 minutes so that the berry “made friends” with sugar.
Then he poured vodka into a jar of chokeberry, which had already given juice.
Now an important point: a jar of tincture should be stored in a dark, dry place. I had it in my closet. And she should stand there neither more nor less, and not less than three weeks.
And the longer the content is infused, the brighter the color and taste of the tincture. Shake the ingredients every 3-4 days without opening the lid.
Important! Do not store tincture in the refrigerator. It will ruin her taste.
After waiting for the required three weeks, I took out a jar and strained the contents through a sieve directly into the pan. This is more comfortable. Yes, and the tincture should “breathe” a little.
During the time that the berries were infused, I prepared small beautiful bottles of cognac for bottling.
What result did I get
It’s amazing that I got it right the first time! The tincture turned out to be a deep ruby color, transparent and clean. She played in the glass with a copper sheen. It seemed that I caught the bright sun and corked it in a bottle for dark winter evenings.
Having tasted it, I felt a rich, slightly tart taste of cherries, spices and, for some reason, plums, which were not even mentioned in the recipe. Perhaps this is how the added clove manifested itself, which was not felt at all here.
This ingenuous grandmother’s recipe is suitable not only for experienced housewives, but also for those who have not even held a ladle in their hands. Chokeberry grows in almost every garden and does not require care.
Only now the sugar added to the berries is embarrassing. It turns out that not everyone can try the ruby miracle. What if you remove it from the recipe? Will it be too tart or will it be bitter?
There is still chokeberry in the gardens, and this is how chokeberry is scientifically called, I want to repeat the recipe, but without sugar. What do you think?