Contents
Someone puts wine, someone withstands tinctures, and my grandfather was engaged in driving elite absinthe in his courtyard. He was a sailor and brought the secret of making this strong alcohol from distant shores, I don’t remember which mysterious islands.
Already when he finally went ashore and firmly established himself on land, he decided to create a home-made production of elite overseas absinthe. And the recipes he once collected came in very handy.
After the death of my grandfather, many records remained, but the coolest one is the recipe for making authentic Brazilian absinthe, which still reminds me of my grandfather and evokes associations with the sea.
The story was shared by my subscriber Alexander L.
Why I decided to make alcohol myself
Everything is quite simple – the absinthe that my grandfather makes, or rather, did, cannot be compared with the store “product”. Undoubtedly, you can also buy high-quality absinthe in stores, but this is a rarity, especially in our latitudes.
But homemade is not just your own, but truly proven alcohol. Of course, if everything is done correctly.
Recently, we spend a lot of time in the country, and the nearest store is a few kilometers from us. And the choice of alcohol in it, to put it mildly, is limited. Therefore, I shook off the dust from my grandfather’s recipes and began to “conjure”.
What ingredients are required
I won’t be mistaken if I say that grandfather’s recipe is very different from the very first technology for making absinthe. But I will still tell you what my family treated the astonished neighbors in the country.
To make homemade absinthe, grandpa used the following ingredients:
- 1,75 alcohol with a strength of 70% or more;
- bitter wormwood – enough 3 tsp. with a slide (grandfather took the very top of the plant, young tender twigs);
- cardamom – 16 seeds, which need to be finely crushed;
- coriander seeds – 1 tsp .;
- anise seeds – 3 tsp;
- angelica rhizome – 3 tsp
Be sure to add a liter of apple juice with honey. I choose the sweetness of the juice according to my taste.
Preparation for Brazilian absinthe in grandfather’s performance
The cooking process
So, the instruction in my grandfather’s notebook looked like this.
I mix alcohol and wormwood. I insist all this for at least two days in a cool, dark room. Grandfather had bottles in the basement.
Before the distillation itself, the rest of the herbs and spices are finely mixed in a mortar and added to the alcohol infusion. Then again I tightly close the container and keep it in a dark and cool place for a week.
After that, I distill the infusion in the most ordinary moonshine still. But I want to talk about the distillation process separately – everything is not as simple as it seems. There are subtleties and nuances.
The distillation process goes on until only herbs remain in the flask. I put the distillate aside and apple juice with honey comes on the scene.
I mix it with what is left in the flask and also distill it. This will add flavor to the finished drink and smooth out the bitterness of the wormwood. Grandfather called this option lightweight.
In addition, the second distillation will allow absinthe to “absorb” all the essential oils from herbs and spices. And of course, the alcohol they soaked up.
Grandfather’s moonshine still
The main thing is to monitor the burning level of the burner during the first and second stages. My grandfather drove on a gas stove and always made sure that the herbs did not burn. This can add bitterness to the drink.
From myself I want to say that the described is only half the battle. The distillate after two distillations comes out light, that is, homemade absinthe does not have its famous green hue. How to give it a characteristic and recognizable color?
What result did I get
The distillate, which I talked about above, is a liquid with a high alcohol content, however, it does not have the color necessary for absinthe, and therefore my grandfather enhanced its organoleptic qualities in his original way. He took 15 g of dry wormwood and mint and insisted on them with 400 ml of distillate.
Further, he heated all this on a steam bath until the temperature reached about 50 degrees. So plants will give absinthe a natural color and aroma thanks to chlorophyll and essential oils.
Further, he cooled the “brew” and after filtering, added to the main volume of the distillate. Voila, the original homemade absinthe is ready.
My grandfather, however, did not drink it immediately and did not treat guests to it. For a few more months, the absinthe must be kept in a dark, cool cellar for it to infuse.
During this time, the greenish color of the drink changes to yellowish. In the production of absinthe, this is the norm and indicates that you did everything right, which means that it does not contain dyes and preservatives.
Did you like the recipe for absinthe brought by my grandfather and his method of distillation?