I am from a dynasty of moonshiners. In our family, someone always drove something, starting from my grandfather and his branded moonshine, and ending with my mother’s fragrant fruit tinctures.
Therefore, the love for various drinks, and most importantly, the craving for their independent preparation is downright in my blood! And if you have a few kilograms of oranges lying around at home, I will teach you how to turn them into fragrant mash!
The story was sent by a blog subscriber Cyril.
Ingredients and equipment
In order to prepare a delicious sugar mash from oranges, we need:
- oranges – 3 kg;
- yeast – 100 g;
- sugar – 6 kg;
- water – 25 l.
You should not buy the most expensive oranges; for mash, the variety, shape and price do not matter at all. The main thing is that the fruits are not rotten.
Yeast I used “Hmelny Expert” (1 pack – 100 g). They give a good exhaust during fermentation, without adding any foreign smells and tastes to the final product.
Of the equipment, we only need a container of 35-40 liters with a water seal. If in the future you want to overtake the resulting mash, then you will need a cube with a distillation column.
The cooking process
In the preparation of orange mash, there is nothing complicated at all:
- Wash oranges thoroughly.
- We put 25 liters of water in a container and heat it up to 35 degrees (note that the water temperature will depend on the brand of yeast, read the instructions first).
- Add sugar to the water and mix thoroughly until it is completely dissolved.
- Next, add 100 g of yeast and also mix thoroughly until foam is formed.
- Washed oranges do not need to be peeled or cut. We put them entirely in a solution of sugar and yeast and close them with a water seal.
This is what orange mash looks like at the initial stage.
Our orange mash will be ready in 5 days. If there is no water seal, then the container must be closed with a regular lid and placed in a warm and dry place. In this case, you will have to wait 10-12 days.
Result
After a week (or 12 days if you don’t have a water seal) the orange mash will be ready.
This mash has a pronounced citrus aroma, reminiscent of Fanta. Oranges saturated with moisture will sink to the bottom of the container, they can not be caught if you are going to use the mash without subsequent distillation.
The color of the mash should be cloudy, dark orange. Consistency is uniform. Due to the fact that the oranges were used whole, the mash does not need to be strained to separate the pulp fibers.
Here’s what happened in the end
As a result, I received 23,5 liters of mash. If you overtake it with the help of a cube and a distillation column, then the output will be about 4 liters of tart orange moonshine.
How much did the orange mash cost me:
- A pack of yeast “Hmelny expert” 100 g – 80 rubles.
- Sugar 6 kg – 192 rubles (32 rubles per 1 kg).
- Oranges 3 kg – 177 rubles (59 rubles per 1 kg for the promotion).
Total turned out 449 rubles. We make a simple calculation (449 ÷ 23,5) and it turns out that 1 liter of mash costs me 19 rubles. But moonshine from it will cost about 112 rubles per liter. The benefit is obvious!
What to use with
This mash can be consumed in its pure form, without further distillation procedures. Her taste is tart and moderately sweet, not cloying, similar to Fanta.
But if you like it sweeter, then you can increase the amount of sugar at the initial stage of cooking.
Braga goes softly, but I still recommend snacking. Especially good with orange moonshine are nuts, especially walnuts or cashews.
Random tasting with friends led to the conclusion that this is an amazingly tasty combination! In general, such a mash is not ashamed to put on any table!
What do you think, will something come out of tangerines? After all, the season of these New Year’s fruits will soon begin.