Properly made homemade liqueur from frozen berries is almost no different from a similar one from fresh raw materials. At the same time, the preparation time is only 7-10 days. A great way to recycle surplus winter supplies and get dessert spirits.
You can use any berries. The most delicious liqueurs are made from frozen cherries, black and red currants, raspberries, strawberries and blueberries. It is advisable to make a drink based on one type of raw material, since it is difficult to predict what blend will turn out when mixed, but if there are few berries, then they can be combined.
Dry freezing preserves the initial aroma and taste of berries better than other methods. If the raw material was frozen in water, then after defrosting this water must be added to the liquor.
It is important to properly defrost the berries without exposing them to temperature shock. To do this, 12-24 hours before the start of cooking, the berries from the freezer are placed in the usual compartment of the refrigerator with a temperature of + 2-4 ° C.
As an alcohol base, you can take store-bought vodka, well-purified moonshine (preferably sugar or fruit) or food grade ethyl alcohol diluted to 40-45%.
Frozen Berry Pour Recipe
Ingredients:
- vodka (moonshine, alcohol 40-45%) – 1 l;
- frozen berries – 800 g;
- sugar – 400-650 g (to taste);
- lemon or orange zest – 15-20 g (optional).
Sugar will help the alcohol extract substances from the berries faster, so it (sugar) is a must for quick infusion. When replacing with honey or without sweetening at all, the exposure time should be increased to 25-30 days.
Citrus zest will enrich the aroma and taste of the drink with characteristic notes. I advise you to definitely add zest if you are making a liqueur from a mixture of different berries.
Technology of preparation
1. Pour thawed berries into a glass container for infusion. Add sugar (at least 0,5 kg per 1 kg of berries), mix. Leave for 15 minutes, then mix again and keep at room temperature for another 45-60 minutes until the sugar dissolves in the berry juice.
Bones from cherries can not be removed, since freezing and sugar neutralize harmful hydrocyanic acid.
2. Pour in the alcohol base (vodka, moonshine or alcohol), add orange or lemon zest (optional), mix and close the jar tightly. Insist 7 days in a dark place at room temperature. Shake every 8-12 hours.
If possible, it is desirable to increase the exposure time to 10-14 days, then the aroma and taste will be richer. If honey or liqueur without sugar was added instead of sugar, then the exposure time should be 25-30 days.
3. Strain the finished liqueur from frozen berries through 2-3 layers of gauze or a dense cloth. Squeeze the berries dry (no longer needed).
4. Taste the liquid part. Sweeten with sugar or honey if desired. Pour the drink into bottles for storage, seal tightly. Leave in the refrigerator or cellar for at least a couple of hours to stabilize the taste (better for 2-3 days).
For transparency, the liquor can be filtered at any time through cotton wool or a coffee filter. The appearance of the drink will improve, but the taste and aroma will remain the same.
Away from direct sunlight, the shelf life of homemade frozen berry liqueur is up to 2 years. Fortress – 20-30% vol. (depending on the amount of sugar and the juiciness of the berries).
