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Once I went with my brother to my grandfather, to help collect the ripened fruit crop. Of course, there is nothing better than picking a ripe fruit from a tree in the process of work and eating it with pleasure! Seeing how I throw out the seeds from apricots, grandpa attacked me with screams. Turns out I’m throwing away a valuable component!
My grandfather revealed his secret to me – he prepares alcohol tinctures on apricot pits. In general, he taught me how to make an incredibly tasty drink from what I throw in the trash.
The story was shared by blog subscriber Oleg.
What ingredients and equipment will be needed
If you decide to make an apricot tincture, it’s important to make sure you have a coffee grinder, blender or, in extreme cases, a meat grinder at home. Otherwise, the manufacture of tincture on the bones will end in a fiasco. You will also need utensils, such as a glass jar, a bottle or a small saucepan.
For tincture, you need only 3 components – alcohol, apricot seeds and sugar. I recommend the following dosages:
- cognac “Elder” – 1 l (price per bottle – 1141 rubles);
- fresh apricots – 1 kg (in the nearest “Pyaterochka” in the summer you can buy for 129 rubles);
- sugar – 100 gr. (I took a kilogram for 46 rubles, so the consumption for the tincture was 5 rubles).
The tincture can be made with inexpensive vodka, but cognac and apricots are the perfect duo. I recommend not to save money and make a really chic tincture.
The pulp of apricots will be used as a treat. I only need bones to set up. It is important to carefully sort them out and choose good ones, not spoiled, without rot. For the recipe, only fresh bones are needed, I will not fry them.
Getting kernels from apricot kernels (namely, they are used for tincture) is quite difficult, but these difficulties are worth the result!
The cooking process
I cut the apricots in half and take out the pits. I split them and take out the nucleoli. I clean them from the brown shell, grind them in a coffee grinder.
When a liter of alcohol is taken as the basis, all the bones from a kilogram of apricots will be required! If you get defective and unusable, you will have to buy more fruit. The lack of apricot pits will cause the drink to be not very rich.
I pour the crushed apricot kernels into a jar, fill it with cognac, close it tightly and put it in a dark, cool place for a month. I filter through gauze, add sugar, insist another 2 weeks in the heat.
Final moment before tasting.
I shake and stir. I filter again through gauze folded in several layers. This will help to clean the tincture from even the smallest grains of seeds.
What will be the result
The color is quite dark and saturated. Cognac as a base acquires a slightly more golden hue. Reminds me of strong black tea with a slice of lemon.
The aroma clearly smells of ripe apricots. I successfully chose cognac, not vodka. Such a duet is reminiscent of expensive imported alcohol. But something closer to the dessert category.
The taste is soft, refined. The advantage of tincture not on fruits, but on apricot pits is that a slight almond flavor appears. Very bright, pleasant and long aftertaste.
At cost, the tincture came out to me at 1275 rubles per liter. But let me remind you that I prepared it from good cognac, and not from cheap moonshine. For those who want to save some ingredients can be replaced.
It is enough to pour homemade apricot tincture into a beautiful bottle – and it is quite possible to imagine it as an expensive imported alcohol. In addition, the taste and aroma match!
What can be added / replaced in the recipe
Those who are sensitive to experiments on cognac can take cheaper raw materials as a basis. Apricot kernel tincture according to a similar recipe is prepared from vodka, moonshine and even ordinary alcohol.
Those who don’t want to bother with the pits can use apricot chips instead. To make the tincture sweeter and less pungent, add a couple of tablespoons of honey instead of sugar.
My grandpa loves the classic tincture recipe more and makes it on vodka with apricot chips. Came for a tasting and appreciated it. In color and taste it resembles natural apricot juice with the addition of alcohol.
To add exotic taste and aroma, after the first filtration, you can pour a pinch of cloves, coriander or cinnamon into the tincture. A very refined drink will turn out if you include an additional ingredient – vanillin.
I have already compared the tincture with strong black tea with a slice of lemon. From these associations, another recipe was born – with mint. A little dried or fresh mint, a week of exposure – and the result will pleasantly please.
How to serve and with what to use
Apricot kernel tincture is recommended to be served chilled. If you store the bottle not in the refrigerator, but on the shelf in your home bar, be sure to add a piece of ice.
Be sure to use with a snack. Even the lightest. It can be fresh fruit slices, the tincture goes well with lemon, kiwi and apples. If the evening is planned with a girl, be sure to purchase a bar of dark chocolate.
You can serve this tincture for a hearty dinner. It is in harmony with meat dishes, side dishes, salads.
I love apricot tincture with lemon. The tenderness of the drink, combined with the sourness of citrus, causes a storm of positive emotions in my taste buds.
Until recently, I had no idea that from the seeds that I always threw away, you can make such a delicious tincture! Now I’m thinking – what other recipes based on scrap products exist? Share your unusual methods to create drinks from what is not eaten.
Dear readers, remember that alcohol abuse harms your body. Take care of yourself!