Malibu homemade coconut liqueur

Malibu liqueur is one of the most famous and best-selling sweet alcoholic drinks in the world. But it is quite possible to prepare coconut liqueur at home. We present you two Malibu recipes at once: one is almost identical to the original, and the second is implemented using simple methods and at no great cost.

Malibu liqueur is one of the most famous and best-selling sweet alcoholic drinks in the world. The classic “Malibu” is the personification of all the charms of island exoticism: the stunning effect of Jamaican rum, the transparency of the Caribbean Sea near the snow-white coast, the relaxedness of dark-skinned girls dancing under the marimbula, dressed only in nutshells and, of course, the unique taste and aroma of coconut, from this same shell mined.

But it is quite possible to prepare the Malibu liquor at home – all the delights described above, I suppose, will be especially good on chilly winter evenings in our latitudes! So, we present to you two Malibu recipes at once: one is almost identical to the original, and the second, although somewhat clumsy, is implemented using simple methods and at no great cost.

A little about Malibu liqueur

Malibu is a liquor that is native to the island of Barbados, in the Antilles archipelago. According to legend, during it one Barbados coconut fell into a barrel of rum and cracked. The nut was not immediately noticed, the rum stood unclaimed for a long time, after which it acquired an amazing taste and aroma.

This story is hardly true – otherwise coconut liqueur would have been known for a long time. Its history begins only in the 1980s. Initially, the drink was conceived as a kind of concentrate, designed to simplify the preparation of the wildly popular Puerto Rican Pina Colada cocktail – the drink used to contain coconut cream or milk, and you know, it is not always possible to get these ingredients outside the Caribbean.

Initially, Malibu liqueur was made only in Barbados, and products were used for it, to put it mildly, not quite of high quality – local rum, fruit brandy, coconut extract. Later, the production was bought by the Diageo alcohol conglomerate, the class of the drink grew noticeably, and its production was transferred to Jamaica. The current owner of the brand is Pernod Ricard.

Malibu recipe #1 – simple as a palm tree

As the saying goes, strength is in simplicity. And yet – in condensed milk. Her in this coconut liqueur, vaguely reminiscent of “Malibu” – more than enough! But you don’t have to run around in search of ingredients, from the “exotic” here there is only coconut flakes, which, thank God, we have in abundance in supermarkets.

So we need:

• Vodka (45-degree alcohol) – 1 liter.
• Coconut shavings – 400 grams;
• Condensed milk – 2 cans.

Pour coconut flakes into a jar and pour alcohol over it. Let it brew for about 10 days in a dark place, shaking occasionally. After that, the tincture is filtered so that no flakes remain in it. By the way, shavings can not be thrown away, but later used for confectionery purposes.

After filtration, condensed milk and water are added to the liquid – the total strength should be 21 °, respectively, we take about 400 ml of water. Everything is mixed well, after which the jar is sent to the refrigerator for 3-4 days. Do not shake the drink! During settling, the fat from condensed milk should exfoliate and float to the surface – you will need to get rid of it. The easiest way to do this is with a tube that sinks to the bottom of the jar. Pure liquid is drained according to the principle of communicating vessels – like gasoline from a tank. The resulting liquor must be insisted for another 7 days, and then re-cleaned from the fatty fraction. That’s it, our homemade “Malibu” is ready to eat!

Recipe “Malibu” №2 – more difficult, but more refined

In this recipe, we will try to bring our drink as close as possible to a real factory one. Those who have not tried Malibu liqueur or have seen it only in cocktails may not know that the real color of this drink is almost transparent, slightly whitish, only a dull white bottle. In this way, we will get homemade coconut liquor, which is similar in aroma, taste, and color to the original. But the ingredients in it are rarer and more expensive.

• White rum – 0.5 liters (in fact, vodka can also be used, but rum will give the drink a much more refined flavor);
• 250 grams of coconut;
• A can (400 ml) of coconut milk – thanks to vegans, now this canned product can be easily bought in large supermarkets;
• Vanilla sugar – 1 sachet or vanillin – 1 gram.
• Sugar for syrup – 350 grams.

As for the last ingredient. Some advise replacing regular beet sugar with brown cane sugar in the Malibu recipe. I would not recommend doing this: firstly, the transparency of the drink will suffer from this, and secondly, those who have tried it say that the taste does not change at all – the coconut clogs it anyway. If you really want to achieve authenticity – take coconut sugar, it is also found on sale.

Preparation:

Cooking rum tincture on coconut flakes, as in the first recipe. Separately, we make a syrup from equal parts of sugar and water, to which we add vanillin at the end. Do not boil the syrup for more than 20 minutes, otherwise it will begin to caramelize – darken. We add coconut milk to the tincture, and then we gradually introduce the syrup, stirring thoroughly and tasting the drink all the time. Here it is very important not to overdo it with sweetness, Malibu liqueur should not be cloying. When it seemed to you that the syrup was enough, put the mixture in the refrigerator for a couple of days.

Homemade Malibu with coconut milk should not provide as much fat as the condensed milk version. But you still have to peel it off. We do this with a thin tube, after which we send the drink for another week in a dark place. The second time to separate the fat is not necessary – after settling, the liquor can be immediately bottled. Well, or drink – as you’re lucky.

Such a home-made Malibu behaves in cocktails no worse than a store-bought one, it harmonizes perfectly with rum, cognac, Amaretto liqueur, juices, chocolate, and coffee. Lovers of sweets drink it in its pure form, as a digestif for various sweet desserts.