Midori – melon liqueur at home

In a month or two, melons will appear – a favorite delicacy of the outgoing summer. They will appear, unfortunately, not for long. However, the melon season can be extended until next year. We will prepare melon liqueur at home, while we will try to make it as similar as possible to the world-famous Japanese liqueur Midori.

Midori is a neon green melon liqueur, which was launched in the 70s of the last century by Japan’s main alcohol giant Suntory. The drink quickly captured the market, becoming one of the symbols of the nightclub life of the Land of the Rising Sun, and later Europe. In 1978, Midori made his way to US nightclubs. The debut took place in the eminent, provocative New York club Studio 54, where a grand party was held in honor of the Asian drink.

A feature of Midori, which is also a difficulty for us, is its composition – not the pulp of the melon, but its peel is used to make the drink. Often, the peel of melons that are sold with us do not give the most pleasant aroma and taste, so most recipes for melon liqueurs involve the use of only pulp. But we assure you, the drink turns out to be no worse. Of course, at home it will be even more difficult to give the drink an original green color – dye is added to commercial Midori.

In its pure form, liquor is rarely drunk. Best of all, its banana flavor, and it is more like a banana ala Pisan Ambon, is revealed in cocktails, especially with fruit juices and rum. The most popular cocktail based on it is called Japanese Slipper (Japanese shoes), which is made from equal parts of Midori, Cointreau and lemon juice. But we are moving away from the topic.

Melon liqueur ordinary

• 1 melon of medium size;
• 250-300 ml 70% alcohol;
• 200-250 g of sugar;
• 500 ml water.

Peel the melon from the peel and seeds, cut into small pieces (about 1,5 cm each). The result should be about 250 ml in volume. Put the cut in a jar and pour alcohol so that it covers the melon completely. Insist in a dark cool place for 7 days. Then drain the alcoholized fruit drink without squeezing the melon, and leave it alone, and pour 100-150 g of sugar to taste on the fruit. Wait 3-5 days until the sugar is completely dissolved and syrup is formed. Drain the syrup through gauze, pour water into a jar, mix well and strain into the first drain, while squeezing the melon well.

This recipe applies equally to papaya, mango, and all types of melon.

Next, you need to boil the resulting syrup: add the amount of sugar remaining according to the recipe and heat it until the latter is completely dissolved. Cool the syrup and combine with alcoholized melon juice. Let the drink stand for at least 2 weeks, and preferably a month or two. Liquor is ready. In this recipe, you can use vodka – then we do not add water, but pass the melon through a juicer or squeeze the juice with gauze (if the fruit is ripe and juicy). Next, we need to mix 250 ml / g of melon juice, vodka and granulated sugar. Leave for 1-2 weeks, shaking occasionally, then strain.

As a result, you will get a very fragrant and tasty drink, which in terms of taste is as close as possible to the commercial Midori melon liqueur. Made at home and from fresh melon, the liqueur will have a more pronounced melon flavor and taste. The color of the drink is from straw yellow to yellow-green (depending on the melon variety).

To get the same rich green color as the Japanese Midori, you will have to add food coloring to our liquor (5-6 drops of dark green and yellow). With natural ingredients, this result cannot be achieved.

Midori liqueur by original technology

This recipe was found on one of the American forums. According to the author, this recipe will make almost authentic Midori, but for the “neon green” color, you will have to use food coloring again.

For 2 liter jar:

• 1 medium sized melon;
• 500 ml alcohol 95%;
• 500 ml of distilled water;
• 400 g cane or white sugar.

Carefully peel a well-washed melon, leaving about 0,5-0,6 cm of pulp on the peel. Let the pulp that remains for its intended purpose – inside your beloved. But cut the peel with the remnants of the pulp into medium cubes and place them in a 2-liter jar. Fill with alcohol and insist in a dark, cool place for 30-40 days. Shake vigorously every 2-3 days. After 30-40 days, cook a simple syrup from water and sugar: heat the water and add sugar to it, stir over a fire until the sugar is completely dissolved.

Cool the syrup, and filter the melon infusion, getting rid of the peel. Mix syrup and infusion, shake well. Let the drink stand for another 1 week and then filter through several layers of cheesecloth soaked in alcohol. The drink can be driven through a cotton filter.

If you do not want the alcohol to evaporate during filtration, cover the top of the filter with cling film.

Bottle homemade filtered Midori, tint if desired, and leave to age for at least 3 months.

For this recipe, you will have to tinker with the choice of melon. Ideally, you need a variety that is very sweet and fragrant, with dense pulp and skin – such, for example, grow in Egypt. If you are not sure that the skin of the selected melon will ennoble the drink, feel free to refuse it and keep only the pulp for 30 days, but it must be cut very finely. True, before adding the syrup, you will have to tinker with filtration, but it’s worth it.

Melon syrup liqueur

This recipe does not claim the right to be called an analogue of Midori, it is not even prepared from melon fruits. This recipe uses syrup, which you can buy at the store or make yourself (there are recipes on the Internet, but they are very superficial). It’s not easy to get hold of melon syrup, but I’ll leave this recipe here anyway, especially since one of our readers has already prepared liquor on it and, according to him, the drink came out worthy.

• 540 ml of melon syrup;
• 300 ml of alcohol 50% (vodka);
• 60 ml of water;
• 1 tbsp. lemon juice.

Pour all the ingredients into a jar, mix well and leave to infuse in a dark, cool place for at least a month. Then filter and drink. Of course, this liqueur is much easier to prepare, and the result is more predictable. If you want to reproduce a commercial product, use commercial ingredients.

As you can see, it is not difficult to prepare melon liqueur at home, but it is problematic to predict the result (only melon syrup gives a predictable result). There are a lot of variables, but, like with any other alcoholic drink, everything comes with experience 😉