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In Germany, schnapps is considered a drink for a good company, the Germans respect this spirit no less than the Russians vodka, and the French cognac. According to the production technology, schnapps is close to moonshine, but there are several significant differences in the culture of consumption. We will look at how to drink and cook different types of schnapps at home.
Schnapps – the name of a group of strong alcoholic drinks (38-40 degrees), obtained by double distillation of natural fruit or grain mash, prepared without the addition of sugar, artificial yeast (baking or alcohol) and other ingredients. Schnapps tastes like ordinary fruit or cereal moonshine, but has a more pronounced smell.
Most often, schnapps is made from cherries, peaches, plums, apples, pears, raspberries, herb wheat, and even potatoes. It is believed that it is better to use wild fruits, as they give the drink an original flavor and unique aroma. Depending on the raw materials used, about 30 types of schnapps are distinguished.
Historians believe that schnapps first appeared in the XNUMXth century in Germany and Austria. Large distilleries began to be built a century later – at the end of the XNUMXth and beginning of the XNUMXth century. At first, the drink was used as a cure for all diseases and a rejuvenating agent. After some time, people realized that thanks to the intoxicating effect of schnapps, you can drink just for fun. Moonshine began to be brewed not only in distilleries, but also in private households, using any raw materials available on the farm.
Although schnapps is considered the national German spirit, the center of production is Tyrol, a region in the Eastern Alps, which is part of Austria. It’s just that Germany actively popularizes schnapps in the world, so most tourists associate the drink with Germany. The Germans put the production of schnapps on stream, in the city of Oberkirch there is even an academy that studies recipes.
In addition to the traditional, there is the so-called “American schnapps” with a strength of 20-25 degrees, produced in North America. In fact, these are liqueurs prepared on the basis of ordinary schnapps. They have nothing to do with classic German and Austrian drinks.
How to drink schnapps
Schnapps is drunk from ordinary glasses in small portions of 20-30 ml. To feel the aroma of the raw material, fruit (cherry, peach, pear, etc.) schnapps are served at a temperature of 16-20°C. First, alcohol vapors are slowly inhaled and only then the glass is knocked over. Cereal varieties that do not have a unique aroma are consumed very chilled. Schnapps is eaten with fruits, Bavarian sausages, sausages and herring.
Another way is to put a slice of fruit from which the schnapps is made into a cognac glass, then pour the drink itself. Before tasting, remove the slice from the glass and smell it. Drink schnapps, eat fruit from a glass.
In Hamburg and Hanover, schnapps is washed down with unfiltered white beer. But this combination leads to rapid intoxication. Therefore, if schnapps is too strong for you, it is better to dilute it with still mineral water or fruit juice, but not beer.
Schnapps recipe at home
We will make apricot schnapps, using the same technology you can make German moonshine from any other fruit raw material, for example, from pears or apples, the main thing is not to add yeast and sugar.
Composition:
- ripe apricots – 10 kg;
- water – 8-10 liters.
Technology of preparation
1. Remove the seeds from unwashed ripe apricots, knead the fruits with your hands until they become a homogeneous viscous mass. Apricots cannot be washed, as the skin contains wild yeast necessary for fermentation.
2. Pour the resulting apricot mass into a can (another fermentation container), add 3 liters of water, mix.
3. Bandage the neck with gauze, put for 3-4 days in a dark, warm place (temperature 18-28 degrees).
4. If signs of fermentation appear (foam on the surface, smell of mash), add 5-7 liters of water, mix thoroughly. The exact amount of water depends on the sugar content of the apricots. The task is to get liquid mash.
5. Install a water seal, transfer the container to a room with a temperature of 18-28°C. Since we did not add any yeast, the fermentation will be comparatively long, between 20 and 45 days.
6. After the end of fermentation (bubbles do not appear from the water seal for a couple of days, the mash is bitter without sweetness, there is a layer of sediment at the bottom), pour the apricot mash into a cube and overtake on any moonshine still. Finish collecting the product when the strength in the stream falls below 30%.
7. Measure the strength of the resulting distillate. Determine the amount of pure alcohol.
8. Dilute moonshine with water up to 20% and overtake again. Collect the first 10-12% of the yield from the amount of pure alcohol in a separate container. This upper fraction is called “heads”, due to the content of harmful substances it is not suitable for consumption. Collect distillate until the strength in the stream falls below 45%.
9. Dilute all homemade schnapps with water up to 38-45%, pour into a glass container, close tightly and keep in a dark, cool place for 3-5 days to improve the taste.
mint schnapps recipe
Infusion and two distillations are required.
Composition:
- carnation – 12 buds;
- mint – 25-30 leaves;
- dried wormwood – 1 cup;
- dill seeds – 6 grams;
- anise – 8 grams.
- alcohol 96% – 500 ml.
Preparation
1. Add all the herbs to the jar, pour alcohol.
2. Close the lid tightly, put for 30 days in a dark place at room temperature. Shake every 5 days. Filter through cheesecloth.
3. Distill the tincture twice, after diluting it with water up to 20%. Do not take the heads, because pure alcohol was originally used. Finish harvesting the main product after the yield drops below 45%.
The result is a schnapps with a light minty aroma and a slightly bitter aftertaste.
