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Arriving in the village with my wife’s relatives, I thought to have a good rest from the city, to go fishing there, in the forest. But no, two days after my arrival, my mother-in-law, Nadezhda Ivanovna, sent me to pick raspberries.
Seeing my dissatisfied face, the second mother smiled and said that the berries are needed not only for jam, but also for tincture. This radically changed the situation. By evening, all the nearest raspberry bushes were robbed by me. I am eager to see what happens next.
For a long time I fought with you
The story was sent by a subscriber Alexey from Norilsk.
What ingredients and equipment will be needed
Alas, I had to not only observe, but directly participate in the process of preparing the tincture. To begin with, the mother-in-law determined what we would need:
- Vodka – half a liter. I had two bottles of Zelenaya Marka with me for 269 rubles. I had to donate one of them to a good cause.
- Raspberries – 1,8 kg. The mother-in-law said that it does not matter which berry to use – fresh or frozen. Although freshly harvested raspberries make a slightly better tincture.
- Sugar. This good we got hold of in the nearest store. It needed only 120 gr. However, I had to buy a kilogram pack for 64 rubles. With a margin, so to speak.
- Water. Nothing compares to pure well water. It is pleasant to drink and tinctures from it are excellent.
Note! Raspberries must be carefully sorted and washed before preparing the tincture. If at least one berry gets a worm or a bug, all the work will go down the drain.
The cooking process
On the same evening, the whole house was busy sorting raspberries. The process is tedious, long, but necessary. Each berry had to be carefully examined and, if necessary, various insects had to be picked out of it, as well as rotted specimens were sifted out.
The next morning, my mother-in-law poured the berries into a small container, filled them with vodka and, under my puzzled looks, put the whole thing in the closet, saying that now they need to brew in a dark place at room temperature.
During cooking
Three days passed in agonizing expectation. Then the preparation of the tincture continued. Mother-in-law took a pan, poured water into it, added sugar. After boiling, the whole thing languished on fire for another 10 minutes. Then they cooled.
Important! You can not keep sugar on fire for a long time after boiling.
In the meantime, as the entrance to Narnia opened the closet. Nadezhda Ivanovna took out the treasured container from there and filtered it through a fine sieve. Not wanting to lose the precious liquid, I demanded to squeeze out the cake, to which my mother-in-law reluctantly agreed.
The syrup was combined with the tincture. Then the most difficult part of the preparation began for me. The robin was poured into jars and put into the cellar for 2 weeks. Well, at least I had a vacation for a whole month, and the second bottle of the Green Mark was never found with me.
In general, after the prescribed period, we took out the tincture and filtered it through gauze with cotton.
Important! After insisting, the robin must be poured into a clean container, and not into the one in which it was stored before.
What will be the result
And now the long-awaited tasting time has come. We gathered in a close family circle. The tincture was poured into glasses. I drank it for the first time, so at first, to the sincere laughter of my mother-in-law, I examined it and sniffed it.
Nice in the countryside in summer…
The liquid was light red in color. Raspberry almost interrupted the smell of alcohol. The taste was pleasant – slightly sweet, with a berry aroma. In general, it was not in vain that I then collected raspberries all day.
What can be added
A little later, Nadezhda Ivanovna said that we were preparing a classic version of the tincture with her. Wanting to improve the taste performance, local experts did everything they could with the robin.
For example, they took pure alcohol instead of vodka, or, conversely, something refined like rum, whiskey and other things.
Mint, cinnamon and even oak bark were added to the alcohol base. When the whole village ran out of not only fresh, but also frozen berries, jam was used, which successfully replaced the raspberries themselves, and it was also possible to save on sugar.
In general, our people have always been smart, especially when it comes to making alcohol at home. What version of raspberry tincture have you tried?