Summer is fleeting.
In any case, in the middle latitudes, where currants have chosen a "permanent place of residence".
The desire to preserve a “slice” of summer in all the variety of its colors in the form of winter blanks is most inherent in our people.
With the advent of vodka in Russia, the idea came to spirit berries.
Initially, fruit tinctures were prepared by sorcerers, healers and healers, but very quickly such tasty and hoppy ideas “went to the people”, overgrown in the process of preparation with new specific details, consisting mainly of local ingredients.
Of course, recipes for all kinds of tinctures have been known to people for thousands of years.
In ancient China, Rome, Egypt and Greece, tinctures were prepared with herbs and roots. But it was berry tinctures that became a new touch in the global assortment of extracts, like the traditional Russian vodka.
Continuing the introductory part a bit, we note that grapes and winemaking, due to their climatic affection and the complete lack of selection experience, came into the life of our ancestors much later.
It just so happened!
Wine and vodka were brought to us from Europe in the sixteenth century, and then, as usual, the Russians were accused of the fact that vodka was their invention and main addiction. Although, in fact, the word "vodka" is a derivative of the word "water". It was on the water that our witches prepared their first healing potions, but quickly realized that alcohol tinctures are stored longer and have, besides, a ton of other equally useful properties.
Currant tincture - basic technological principles
The main idea of the preparation of alcohol tinctures is to maximize the extraction of beneficial plant components.
It is known that alcohol or alcohol-containing liquids are solvents, like water, and even vegetable oil. Each of these solvents in its pure form has certain physical properties that are used in the preparation of tinctures.
Alcohol for the preparation of tinctures is used both in a "pure", undiluted state, and in the form of an aqueous solution. For fruit tinctures, the use of such alcohol in combination with natural fruit juice is permissible. The ratio of alcohol to juice (water) in each recipe may be different, depending on the requirements for the finished product.
The requirements for tinctures mean the content of alcohol, sugar and natural fruit component (juice) in percentage terms. These components also form the main taste of alcoholic beverages of this group. Further, the issue of technology for the preparation of tinctures is expanding significantly and already refers to the topic of the range of drinks, even within the same type of raw material.
For example, currant tincture on vodka can be prepared with low-degree (18-20%) or strong (20 to 55%), and for the preparation of alcohol-based currant tinctures for alcohol - up to 60% alcohol content. To tinctures on currants with vodka, with a low and medium alcohol content, can be attributed liquors and liquors, which have much similar cooking technology.
Pouring - as a rule, low-degree, sugar-containing alcoholic drinks, reminiscent of fortified wine in their composition. Sweet and semi-sweet, as well as semi-sweet, low-degree tinctures also resemble the listed drinks to taste, but differ in the way they are prepared. For the latter, ready-made juice is often used, which is blended with alcohol, with the addition of sugar or syrup.
Compared to liquors and tinctures, liquors contain a significantly larger amount of sugar (25-60%) and their strength can range from 17 to 45%.
Strong cooking tinctures have a similar cooking technology. Actually, the difference between liquors and sweet tinctures is in origin, because liquor is a West European invention, and its name is, accordingly, of West European origin (liqueur (French) - liquid).
To multicomponent tinctures can be attributed to balms, which, as a rule, do not contain sugar, or contain it only in the range of 0-7%. Their strength varies from 40 to 60%.
So to summarize:
Bitter, semisweet, sweet and dessert tinctures are distinguished by sugar content. The latter type is a low-degree alcoholized juice. Dessert tinctures, although they contain a small amount of sugar (up to 20%), but due to their low alcoholicity seem very sweet.
Home-made currant tinctures do not have to correspond to the product classification at all, because the GOST home master does not have a decree if the drink is prepared for personal use. Add as much sugar as you see fit.
The strength of tinctures ranges from 17 to 60% and higher, when it comes to medicinal tinctures, extracts used in the food industry, when extracts based on pure alcohol are used to flavor products.
For the preparation of homemade tinctures, you can use not only alcohol, but also vodka, well-purified moonshine, as well as, in some cases, strong liquors, balms, cognac, rum, brandy.
The most important component of any tincture, which forms its taste, aroma and color, is a vegetable raw material, for which there are no restrictions for choosing home-made liquor drinks, and everyone can show their creative abilities in drawing up the gamut of the drink.
To obtain tinctures, you can use dried or frozen currant berries, concentrated juice or syrup, jam, jams. Often, berries and blackcurrant leaves are used as a flavor in combination with other, less aromatic berries.
The main method of preparing tinctures is maceration (infusion). In addition, from the possible options for preparing tinctures in industrial production at home, you can apply the method of vortex extraction, which allows you to get the highest quality alcohol extract. For example, for this purpose, a stationary blender with a bowl, in which you can put the extracted raw materials along with alcohol, is suitable for household kitchen appliances. Moreover, with this method, the currant berries are crushed, which allows to improve the quality of the product, which is better saturated when the alcohol penetrates into the smallest particles of raw materials.
From the old folk methods of preparing "Russian vodka" a good option is vodka-casserole. The essence of this method of preparing tinctures is to pasteurize future tinctures. The heating of the alcohol in which the crushed raw material is located allows you to speed up the extraction process and get a more saturated product. But when using this method, it is important to remember that alcohol evaporates when heated. To prevent this from happening, the container with all the components of the tincture placed in it is sealed by coating it with a thick layer of dough or clay, then the vessel in this form is placed in the oven, periodically heating it to 80-90 ° C. After 48 hours, you can print a completely chilled vessel and proceed to the filtration step.
Some modern ovens are able to cook or heat food, working on high-frequency radio waves. If there is such a furnace on the farm, then take note that ultrasound is used in the industrial production of tinctures and their maceration. Such stoves are able to recognize products in a sealed form and independently select the temperature for their heating, and such a technique in the house is a godsend for preparing tinctures.
Recipe 1. Strong currant tincture - extract for dough products and desserts
Composition:
Alcohol (93.6%) 0.5 L
Blackcurrant 500 g
Fresh currant leaves 200 g
Cooking Technology:
Wash the berries and fresh leaves of blackcurrant and dry them slightly. Cut or tear leaves. Transfer the raw materials into the blender bowl and pour in the alcohol. Turn on the blender and, gradually increasing speed, beat the contents of the bowl. Pour the mixture into a glass jar and close it tightly to prevent leakage of alcohol. It is advisable that the tank be filled to ¾ volume.
Pour water into a large saucepan, place a jar there and warm it, not bringing to a boil. The maximum pasteurization temperature is 70-80С. After cooling the water in the pan to 40 ° C, repeat heating 5-6 times. Leave the jar closed for 72 hours. After that take a clean and dry bowl, pour the contents of the jar onto the canvas and squeeze over the bowl. Pour the extract from the bowl into a clean jar and seal tightly. Soak for several days and repeat filtering if necessary.
The prepared tincture of currant for alcohol can be added to sweet and meat dishes, sauces and pastries to improve the taste. In a similar way, you can prepare fruit extract from other fruits.
Recipe 2. Sweet currant tincture on vodka
Composition:
Whitecurrant 1 kg
Sugar 1.5 kg
Cherry, yellow (pitted) 800 g
Vanilla 15 g
Vodka (40%) 2.1 L
Cooking Technology:
Wash and sort the berries, removing the spoiled ones. Put the berry mass in a blender bowl and, with sugar, carefully chop. Transfer to a bottle and fill with vodka. Add vanilla. Soak until sugar crystals are completely dissolved. After 20 days, filter. Pour the tincture cleaned from the cake into a clean jar and, corking it, place it in a dark place for storage. Check the tincture periodically. If sediment appears, repeat filtering, after which it can be bottled.
Tincture can be consumed already after 3 weeks, the field of maceration, but its true taste and color will not form before six months: it will acquire a pleasant golden color, a more saturated taste and slightly stretching, liqueur consistency.
Recipe 3. Bitter tincture of currant on alcohol
Composition:
White currant (juice) 1.2 l (± 2 kg of berries)
Cornflowers, blue (flower petals) 200 g
Sugar 140 g
Alcohol (96%) 0.6 L
Cooking Technology:
Fill the petals with alcohol and insist for at least 3 weeks. To accelerate maceration, one of the methods described above can be used. To get more juice from the berries of currant, sort it, grind it with a blender and add sugar.
Use a non-metallic container to avoid oxidation of the product. After surviving mashed and sweetened berries for 3-4 hours, wipe them through a fine sieve or squeeze using a press.
Pasteurize the juice at a temperature of 90 degrees for 20 minutes. Pour cake with alcohol tincture of blue cornflowers, close the jar with a lid and let stand for a day, periodically shaking the contents of the jar. Filter the alcohol tincture and add chilled pasteurized juice to it. Stir and pour the drink into bottles. It is better to withstand tincture for at least 10-15 days for the final formation of taste.
Recipe 4. Tincture of currants, raspberries and tea roses
Composition:
Hibiscus petals, dry 50 g
Redcurrant berries 1.0 kg
Raspberry 400 g
Sugar 600 g
Vodka (45%) 1.8 L
Cooking Technology:
Prepare tincture in advance from vodka and tea rose petals, keeping hibiscus on vodka for at least 3 weeks. Filter the tincture. Grind fresh berries with a blender or other household appliances.
After falling asleep the berries with sugar and keeping them until the juice is plentifully separated, boil to a boil. Transfer the mass to a bottle, pour vodka infused with hibiscus flowers. Stir and cover. Insist for two weeks, filter and bottle, making sure there is no sediment.
Recipe 5. Tincture on currant on mountain ash vodka
Composition:
Redcurrant juice, frozen 500 g
Sugar 0.5 kg
Tincture, mountain ash (40%) 1.0 L
Cooking Technology:
Put briquette of frozen juice in an enameled pan. When it melts, add sugar and boil the syrup until thickened. Pour vodka into the cooled syrup, stir and pour into prepared containers. Soak the cooked tincture for at least a week, so that the smell of vodka and fruit syrup merges into the overall composition.
Recipe 6. Therapeutic tincture of currant alcohol
Composition:
Redcurrant (fresh berries) 1.8 kg
Thyme (dried herb) 100 g
Oregano 80 g
Oak bark 40 g
Sugar 700 g
Water 0.5 L
Alcohol, undiluted 0.75 L
Cooking Technology:
Prepare the currant: sort and wash the berries. Wipe them through a sieve into squeezed juice, pour sugar and boil until a stretching consistency. Mix the cake with chopped grass and oak root. Put in a thermos and pour cool boiling water. Leave for a day to insist, then drain the liquid, squeeze the thick. Pass the infusion through the filter, combine with berry syrup and alcohol. Stir, cork in a glass container and let stand for at least 10 days.
This tincture treats a throat and a cold, restores strength.
Currant tincture - useful tips and tricks
The shelf life of alcohol tinctures is longer than that of infusions that do not contain alcohol, but nevertheless, storage rules must be observed. Remember that despite the use of fruit tinctures as an aperitif, they initially have a healing effect, and any medicine has terms and conditions of storage.
It is recommended to store fruit tinctures prepared under industrial conditions for no more than two years. Similar homemade drinks should not be stored for more than a year, given the lack of special equipment for their manufacture.
The ideal container for storing tinctures is dark-colored glass. In no case do not use plastic bottles, metal jars that are subject to oxidative processes for storage. The beverage must be hermetically sealed during storage. If you find clouding tincture or the appearance of sediment at the bottom of the tank, refuse to use it.
