The refined pleasure that traditional Italian liquor gives is highly appreciated by lovers of a dessert drink. But the magic recipes of sambuca in the homeland of delicious tinctures are kept by manufacturers in the strictest confidence. Its spicy aniseed flavor is perfect for both an aperitif and as a digestif.
Cocktails are prepared from it, it is drunk with three coffee beans, symbolizing health, happiness and wealth. The most spectacular way to drink Italian or homemade liquor - sambuca - is to heat it with a lighter.
Types of traditional sambuca on store shelves
The most common variant of this dessert drink is a white sambuca, which is a clear liquid with a mild aniseed taste. It is customary to serve coffee (espresso), fruits and light desserts. Sambuca goes well with cheeses. Anise liqueur also perfectly sets off the taste of fish and meat dishes. Another type of drink is called red. Thanks to the addition of extracts from colorful juicy berries to sambuca recipes, it acquires a bright red color and a pleasant fruity aftertaste.
The third option is a dark blue Italian liquor. It is customary to call it "black." Manufacturers of this drink get it by adding licorice extract and Mediterranean spices. Thanks to the mysterious list of components passed down by winemakers from generation to generation, black sambuca has the most sophisticated taste.
Party hit and nice cure
In any company, aniseed liquor with a strength of 38-42 degrees with a sweet, but not sugary taste quickly finds its admirers. Its unique aroma and ability to illuminate the enchanted faces of guests with a blue flame gives a special charm to a friendly party or family celebration. Due to the high concentration of sugars (fructose) and a higher density than vodka, as well as the content of fusel oils, the sambuca can burn in a glass, heating up, for 3-5 seconds or even 10-20. Aroma extracts in liquor have a beneficial effect on the condition of a person with a cold, soften the throat and soothe a strong cough.
In addition, liquor stimulates the digestive glands and strengthens the immune system. Homemade sambuca recipes cannot completely repeat the set of original ingredients of Italian liquor. However, to prepare almost identical drink with a similar taste and aroma, domestic winemakers can do it.
Distiller is an important detail
A popular liquor at home is made, like many similar drinks, in stages. First, concentrated tincture is prepared, and then it is distilled to obtain aromatic alcohol. At the second stage, for the manufacture of a sambuca with a rich smell, you need a distiller of any design. If there is no distillation cube, then a tincture simulating sambuca is prepared within two weeks.
The home-made recipe for such a drink consists of diluted alcohol or vodka (1 liter),
anise fruits (2/3 cup), citrus zest (1 medium orange and half a lemon), brown sugar (1 cup) and a small amount of water for making syrup. Anise is slightly warmed up in a pan, syrup is made from sugar with the addition of a couple of drops of vanilla. Plant materials are poured with alcohol and infused for 14-21 days. Then the tincture should be filtered and diluted with cooled syrup. A thoroughly mixed drink settles again for at least 14 days, after which the “same sambuca” will be ready for use. Connoisseurs relate to a similar imitation of aniseed liquor with a smile, and beginners appreciate it for the simplicity of preparation.
Stage One: Insisting
To make this sambuca at home, the tincture recipe includes: 500 ml of alcohol, preferably 600 g of fructose (it can be replaced with 300 g of sugar) and ordinary anise seeds.
If star anise stars are used instead of anise, then they need to be ground in a mortar. The crushed raw material is poured into a jar and fructose is added (if sugar is used, it can ruin the transparency of the finished drink). Pour alcohol into the container with the contents and insist in a dark and warm place for about five days. During this period, the concentration of essential oils in the future drink will become maximum. The liquid is filtered through cheesecloth. You can’t try this product yet, especially if elderberry is present in sambuca recipes. They contain a toxic substance that can break down during distillation. Before distillation, elderberry is poisonous!
Stage Two: Distillation Process
To the finished tincture, add 250-500 ml of water and pour it into a distiller or a home device for the production of moonshine. Then you need to distill the mixture over low heat at a speed of no more than two or three drops per second. The first fraction - 50 ml - is poured, since it can not be consumed. Tincture with a strength of about 70 degrees in a volume of 700-750 ml occupies the middle part of the distilled product. The remaining drops of milky color are also not suitable for the production of liquor.
Stage Three: Syrup Preparation and Mixing
Sweet syrup is obtained by mixing 600-700 g of fructose (or 0.4-0.5 kg of sugar) with 250-300 ml of water. All heated in an enamel pan and cook over low heat for several minutes. The white foam that occurs during cooking is removed. As soon as it ceases to appear on the surface, the syrup can be cooled and thoroughly mixed with the finished alcohol infusion.
Stage Four: Exposure
This stage of making sambuca with your own hands, the recipe of which the winemaker tries for the first time, is one of the most difficult. The resulting liquor is poured into pre-prepared containers (bottles are usually used for this purpose) and sealed tightly. The taste and aroma of the drink depends on the time of its exposure: from a month to six months or more. The longer the liquor is stored, the richer and more interesting its organoleptic properties become.
Homemade recipe for sambuca from moonshine
In addition to the distillation cube, to make a popular anise liqueur you need to take: 50 g of star anise (“stars”) and the same amount of anise seeds, 25 g of elderberry (black) inflorescences, 300 g of fructose, 3 g of lemon peel and 0.6 l of water. Pour the ingredients with one liter of moonshine and insist for five days. Before distillation add 250 ml of water, to the cube also send the whole anise and a third of the rest of the spicy mass. We distill sambuca from moonshine at the same slow pace as from vodka or alcohol (2-3 drops per second). Then we dilute fructose with 350 ml of boiling water and boil the syrup over low heat for about two minutes. Pour the finished distillate into the sweet mass in three steps, its main part - 700-750 ml (without “head” and “tails”). After cooling, pour the liquor into bottles and cork it.
Excerpt quality drink is at least 4 weeks. Only after this period the drink will form an amazing aroma and exquisite taste.
Deviation from the topic ...
Sometimes in cooking, there are often terms in which many are confused. So, above we described how to make an alcoholic drink at home. But there is a dish with a similar name. This is apple sambuc, the recipe of which I would also like to present to your attention. This is an airy dessert made from mashed potatoes, sugar, gelatin and beaten egg whites. A delicious fluffy mass is laid out in a bowl or molds, cooled in the refrigerator and served on the table. In order to please children and adults, you need to take 4 apples, 2 egg whites, 100 g of sugar, 15 g of gelatin and 100 ml of water. The apples must be peeled and the flesh cut into pieces and put in a saucepan. Add 50 ml of water and 75 g of sugar to apples. Extinguish them over low heat until soft. We dilute gelatin with cold boiled water and leave for half an hour to swell, then heat the solution until the grains disappear. We leave the container from the stove and allow to cool to room temperature. Pour the rest of the sugar into softened apples and beat in a homogeneous mass. Proteins turn a blender into a stable dense foam. We mix it with the cooled applesauce, into which we pre-pour the gelatin, and actively raise the protein foam with the spoon from the bottom up. The more accurately you manage to mix the apple sambuk, the more airy and gentle it will turn out. Next, it needs to be laid out in tins (pans) and left for 2-3 hours in the refrigerator. Light and delicate dessert is ready!