Preparing absinthe at home is actually not as difficult as it might seem at first glance. And a decent amount will be saved, because in stores absinthe is prohibitively expensive. This is a very expensive alcohol that belongs to the elite. If you make it yourself at home, then the drink will have no less pleasant aroma and rich characteristic color than the one that was manufactured under industrial conditions at the factory. Moreover, among the obvious pluses is the ability to independently adjust the taste of the drink, choose the herbs that you like most, including them in the author's recipe for your absinthe.
Preparation process
To prepare absinthe at home, you will need to go through four important steps. Each of them will need to pay special attention to the output you get a decent drink that will appeal to all your guests.
In short, first alcohol for absinthe is infused with herbs, then distilled. In the end, he needs to give everyone a familiar greenish tint and insist in warmth and darkness. If done correctly, the taste, smell and color will be pleasant and optimal.
Ingredients for a drink
So, in order to cook absinthe at home, you will need:
- alcohol;
- anise;
- wormwood;
- fennel;
- other herbs (it can be lemon balm, mint, dill or something else).
It should be noted right away that this is a universal set of ingredients that will be necessary for any absinthe that you prepare at home. Of course, if you want to add your individual copyright notes to the drink, you can vary the list of herbs used. But these are the main components that make up absinthe, without which you definitely can not do.
Components for Absinthe
Absinthe recipe at home can not do without alcohol. It must be taken with a strength of at least 70 percent. It is important that he can keep the essential oils in the drink. One of the important steps in preparing absinthe is distillation. However, if you decide to skip it, you can replace the alcohol with vodka.
To prepare absinthe at home, you need bitter wormwood, which is also called white or ordinary wormwood. Without it, this alcoholic drink will definitely not work. This is a herbaceous plant that belongs to the aster family. It is very unpretentious, grows almost everywhere, the main thing is that the soil is sufficiently moist. Wormwood is most prevalent in northern Africa and the countries of West Asia and Europe.
Bitter wormwood should be distinguished from wild. The first has a silver-gray color, it is she who is useful to us. When using most absinthe recipes at home, they take leaves and flowers, but you can also make a drink from the roots, it all depends on your preference. The main component of wormwood is thujone, a substance that has a certain hallucinogenic effect.
Absinthe necessarily contains anise. This is an ancient spice that was first used in the Middle East and the Mediterranean. On an industrial scale, it is now grown in Egypt and the countries of South America. For absinthe, we will definitely need anise seeds. They contain an essential oil in which there is anethole. This substance with a characteristic odor, which absinthe is so different.
Fennel is a plant from the celery family. It reaches two meters in height, while from the side it is very similar to dill. The smell and taste are very similar to anise, only has a sweeter taste. That's what green absinthe is made of.
Cooking technology
All homemade absinthe recipes are based on four stages. This is insisting, distillation, coloring and aging. We will analyze each of them in detail.
After reading this article, you are guaranteed to learn how to make absinthe. To start with the herbs that you decide to use, you need to peel the leaves and flowers. After that, they are poured into a glass jar. They should occupy two thirds of the volume. Instead of a can, you can use a bottle. Fill everything with alcohol. After that, we put the container with our future drink on a warm battery to protect it from light, cover it with a rag.
If you are preparing absinthe at home, the mixture should be infused for at least two weeks, and best of all, if not less than a month.
Distillation
At the second stage, it is necessary to distill the alcohol using a moonshine still. At home, it is recommended to dilute the drink to a fortress of 58 percent alcohol content. It is worth noting how many degrees in this absinthe.
Interestingly, there is no single answer to the question. In the manufacture of industrial lots, there are brands with an alcohol content of 70 degrees, but there are also 75, and even 86 degrees. At home, it is advised to make the alcohol content significantly lower.
58 degrees is the optimal value to keep all the essential oils and aromatic substances in the drink, preventing them from leaving before the set time. Otherwise, you will not get a drink with a rich taste.
The infusion diluted with water is poured into the distillation cube of your moonshine. About a third do not need to be added. So you create enough evaporation area, which is enough to carry out the distillation.
The moonshine is heated to 78-79 degrees Celsius. Note that during the distillation process, you can add a little more herbs to the alcohol, but you will need to carefully monitor that they do not burn. Otherwise, the taste will be burnt.
It is worth noting that when preparing absinthe, the first 50 ml will be containing light substances. It is recommended to pour them, and prepare the last 200 ml, but also not to drink.
Coloring
Everyone knows that one of the main distinguishing features of absinthe is its color. The color of absinthe after distillation must be completely transparent so that it turns green and saturated, using anise, fennel and wormwood, which were used previously. To them are added lemon balm, mint, dill and thyme.
Herbs must be poured into absinthe, tightly closed and put in water, heated to a temperature of 50 degrees. It will take you from three to 30 minutes to stain. As soon as the drink has the necessary color, the bottle must be removed from the water and cool.
Aging
After coloring the absinthe, the drink will have a sharp aroma and taste. Therefore, it is not recommended to drink it immediately. It is better to withstand at least two weeks. It is recommended to pour the drink into glass containers and put away in a dark place in which there would be room temperature.
After absinthe settles, its smell and taste will become much milder. But it is worth emphasizing that the longer it is stored, the more its color will change in the direction of yellow. This often happens due to some kind of mistakes, mismatch in the recipe. Because of this, the decomposition of chlorophyll occurs, which accumulated during the coloring. Although the external characteristics are deteriorating, it practically does not affect the taste.
Useful Tips
Now you know how to make absinthe so that you get guaranteed quality, some useful tips will help.
First of all, pay attention to the color and degree of your alcoholic drink. Indeed, in addition to the classic emerald absinthe, it is often made of a different color - amber or brown. To make it yellow, dyes are added to it or simply insist more on time. In the process, chlorophyll is destroyed, it ceases to be so green.
For absinthe brown, wormwood roots are used, not its flowers or leaves. Black acacia can also be added, thanks to which alcohol darkens.
Various recipes allow you to change the strength of the drink. Its strength can be from 55 to 85 degrees.
Without moonshine
Do not despair if you do not have a moonshine at home. Replace it with laboratory glass. To do this, prepare the following equipment:
- Liebig refrigerator;
- two-liter heat-resistant round-bottom flask;
- two hoses;
- thermometer;
- Wurz nozzle.
Remember that the flask does not withstand exposure to open fire, so you need to use a water bath to heat it by placing the flask in a large pot of water. In extreme cases, instead of a flask, the use of a distillation cube or pressure cooker is allowed. Water to the refrigerator must be served from the bottom up.
Cooking from moonshine
You can make absinthe from moonshine. To do this, you will need the following components:
- one liter of moonshine with a strength of 80-85 degrees;
- 100 grams of bitter dried wormwood;
- 50 grams of anise seeds;
- 50 grams of fennel seed ;
- 5 grams of lemon balm;
- 10 grams of hyssop.
In the container for infusion, we pour wormwood, fennel and anise. Hermetically close and put for two weeks in a dark place in which room temperature is maintained. Shake the bottle once a day.
The resulting infusion on herbs is sent to the cube of the moonshine still with a coil, we add another three and a half liters of water, reducing the strength to 20%. The fact is that overtaking a stronger infusion can be explosive.
We heat the apparatus over medium heat so that the finished absinthe drips little by little, rather than pouring a stream. Check that the distillate in the outlet is cold. The main product is selected before the appearance of turbidity, only after that the distillation ends. Note that during the distillation process, the color of the distillate changes from crystal clear to golden. This is a normal situation.
To get a characteristic green tint, pour half the drink into a jar, adding hyssop and lemon balm, for bitterness you can add a little wormwood. After this, mix, cover and leave for two days in a dark place. Again, shake the bottle once a day. Cover the remaining absinthe in a sealed container.
Pass the filtered infusion through cheesecloth, and then squeeze thoroughly, mixing with the transparent part. At the very end, absinthe is diluted to the strength that suits us.
Absinthe from moonshine is bottled in airtight bottles. Before use, it is recommended to clean it in the refrigerator for a quarter of an hour. So the taste will improve, and the absinthe itself will stabilize. The shelf life of the tincture is five years. In this case, there is a prerequisite - it must be protected from direct sunlight.
Types of absinthe
In the world there are several varieties of absinthe. Consider the main ones. The drink is divided into categories depending on the color, strength and content of the thujone.
So, they emit not only green, but also black, yellow, red, blue and even transparent absinthe. Of course, it will not be easy to get such a color variety at home, but it can be done if desired.
In terms of thujone content, absinthe is divided into three categories. Most European brands make a drink with a low content of this substance (content from 1.5 to 10 mg / l). Varieties that are produced in Switzerland and the Czech Republic contain from 25 to 100 mg / l, i.e., with a high content of thujone. There are some French and Swiss March, which do not have in the composition of this substance. Mostly these are tinctures that only imitate the taste, color and smell of absinthe.
Absinthe history
In the world there are several versions of the appearance of absinthe. The most common drink originated in Switzerland. He appeared in the town of Couve in 1792, near the border with France.
Enrio sisters lived in it, who prepared medicinal potions. Including they used the method of distillation of tincture on anise and wormwood. The final composition of the product also included hyssop, coriander, parsley root, Veronica, fennel, spinach and lemon balm. The sister’s healing elixir was sold with the help of Dr. Ordiner, who had fled from France to Switzerland during the French Revolution.
Some historians believe that the recipe was developed by Ordiner himself. He prescribed it to his patients as a cure for love.