A drink such as a tincture of berries made at home, known to Russian people for hundreds of years. And we have for him today there is a huge field for experimentation and creativity. You can insist on alcohol almost any berries, fruits, leaves and stems of plants, dry and fresh ... Almost everything that grows in the garden can be used to make tinctures.
The alcohol base can also be different: from traditional vodka in our area to gin and whiskey. Given that the latest drinks are quite expensive, in this article we will only consider tinctures from berries on alcohol or vodka. Why berries? Because alcohol-based recipes based on their use are obtained almost without fail by everyone, even beginners in home winemaking.
To begin, consider a few rules, having learned that you will get more chances to produce a high-quality and tasty hop product. First, take berries only of home origin. It doesn’t matter if raspberries have grown in your garden or at your neighbor, the main thing is that you are sure that they are not processed with any chemicals during growth and maturation. Naturally, a tincture of berries, made at home on the basis of a strawberry or raspberry purchased at a supermarket, for example, is absurd.
Secondly, berries must be frozen before cooking. Thus, their structure is destroyed, and they are more willing to give all their taste and healthy properties to alcohol. Thirdly, sugar is an obligatory basis of all berry tinctures. It helps to maximize the taste of fruits in the drink and gives it additional strength. And the last of the required: tincture of berries at home can not be infused for less than a month. Therefore, you do not need to open the lid often to see how it "feels" and taste it. The first two weeks of insisting it is better not to disturb her at all.
Now, actually, about how to prepare a tincture of berries. Take raspberries for example. The simplest recipe is to mix it with sugar in equal proportions and pour vodka. You can take any proportions, depending on what kind of strength drink you want to get. Any tincture of berries made at home is infused in a dark place in a sealed container. And the longer it stands, the richer and more refined its taste will be.
Alcohol tinctures are prepared according to the same pattern, only alcohol is diluted with water. In such drinks you can add various spices, honey, leaves of fruit trees, endlessly playing with taste. By the way, on the basis of such homemade preparations you can create unique alcoholic cocktails, but this is a topic for a separate article.
Finally, I would like to mention the dangers of such drinks. After all, whatever one may say, a tincture of berries made at home is alcohol. And strong. What can be said here? As the saying goes, in moderation - it’s good. And if you procure homemade tincture in order to lighten your mood a bit in a boring evening at a family dinner or miss a glass or two for a feast for appetite, then this is possible. The main thing is not to abuse it.