It is believed that tincture is a medicine.
You can’t argue with this thesis, because this use of an alcohol extract was actually conceived from the very beginning of civilization.
When it comes to valerian, calamus, ginseng and other well-known plants, which are phytotherapeutic agents, then it is worth considering the use of tinctures as medicines, and not otherwise. As the useful properties of plants were studied, their assortment expanded, as did the scope of application.
Fruit and berry tinctures have become a familiar and integral part of the diet, components of dishes and beverages in cooking. They are ingredients in desserts, confectionery, the basis in the preparation of liqueurs.
Homemade cherry liqueur on vodka - basic technological principles
Tincture is an extract (extract) from vegetable raw materials of soluble components (extractants). There are three main solvents: oil, water and alcohol. Oil components are typically used to extract essential oils from plants. The most common example of water infusion is tea. But water infusions have a short shelf life, unlike alcoholized tinctures, in which alcohol plays the role of not only a solvent, but also a preservative. Alcohol tinctures, depending on their type, can be diluted with water or juice to obtain the necessary strength.
Depending on their sugar content, they are classified into sweet, semi-sweet, bitter and dessert. The alcohol content in tinctures varies from 16% (in dessert tinctures) to 60% in bitters.
It should be noted, that liqueurs, liqueurs, balms in many respects have a similar technology with the preparation of tinctures, but in the classification of alcoholic beverages take a separate niche due to some distinctive features of the composition. So, the basis of balsams is a multicomponent herbal composition. The amount of balsam ingredients can reach 40 units, but these are mainly dry herbs and roots, and fruit components are used much less frequently. Liqueurs differ from tinctures in high sugar content: it is considered that its content should be no less than 1/3 of the total volume of the drink, regardless of the percentage of alcohol.
But in all of these beverages, alcohol and plant materials are used to a greater or lesser extent, with the addition of juices, fruit drinks, or water as part of alcohol.
In cooking homemade tinctures, the boundaries of the standard classification are more blurred. This is due to the fact that homemade masters often prepare tinctures using not special equipment, but the available equipment, their own recipe based on the available raw materials for manufacturing, and are often guided exclusively by their own taste, creating completely new drinks.
Therefore, sometimes there are unique recipes for homemade cherry liqueur on vodka, which, in addition to the above mentioned main components, includes classical combinations of cherries with chocolate, almonds, and oranges. The strength and sugar content of homemade cherry tincture on vodka can also be different, depending on the purpose of the drink.
Recipe 1. Sweet homemade cherry tincture on vodka
Drink according to this recipe can be used for impregnation of biscuits, cooking creams and desserts, as a standalone drink or an ingredient for a cocktail.
Composition:
- Sugar 5 kg
- Cherry 3.5 kg (seedless)
- Vodka (40%) 4.0 L
Cooking:
- Place the washed cherries in the bottle in layers, sprinkling with sugar. After filling the container, pour vodka on cherries, 3-4 cm above the level of the berries. Cap the bottle. The minimum exposure period is 1 month. It is advisable to mix the contents of the bottle at least once a day in order to improve the extraction process.
- After infusion, drain the liquid and squeeze the berries. Put the tincture squeezed out of the berries separately, wait for the fine particles to settle, remove from the sediment, combine with the previously strained tincture. Store tincture at 8 ° C, in tightly closed bottles.
- If you like homemade candies with cherries and liqueur, then do not squeeze out the filtered berries, but put them in small plastic molds and cover with melted chocolate. You can use the form for ice. From these same cherries you can make a wonderful chocolate cake.
Recipe 2. Homemade cherry tincture on vodka: cream with chocolate and almonds
Composition:
- Cherry juice 0.5 l
- Milk chocolate (chips) 1 kg
- Almond extract, oily 20 g
- Vodka 0.7 l
- Sugar 0.5 kg
- Vanilla essence 5 g
Cooking:
- Dissolve sugar in cherry juice, warming up to 35-40 degrees in an enamel bowl.
- Pour vodka, almond and vanilla essence into the cooled syrup, stir and pour into a glass bottle. Hold for two to three weeks.
- Melt the chocolate steamed and put it in a large bowl.
- Rub with a spatula, pouring the prepared tincture in small portions until a uniform, lasting consistency is formed.
- Beat with a mixer (blender) and pack up in bottles or shtoffs. Cream liqueur can be stored in the refrigerator for 10-15 days.
Recipe 3. Homemade cherry liqueur on vodka with citrus notes
Composition:
- Oranges 1 kg
- Cherry 1.5 kg
- Vodka 2.1 liters
- Sugar 2.0 kg
- Water 0.5 l
P preparation:
- Catch and wash the cherry. Put on a baking sheet and place in an oven preheated to 80 degrees. Add dried cherries (can be with a bone), combine with slices of oranges, place in a bottle. Pour half a liter of water in a heat-resistant dish, boil and dissolve all the sugar in it.
- Boil the syrup until caramelized. Cooled syrup thoroughly, until completely dissolved, mix with vodka and pour into a bottle of fruit. Insist drink 3-4 weeks.
- Strain. Press through thick gauze. Wait for the sediment to fall to the bottom of the glassware and carefully remove the tincture from the sediment by pouring it over the tube into a clean and dry container. Keep the tincture tightly closed in a cool place.
- It can be consumed immediately after removal from the sediment, but when aged for 6 months, the drink acquires a beautiful cognac color and caramel flavor.
Recipe 4. Semi-sweet homemade cherry tincture on vodka
Composition:
- Cherry 1 kg (net)
- Vodka 1.5 L
- Cinnamon 10 g
- Cherry leaves, fresh 300 g
- Sugar 1.2 kg
Cooking:
- Washed and lightly dried berries (without stones) and cherry leaves can be ground with a blender or using a meat grinder. Add cinnamon and sugar.
- Mix the mass, put it in a glass bottle, pour in the vodka. Shake the bottle to improve extraction during the first week, preferably several times a day.
- After three weeks, remove the tincture in a cool place and wait for the microparticles of the raw material to settle. After that, pour the clear liquid into a separate jar, and strain the thick through a gauze rolled up in several layers, squeezing it slightly.
- Put the filtered tincture separately: it must be removed from the sediment later, when it becomes transparent. You can combine the tincture from both cans, or use them separately.
Recipe 5. Strong homemade cherry tincture on vodka
Composition:
- Vodka 1,5 l
- Carnation 5-7 pcs.
- Muscat 2 nuts
- Vanilla 2 pod
- Oak bark 50 g
- Cherry leaves (tea) 150 g
- Coffee beans 10-15 pcs.
- Sugar 300 g
- Orange peel - to taste
- Cherry, dried 200 g
Cooking:
- Chop the spices into powder and put them together with oak bark and sugar in the bottle.
- Fill the prepared mixture with vodka.
- Close the bottle with a lid and remove for a long time in a dark place. After strain the tincture and fill it with dried berries.
- The ideal time for such an infusion is not less than a year, so those who do not intend to endure for so long can take ready-made cognac and pour dried leaves and cherry fruits with it, adding sugar.
Recipe 6. Homemade cherry liqueur on vodka: berry liqueur
Traditionally, for the preparation of fruit or berry liqueurs, only one of the elements of vegetable raw materials is used. They are mixed in finished form. But sometimes, at least for the purposes of experiment, you can deviate from the rules in order to get a completely new taste of the drink. The softness and sweetness of mulberry, raspberry aroma, bird cherry tartness and cherry sourness are a sample of harmony of taste. But to achieve balance it is necessary to take into account the proportions so that the qualities of some berries do not prevail over others.
Composition:
- Mulberry 200 g
- Raspberries 250 g
- Cherry 150 g
- Bird cherry 30 g
- Sugar 650 g
- Vodka 0.7 l
Cooking:
- Mash prepared berries with sugar and pour vodka into the bottle.
- Close the bottle cap and warm it up to 60 degrees for a couple.
- It is important to ensure the tightness of the lid, and it is necessary that the bottle should not be more than 2/3 volume filled: the alcohol should not evaporate.
- Therefore, use the seamer.
- After cooling, keep the bottle sealed for at least 10 days in the cold.
- Then strain the liquor and pour it into shtofs or bottles.
Homemade cherry liqueur on vodka - tricks and tips
- Cherry seed contains prussic acid. Without a doubt, it is a toxic substance, but its presence in all stone fruit is so minimal that it cannot harm health. Therefore, you can safely save time on preparing the stone fruits for making alcoholic beverages, without removing them, if you are not going to, say, use alcoholized cherries in the future, to make desserts.
- From candied jam or frozen berries you can make tincture or liqueur, which is not inferior in taste to drinks from fresh berries.
- Any fruit liqueur is an excellent additive for yeast-free dough. It gives not only the aroma characteristic of fruit, but also makes products softer and more airy, improving the properties of baking powder.
- Cherry has not only tasty fruits. This plant also has its leaves and stems as a rich source of vitamins, minerals and other substances that help fight various ailments. If in cooking it is difficult to think of a use for cherry leaves, apart from adding them to pickles and pickles during the preservation period, then these parts of the plant can and should be used in the preparation of tinctures, balms and liqueurs at every opportunity. Cherry leaves can be reserved for future use and you can make a healthy and fragrant fruit tea from them.
