It is believed that only wine is made from grapes. In fact this is not true. For winemaking, you need a lot of berries, but they are not always available. Do not despair if the crop is not pleased.
From a small amount of grapes you can make an amazing tincture. The aromatic drink will delight you with a gloomy winter and will certainly find its place on the table.
Homemade grape tincture - general principles of preparation
For tincture, you can use any kind of grape, but most often it is illiquid. Overripe, cracked, slightly crushed berries can be used, but they should in no case be traces of rot or mold. It is also important to thoroughly dry the grapes after washing, since raw water is also not needed in the drink. Ready grapes are mixed with the rest of the ingredients in a jar. Usually in addition comes granulated sugar or syrup.
What else can I add to the tincture:
• other berries;
• different fruits;
• dried fruits or nuts;
• honey;
• spices, herbs, roots.
As an alcohol base, vodka is most often used as the most affordable and common drink. Moonshine can be used, berries perfectly mask a specific aroma. But professionals believe that the highest quality tinctures are obtained with alcohol. If you can get a good product, then you can safely use it.
Simple tincture of grapes at home
For ordinary tinctures, Isabella grapes and other similar varieties are used. This is a bitter version, so sugar is added in small quantities for the depth of taste.
Ingredients
• 1.5 liters of vodka;
• 3 tbsp. l Sahara;
• 2 kg of grapes.
Cooking method
1. Rinse the grapes, dry in a natural way, laying the bunches on a towel.
2. Picking berries from twigs, pour into a jar. In a traditional recipe, they do not need to be wrinkled. But if you want to speed up the process, you can prick each berry with a toothpick or needle.
3. Add granulated sugar.
4. Pour prescription vodka, immediately close the jar of grapes with a lid, shake well.
5. Put for 4 weeks in a dark place.
6. Every 3-4 days, tincture should be shaken.
7. After 4 weeks, the vodka needs to be filtered from the grapes, poured into bottles, left in a dark place for another 2-3 days.
Homemade grape tincture with vanilla
To prepare such a tincture of grapes at home, only white varieties are used. Dark ones will not go well with vanilla, but can be taken in half with pink berries.
Ingredients
• 1 kg of white grapes;
• 120 grams of sugar;
• 500 ml of water
• 2 vanilla pods;
• lemon;
• 1 liter of vodka.
Cooking method
1. Boil water with granulated sugar, boil for a couple of minutes.
2. Thoroughly wash the lemon, carefully remove the zest. It is important not to cut off the poor crust, which will give the tincture bitterness. You can use a vegetable knife. Transfer the zest to the jar.
3. Add the vanilla pods.
4. Pour in hot syrup, leave to cool completely.
5. Wash, dry, transfer the grapes into a cooled syrup, all branches need to be removed.
6. Add prescription vodka to the tincture. Just pour on top.
7. Close the jar, shake vigorously.
8. Put in a dark but warm place. An ordinary kitchen cabinet or table is suitable. Leave for a week.
9. Remove the tincture can, shake vigorously for two minutes. Return back, leave for another 3-4 weeks.
10. Strain the tincture first through a colander to get rid of large pieces of grape zest.
11. Put a piece of sterile cotton wool in the funnel. Filter the tincture, that is, remove all unnecessary small particles.
12. Pour the grape drink into bottles, close with good lids.
Sweet tincture of grapes at home
A variant of sweet tincture, which will especially appeal to women. For cooking, you can use grapes of different varieties, even mix several types. For such a tincture of grapes at home, you need only three ingredients.
Ingredients
• 2 kg of berries;
• 1 kg of sugar;
• 1.4 liters of vodka.
Cooking method
1. Wash berries in advance, remove from brushes, put on a towel and dry thoroughly. If you first remove the berries and remove the brushes, then when washing they will collect excess water, we do not need this.
2. Pour two handfuls of grapes into a dry jar, sprinkle with sugar. Add another layer of grapes, sprinkle with sand and so on. Sugar should finish.
3. Pour the berries with vodka or diluted alcohol. The strength of the drink is not more than 45 degrees.
4. Close the jar, put in a warm place. Even better in the sun. The window sill is ideal for this recipe. To sustain a week, shake the jar daily, so that all berries are wetted with an alcohol base.
5. After a week, remove the jar from the windowsill, just keep it warm.
6. The tincture will be ready somewhere in 1.5 months. You can determine by the berries. If they brighten and give off color, you can strain the drink.
7. Taste. Little sweets? You can still pour a little sugar, shake, leave for 2-3 days, then strain through cotton wool.
Homemade grape tincture with spices
A variant of a warming tincture of grapes, which is simply and quickly prepared at home. Vanilla sugar is indicated in the ingredients, but it’s still better to use pods. It’s just not always possible to find them on sale. This is a basic recipe. In addition to the spices listed in the list, you can use star anise, anise, different mint and lemon balm.
Ingredients
• 2 lemons;
• 10 grams of vanilla sugar;
• 450 grams of regular sugar;
• 2 sticks of cinnamon;
• 1 kg of grapes;
• 1.5 liters of vodka;
• 380 ml of water;
• 8 carnations.
Cooking method
1. Rinse the berries, dry. You can take any grape variety.
2. Pour water into a pan, add zest from two lemons, throw cloves and cinnamon, boil for 5-6 minutes after boiling.
3. Strain the broth, return to the pan. Fragrant additives throw away.
4. Combine water with granulated sugar and add vanilla sugar. Stir, leave on low heat until completely dissolved. As soon as all the grains have dispersed, and you get a uniform syrup, you can bring to a boil. Cool down.
5. Spread all the grapes in a jar at once.
6. Add the cooled sugar syrup.
7. Pour it all with prepared vodka.
8. Close the jar, shake vigorously several times.
9. Remove the jar with tincture on the windowsill, keep warm for about 5-6 weeks. Periodically come up, shake.
10. Once the berries are light, pour the drink through a colander into another dish, then pass through a funnel with pieces of cotton wool or through a multilayer gauze.
Grape tincture at home with crushed berries
This tincture will differ from previous options in a very rich taste. Berry juice passes into the alcohol base. To knead the grapes you will need a wooden pestle, it is advisable not to use metal objects.
Ingredients
• 2 kg of grapes (any);
• 800 grams of sugar;
• 3 bottles of vodka.
Cooking method
1. To sort through berries, to rinse, to dry and to put in a dish, convenient for grinding.
2. Add granulated sugar, stir.
3. Take a wooden pestle and thoroughly mash the grapes with sugar.
4. Transfer the cooked mass to a large jar or a bottle.
5. Add all the vodka at once. Close the jar or bottle, shake well so that the drink soaks the berries to the bottom, nothing fermented.
6. Remove the tincture for 1.5 months.
7. Strain through cheesecloth. Use several layers, as the drink has a lot of small particles from mashed berries. Press the cake well. Due to juices, the yield of such a tincture is quite large due to juice, and the strength is relatively small.
8. Pour the bottle into the cool place.
Tincture of grapes at home "Cherry Romance"
The recipe for the simplest sweet tincture of grapes, but with a pleasant aroma of cherries. Since these berries ripen at different times, we need only cherry leaves.
Ingredients
• 2 kg of berries;
• 25 cherry leaves;
• 700 grams of sugar;
• 2 liters of vodka.
Cooking method
1. Wash all berries, remove twigs, dry. The cherry leaves also need to be rinsed well, dried, they do not need any additional processing.
2. Pour some berries into a jar, throw a few leaves, sprinkle with granulated sugar. Fold in such layers all the prepared berries and other ingredients.
3. Pour food with vodka or diluted alcohol, put on a tight lid.
4. Put the tincture in a warm place for 5 weeks. Shake periodically to raise settled sugar from the bottom. It should completely dissolve.
5. It remains only to strain, and then filter the drink. Sweet grape tincture with a cherry flavor is ready! Pour into bottles, put into storage.
Grape tincture at home - useful tips and tricks
• One of the most common mistakes in the production of tinctures is the use of cheap vodka. Even fragrant grapes are not always able to break the fusel odor. If the drink is prepared for yourself, then it is better not to save.
• If the tincture turned out to be too sweet and even cloying, then lemon juice can be squeezed into it, it is combined with all grape varieties. It is best to first squeeze into a bowl, strain, then add. After a week, it is desirable to re-filter the drink.
• It is advisable to immediately pour the finished tincture into small and beautiful bottles, which will not be embarrassing to put on the table. From repeated transfusions and opening dishes, the quality of any alcoholic beverages decreases.
• Many tinctures are prepared with lemon zest, but orange peels also go well with grapes.
