Cranberry, cranberry, cranberry, cranberry, drunken cranberry - all these are the names of the same drink, which is a tincture or liqueur with the famous sour berry. It is often called the northern or Siberian lemon because of its high content of vitamin C, although in addition to it, cranberries contain many other valuable substances. It is one of the most sought-after berries and is widely used in folk medicine.
Cranberry alcohol tincture can be used for medicinal purposes, but most often it is made at home for the pleasure of tasting. This drink with a rich ruby color has a luxurious bouquet with a unique vitamin acidity and light pine bitterness. If desired, such alcohol can be made dessert by adding sugar or honey (or pure fructose) to it.
Cranberries for alcohol
In general, there are plenty of different options for creating cranberries with alcohol, since this is one of the most favorite types of homemade alcohol among artisanal masters. And each of them has their own secrets and recommendations on how to make the drink tastier.
The Legend of the Klukovka
According to most experienced moonshiners, the most correct northern berry tincture is obtained with alcohol. It is optimal to take 70% of the product, because with 96% pure it is more difficult to calculate the proportions. If you want the taste to be softer, then it is better to take alcohol diluted to 40-45%. It is permissible to use both vodka and moonshine, but they must be carefully filtered, which increases the complexity of the process.
But there is one more reason why cranberry tincture with alcohol is a canon. It's all about the legend associated with the origin of the drink. It is believed that this artisanal alcohol is not a folk invention at all, but one of the experimental recipes of chemists, or rather one specific person - Alexander Nikolaevich Nesmeyanov, academician, rector of Moscow State University, head of the Institute of Organoelement Compounds at the Russian Academy of Sciences. Among other things, he headed the scientific laboratory, where the cranberry liqueur was born, which was named Nesmeyanovka in honor of its creator.
Alexander Nikolaevich Nesmeyanov
According to the legend, Alexander Nikolaevich conducted many experiments with the infusion of fruit and berry raw materials on alcohol. And in the end, I came to the conclusion that it was cranberry + alcohol = the perfect tandem. At first, the recipe was used in narrow circles of the scientific community, then it went to the people.
Determining where the truth is in this story, and where the legend is, is difficult. It is quite possible that everything was exactly like that. Although if you look at the original recipe of Nesmeyanovka, you might doubt that it could have gained popularity among artisanal masters. Is that in a version adapted for home conditions. To create a real Nesmeyanovskaya cranberry, you need to process the berries in a homogenizer (a complex laboratory device), place the resulting mass in a conical flask, fill it with sugar and pour in 96% alcohol, then heat the container on a magnetic stirrer, remove the sediment using a centrifuge, pour it back into the flask, chill and then taste from measuring glasses.
Tincture "Nesmeyanovka"
Naturally, none of the homemade tincture lovers would ever think of using complex laboratory instruments. You can create tasty cranberries without them, with a minimum of equipment.Handicraftsmen followed the path proposed by academician Nesmeyanov and began to actively experiment with the recipe, as a result, today we have many interesting, simple and tricky options for preparing a popular drink.
The benefits of eating cranberries
The "visiting card" of cranberries are tough leaves and sour, bright red berries. This is a northern lemon, the composition of which is saturated with vitamins C, E, K, group B. This combination is complemented by a "cocktail" of organic acids and minerals. There are other components in the composition, thanks to which cranberries are among the leaders among northern berries in terms of useful properties:
- Improves the digestive tract, accelerating the production of gastric juice and increasing appetite. Diluted juice is useful for gastritis with low acidity.
- It has a diuretic effect, therefore it is used for some renal pathologies. Fruit drinks and drinks help to saturate the body with life-giving moisture.
- Thanks to its antibacterial action, it relieves inflammation. It is indispensable during the period of colds, helping the immune system to cope with bacteria and viruses.
- It neutralizes the effects of radioactive substances, therefore it is recommended for people working in hazardous industries.
- Helps in the work of the cardiovascular system. It is a prophylactic agent for atherosclerosis and strokes.
Cranberry juice perfectly quenches thirst, refreshes and invigorates. Works in tandem with antibiotics, relieving inflammation and fever, killing pathogenic microflora. The berry also helps after taking antibiotics, restoring the protective immune barrier.
Note: Frequent consumption of cranberry juice helps to get rid of depression and stress, strengthen the nervous system. Cranberry reduces psycho-emotional overload, helping to "keep oneself in hand".
How to make cranberry liqueur with alcohol - choose and prepare the right berry raw materials
There is an opinion that cranberries for tincture are ideal. It retains its beneficial properties after long-term storage and processing. And when interacting with an alcohol base, it willingly transfers all valuable natural substances to it.
Even a berry that has not been picked in time, which hibernates under the snow, remains fresh and usable. In the spring, you can pluck it from the bush without worrying about quality. The same can be said for home-frozen cranberries. Many artisan winemakers recommend using just such raw materials, which contain more juice and sugar.
Home-frozen cranberries
Tincture of cranberries frozen in alcohol, according to experts, turns out to be even richer in taste than a drink made from fresh berries. But there is one caveat: if the recipe requires you to knead the raw materials, then freezing is better (you first need to defrost such cranberries to let the juice out), but if you plan to insist whole berries, then you should take natural ones. In the second case, it is necessary to carefully sort out the raw materials, sort out the spoiled and immature specimens. There is no need to fiddle with a frozen product - it has already been sorted out before being placed in the freezer.
It is better to insist whole unprocessed berries
There is no consensus among experienced artisans as to whether to use mashed berries or whole ones. If the cranberries are pounded, then in the end the cranberry tincture turns out to be very rich in taste, but unclear - no matter how much you filter, it is not possible to completely get rid of the sediment particles. If they take whole berries, the alcohol will be transparent, but it needs to be infused longer, and the bouquet in the end seems not so bright.
The forums advise an intermediate option: each berry needs to be pricked with a needle. Then the extraction will go better. The procedure is quite laborious, requiring at least half an hour of free time.
Interesting! You can also do this: take a lot of sewing needles, thread long threads into the ears, tie them into a bundle and prick several cranberries on the tip of each. Then put such a blank into a jar of alcohol and insist, as usual. As a result, the extraction will be better, but the haze will not appear in the alcohol.
Making cranberry vodka tincture
When a person lived in complete harmony with nature, he turned to nature in various difficulties, and healed diseases with natural remedies. Cranberry was considered one of the most useful berries in Russia. They drank a decoction from it in the morning for vivacity, the berries were stored for future use from diseases (dried, soaked, etc.). Later, with the advent of spirits, cranberries became a popular ingredient in liqueurs and liqueurs.
Recipes for making cranberries with alcohol at home
Classic version with sugar
The simplest cranberry recipe for alcohol involves the use of only three components: the berry itself - one kilogram, diluted 40-45% alcohol - one liter and sugar - 500 grams. The result is a sweet drink with a harmonious bouquet and a strength of 34-36%.
Cranberries on alcohol with sugar
Cooking process:
- We sort fresh berries and turn them into a homogeneous mass - using a meat grinder or blender.
- We transfer the product to a 3 liter jar.
- Pour alcohol, close the vessel with a lid and insist in warmth (not in the light) for 14 days.
- We filter the resulting drink first through cheesecloth folded 4-5 times, then through a cotton filter - once or twice.
- Put sugar in the resulting drink, mix well to dissolve, set for a week.
- The liqueur can now be dispensed into the bottles. It is advisable to pass it again through a cotton filter. It is recommended to store alcohol in the refrigerator or pantry.
The second variation of diluted alcohol cranberry tincture
This recipe differs in slightly different proportions of ingredients and involves adding a sweetener at the very end. We need 900 g of frozen cranberries (defrost beforehand), 3 liters of 40% alcohol, eight tablespoons. Sahara.
If the tincture is cloudy, it is filtered through a funnel with cotton pads.
Technology:
- Put the cranberries in a jar and crush with a regular crush. You can not be too zealous, otherwise the resulting drink will then be more difficult to drain.
- Pour alcohol into a vessel with a berry mass, close the lid and put in a dark place for 14 days. It is advisable to shake the container every day.
- We filter the resulting drink through cheesecloth and squeeze out the rest properly.
- We make a syrup from 200 ml of water and sugar, you can warm it up to better dissolve the sweetener. Pour the mass into the tincture.
- We give the cranberry "rest" for three days. If it seems cloudy, then you can additionally filter it through a funnel with cotton pads laid inside.
Tincture with galangal, lemon and honey
This drink is prepared in a slightly different way than the classic cranberry tincture with alcohol, and at the end additional components are added to improve the taste. You need to take two liters of 45% alcohol, 400 grams of berries (fresh or defrosted), three tbsp. l. Sahara.
We crush the berries right in the jar, put the sugar there, mix well. The container must be closed with a lid and moved to a warm room for 2 days - a small foam should appear on the surface of the mass. Pour one liter of alcohol and again move the vessel to a room with room temperature for 14 days.
Cranberries are crushed to a puree state
We move the resulting alcohol to another jar, cover the remaining berries with another liter of alcohol and wait a week. Then we also drain and mix both infusions, filter them with gauze folded in 4-5 layers. In a separate bowl, crush the galangal root - a small piece of 4-5 cm and the zest of one lemon, put it in a jar with a drink, add honey there, leave it warm for ten days.
We filter it two or three times: first through a gauze filter or filter paper, then through a layer of cotton wool. Pour alcohol into bottles and let it "rest" for 20-25 days in a cool room. The drink will lighten and give a sediment, so we drain the alcohol from it, filter it through a special filter paper and taste it.
Cranberry tincture with galangal, lemon and honey
Sugar-free option
Most often, cranberries on alcohol without sugar are called a "male" drink, and with a sweetener - "female". Homemade alcohol without this ingredient turns out to be extremely strong, with a predominant acidity.
Ingredients: half a kilo of berries, 500 ml of alcohol, 100 ml of water. Preparing a drink is even easier than in the classic version. It is necessary to crush the beak in a jar, add alcohol there, transfer the container for 14 days to a dark, warm room. Filter the resulting tincture with gauze and cotton wool, let it "rest" for another week and distribute it in bottles.
Sugar-free cranberry liqueur
Royal style cranberry recipe
Currently, there are industrially produced versions of the popular drink in stores. Among the most popular among consumers is "Cranberry Tsar 'original": a ruby-colored drink with a 38-degree strength and a bright taste of candied berries. Something like this can be prepared at home on your own. This homemade cranberry tincture on alcohol "Tsarski" is in no way inferior to the purchased analogue.
You will need fresh berries - 600 g, 70% alcohol - 0.5-0.7 ml, sugar - from 250 to 500 g, depending on whether you want to get more or less sweet alcohol in the final. We do not crush the berries, only rinse and pour them into a glass jar. Add alcohol to it, make sure that the cranberries are completely covered. We close the vessel with a lid and set it on the windowsill.
After two or three days, we check the jar: if the alcohol is absorbed into the berries, add more so that the liquid level remains constant. This procedure should be carried out as needed. We insist on the drink for 14 days, without removing it from the sunlit windowsill.
Royal style cranberry recipe
Now we drain the liquid through a colander, make mashed potatoes from the cranberries using a blender. Squeeze the mass through cheesecloth, add sugar to the resulting juice, pour the mixture into a ladle or saucepan and heat over low heat to 40 degrees so that the sweetener dissolves. Add the previously drained infusion to the same saucepan, again heat the liquid to 40 degrees. Cool the drink and distribute it into bottles for storage.
We also let the liqueur stand in a cold place for two or three days so that a precipitate falls out. Then we drain the cranberry from it, it is worth additionally filtering it.
With cognac alcohol
A very original homemade cranberry recipe for alcohol, which is more complex than the classic one. But the end result is alcohol with a completely unforgettable taste.
We take a 3 liter jar and put fresh washed berries in it - three quarters of the volume. Add five tablespoons of cane sugar, shake it up and put the vessel on the windowsill for five days - the juice should stand out, a little foam may appear. Now add 60% cognac alcohol - up to the neck of the can, close the lid, leave it for 14 days, shake the vessel a couple of times.
Cranberry liqueur with cognac alcohol
Pour the tincture through a funnel with a mesh filter into a clean jar, fill the berries with sugar again and set for five to seven days. Now you need to squeeze the cranberries, pour the juice to the ready-made drink in a separate container. Add more alcohol - up to the neck, close the lid and leave for 60 days.
Next, you need to strain the alcohol and pour it into a wooden barrel. We leave the container for three to four months in the basement. Then we pour the drink into bottles.
Soft tincture with glycerin
Some handicraftsmen advise adding pharmacy glycerin to cranberry, which harmonizes the taste and makes it softer.This cranberry recipe for alcohol at home is not particularly difficult. Pour half a kilogram of frozen berries with 45% alcohol, add six tbsp. l. sugar and one and a half tbsp. l. glycerin. We insist on alcohol for two weeks, then get rid of the berries, filter the liquid with gauze and distribute it into bottles.
Drink rules
Cranberry is an alcoholic beverage, so it should not be consumed in large doses. To achieve a therapeutic effect, it is necessary to take the tincture in the following doses:
- 1 tbsp. l. three times a day before meals with jumps in blood pressure and for the prevention of peptic ulcer disease (at high pressure, the tincture must be diluted with water in a ratio of 1: 1);
- 30 ml 30 minutes before meals to increase appetite;
- 1 glass a day for inflammatory diseases, for example, bronchitis, pyelonephritis;
- 40 ml per day to prevent cardiovascular diseases;
- 50 ml daily for the prevention of ARVI in the autumn-winter period.
Thus, cranberry liqueur is a tasty and healthy drink that can be a good addition to any table. In addition, using cranberry in moderate doses, you can increase the body's defenses and prevent many diseases.
How to quickly infuse alcohol on cranberries
If you really don't want to wait several weeks or months until the drink is prepared, you can resort to express recipes.
Option number 1
Cranberries for alcohol can be made quickly, bypassing the stage of prolonged infusion, although the taste of homemade alcohol will be less intense. We take 300 g of berries, scald them with boiling water, put them in a jar and pour 150 g of sugar. Knead the mixture with a crush, pour 700 ml of 40% alcohol and put it in the heat for 2 hours, then filter it through 4-5 layers of gauze, dilute with 150 ml of warm water. Stir the drink well, cool it in the refrigerator and taste it.
Quick cranberry tincture with alcohol
Option number 2
You can cook cranberries with alcohol without prolonged infusion by resorting to heat treatment. You will need 250 g of frozen berries, 750 ml of 50% alcohol, 50 g of sugar. We make mashed potatoes from thawed berries, mix it with sugar and alcohol, pour into a saucepan and heat over low heat to 70 degrees.
Next, you need to cool the liquid, pour it into a glass jar for 2-3 days, then filter it well through a piece of coarse calico. If the taste seems sour, you can add more sugar.
Storage methods
If you insist the drink correctly, then its color will be bright, and the solution will be transparent. But during storage, flocculation or precipitation is often observed. The cloudy content does not change the taste, but it impairs the visual perception: the sight of the tincture does not cause pleasure.
Compliance with the storage rules allows you to avoid such "defects". When asked how much and how to store berries infused with moonshine, several points should be taken into account:
- Keep in a glass container. Best of all - in bottles of vodka or other alcoholic beverage. If the jar contains chemical or food products, then they will give an additional flavor that will ruin the tasting. Plastic containers can not be used, it enters into a chemical interaction with alcohol.
- The combination of different components during long-term storage can change the taste and appearance of the drink. The long years that a bottle of cranberries spends in the basement will not lead to an improvement in its qualities (this is not wine).
- The flakes give a tincture that is exposed to sunlight for a long time. Duration of storage - a year at t = + 5- + 20C and relative humidity of 85 degrees.
It is necessary to periodically check the stored drink for tightness and color palette. If the temperature, humidity, and the absence of sunlight are observed, most of the unwanted chemical reactions are blocked, which spoil the tasting qualities of cranberries on moonshine.
On a note: Pure moonshine can be stored for 3-10 years. If it is infused with berries, fruits, herbs or their combinations, then sooner or later their components will enter into chemical interaction and what the result will be is difficult to predict, therefore the shelf life is limited.
Pouring from cranberries on alcohol "Severnaya"
This homemade alcohol cranberry recipe is one of the most difficult. The result is a very refined alcohol that is not inferior in its tasting qualities to expensive store products. Cooking technology provides for the creation of infusions from several ingredients and their subsequent mixing.
First, we make an infusion of cranberries: pour 600 g of berries and 60 g of sugar into a 1.5-liter jar, crush it with a crush, leave for 4-5 days, then fill it with 45% alcohol and leave for 3 days, then filter, squeeze the rest. It turns out about 800 ml of the drink.
Put in another jar 2 g of galangal root, 2 g of lingonberry leaf, 2 g of currant leaf, 3 juniper berries, 1 g of licorice root, 1 g of St. John's wort, 1 g of sweet clover, 1 g of mint, 1 g of lemon verbena. Herbs can be purchased at any pharmacy. Fill the ingredients with 550 ml of 50% alcohol, leave for a week, then filter the drink - about 500 ml is obtained.
Pouring from cranberries on alcohol "Severnaya"
Put 50 g of wild rose and hawthorn in the third jar, pour 500 ml of 50% alcohol, leave for 7 days, then drain the liquid through cheesecloth. Pour another 350 ml of alcohol into the jar with berries, leave for a week, drain and mix with the first portion.
In a three-liter jar, combine all three infusions: 800 ml of cranberry in alcohol, 100 ml of herbal infusion and rosehip. Add a bed of honey, add alcohol diluted to 40% to the top, let the drink rest for one day, then filter and bottle it.
Academician Nesmeyanov's Klyukovka
This is not dessert alcohol, which is drunk at the festive table, but a medicinal drug that has antiviral, anti-cold, immunomodulatory effects. The recipe is very simple.
Cranberries, pure medical alcohol and granulated sugar are taken in equal proportions, for example, 1 glass each. The berries are ground with sugar, poured over with alcohol. Insist in a warm, dark place for 7 days, filter, pour into a clean, dry bottle. It is taken as directed for the prevention and treatment of acute respiratory infections, acute respiratory viral infections, and vitamin deficiency.
Useful Tips
On the forums of moonshiners and home drink lovers, you can find valuable advice on how to make cranberry alcohol tincture more delicious. For example, you can experiment with proportions to do this:
- if you take 300 ml of 40% alcohol and 100 g of sugar for 300 g of cranberries, you get a classic sweet tincture - it is also called the "female" version;
- for 250 g of beaks, we take 250 ml of alcohol and 50 g of sugar - the taste is sour, for an amateur;
- 250 g of berries and 500 ml of alcohol is also an acidic tincture, but with a pleasant warming effect, but if you take less berries - 100 g, then their taste will not be felt at all in alcohol;
- 100 g of cranberries, 500 ml of alcohol and 50 g of sugar is a moderately sour tincture that you don't want to drink.
It is also permissible to add spices to the cranberry tincture with alcohol: vanilla - 1-2 g per liter, cloves - 4-5 buds per liter or mint - 3-4 leaves per liter.
Spicy cranberry tincture with alcohol
If you wish, you can make a sweet spicy drink, for which you will need 250 g of berries, 500 ml of 45% alcohol, 50 g of honey, a cinnamon stick, 4 cloves, 4 g of grated ginger root, 5 black peppercorns. Cranberries need to be crushed in a jar, add spices and alcohol there, leave for a week in a dark place, then strain and sweeten with honey. We give the finished drink to "rest" for two or three days, then it should be filtered again.
Preparation of berries
Despite the fact that cranberries are often harvested immature (it is easier to transport them this way), the tincture should be prepared only from ripe dark red berries.If you bought pink or light red berries on the market, let them rest for 10-15 days in a dark, dry place - the cranberries will surely ripen.
To prepare the tincture, you need to take only ripe cranberries.
Before use, the berries are sorted out - among them there may be leaves, moss, twigs and other forest debris. Spoiled berries should also be discarded. Then the cranberries are washed in running water and allowed to dry. If the ripe berries are still firm, they are poured onto a tray and wait 3-5 days for them to become transparent and softer. In this state, they are completely ready for use.
How to eat homemade cranberry
Cranberries with alcohol are a classic aperitif that is usually tasted before the start of the meal. They drink the tincture from small piles, having previously cooled it to 10-12 degrees. But you can combine a delicious drink with hot main courses: grilled meat, kebabs, grilled schnitzels and ribs, meat stew, etc.
It is customary to taste cranberries on alcohol before the start of the meal.
It is permissible to take the tincture as a therapeutic and prophylactic agent. For example, it can be used as an immunomodulator during colds and flu epidemics. But it is highly discouraged to abuse this alcohol - it is quite strong. On a day for medicinal purposes, it is permissible to drink no more than 20-30 ml. The drink is completely contraindicated for people with serious, heart and vascular diseases, adolescents, expectant and lactating mothers.
The healing properties of cranberries
Cranberries and drinks made from it have an effective therapeutic and prophylactic effect on the body:
- reduce blood cholesterol levels;
- have a diuretic effect;
- destroy dangerous microorganisms - useful for cystitis, urethritis, kidney disease, bronchitis, sore throat;
- calm the nervous system;
- strengthen the immune system;
- normalize the work of the gastrointestinal tract;
- improve memory and stimulate brain activity.
Available in berries and contraindications:
- urolithiasis disease;
- liver pathology;
- gastritis with high acidity;
- low blood pressure;
- individual intolerance to the product and allergies.
Classic recipe
The easiest to prepare, very popular and everyone's favorite recipe. So it is advisable to make a large batch right away.
- Mash 2 kg of berries or mince and put in a 3-liter jar.
- Pour the resulting cranberry puree with a liter of alcohol and leave for 2-4 weeks.
- Strain the drink through several layers of gauze or canvas. It is most convenient to put 4-6 layers in a colander (depending on the size of the gauze weave), and as the top is clogged, change them by squeezing
stuck cranberry pulp. - Add 500 gr. granulated sugar, mix and leave for another week.
- Strain again - just through a fine strainer to avoid undissolved crystals and possible debris. Bottled and serve.
