Blackcurrant wine or liqueur. Homemade blackcurrant liqueur

Currants are a fragrant berry that will not only decorate jam, compote or pie, but will also perform well in homemade sweet liqueur. It is not without reason that the legendary French Crème de Cassis is prepared using blackcurrants.

Blackcurrant liqueur turns out to be the brightest in taste and fragrant, since this type of berry is the most saturated with essential oils. However, red and white varieties of currants, widespread in the gardens of our country, also produce a pleasant alcoholic drink, the sweetness and strength of which can be adjusted to taste. Typically, the strength of liqueur ranges from 15 to 50 degrees.

Cooking features

Currant liqueur is prepared from accessible and inexpensive ingredients: berries, alcohol component, water and sugar. At the same time, it is not recommended to save on ingredients, since high-quality raw materials produce a decent drink that would not be embarrassing to put on the table in any company.

Currant liqueur also has one important advantage - it can be prepared as needed from frozen berries, which gain sweetness after exposure to low temperatures. To do this, the currants are thawed and used together with the released juice.

The alcohol on which the berries are infused can be vodka, alcohol or cognac, but moonshine is not suitable for extracting juice from currants; it will only kill the summer aroma of the liqueur. Or you need to choose a proven product that has undergone two-stage distillation. In order to shade and enrich the currant liqueur, honey, blackcurrant leaves or cherry leaves, and clove buds are added to it if desired.

Blackcurrant Recipes

Blackcurrant liqueur differs from its counterparts in its rich dark color and noticeable aroma of sun-drenched berries. When consumed wisely, it is a drink that is good for colds and has immune-supporting properties.

First, basic

Proportions:

• black currant – 1000–1200 g;
• vodka – 2 bottles of 0.5 liters or 1 liter of alcohol diluted to 40 degrees;
• sugar – 1 kg;
• water – 3 glasses, approximately 750 ml.
• currant leaves - 7-9 pieces, optional, to improve the aroma of the liqueur and give it a piquant sourness.

Preparation method:

1. Before preparing blackcurrant liqueur, you need to carefully sort out the berries, removing ridges and substandard fruits: moldy, dry, unripe fruits.
2. Rinse and dry them if dirt or dust has accumulated on the skin. When the currants are clean, you can skip this step.
3. Lightly mash the fruits with a wooden spoon or masher so that the torn skin allows the juice to escape without crushing the seeds.
4. Place the berries and washed, crushed leaves in a jar or bottle and fill with vodka.
5. Close tightly and leave to infuse at a warm temperature for at least a month, 35–60 days. The mass should ferment, but not mold. Check it by shaking the container every 5 days.
6. Strain the tincture using a sieve, gauze or paper filter. Squeeze the berries dry to fully utilize them. Discard the cake or use it to flavor and refine grain or sugar distillates.
7. Pour syrup made from sugar and water into it. It needs to simmer over low heat for about 5-10 minutes until foam forms, and then cool.
8. Leave the tightly sealed blackcurrant liqueur for another 7-10 days to gain strength and optimal taste. You can taste it or bottle it until the right occasion.

Using the same recipe, it is permissible to make liqueur from white or red currants, but without mixing either variety with black. Cognac will give an interesting taste if you use it as an alcoholic base. The expected strength of the drink is 15–17 degrees. If you want a stronger drink, then instead of vodka you should use 60% alcohol. The shelf life will be up to 3 years.

Second, a la Creme de Cassis

This blackcurrant liqueur was created as an imitation of the famous especially sweet French drink, which is good both in pure form and as an ingredient for cocktails with dry white wine or champagne (respectively).

Components:

• 1.5 kg of washed black currants;
• 1.5 l brandy;
• 0.5 l of water;
• 1 kg sugar.

1. Sort the berries, mash a little until the skin cracks.
2. Place in a container of suitable volume and pour in brandy.
3. Cover with a tight-fitting lid and keep in a cool place for 2 months.
4. Filter from currants, which have given color and taste to alcohol.
5. Make standard sugar syrup, cool it and mix with berry tincture.
6. Pour the almost finished blackcurrant liqueur into small bottles and keep for another week in a dark place.
7. It is recommended to store in the refrigerator and consume immediately after opening.

Two redcurrant liqueur recipes

With cherry and raspberry leaves

This redcurrant liqueur is made with cherry and raspberry leaves. This is due to the fact that this variety of currant itself does not have a strong taste. Therefore, additional ingredients are added to the redcurrant liqueur recipe to give the drink more interesting notes. And it won’t let you down when it comes to color: a pleasant light ruby ​​shade will remind you of summer with its rich tints.

Red currant liqueur will delight you with an unobtrusive and soft aftertaste with a slight sourness that distinguishes this berry.


The preparation technology is similar to other liqueurs:

1. Prepare cherry leaves (100 pieces) and raspberry leaves (20 pieces), washing and drying them. Then put them in 1 liter of boiling water and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes in a saucepan covered with a lid. Then cool and strain.
2. Red currant liqueur uses a small amount of berries - only 0.5 kg. You need to wash them, remove leaves and grains, add 0.5 kg of sugar and mash.
3. Pour 0.5 liters of vodka and add 1 teaspoon of citric acid. Pour in the decoction of the leaves, close and leave for a month.
4. Filter the drink and bottle it.

Express method

This redcurrant liqueur will be ready in just a week, which is very practical for urgent needs. For 1 kg of berries you will need 0.75 liters of vodka, 800 g of sugar, 0.5 liters of water and a few leaves from a blackcurrant bush. This amount of ingredients will yield approximately 1.7 liters of liquor.

The manufacturing process is simple. Pour sorted currants, crushed leaves into a glass container, pour in the alcohol component. Keep in a warm place or on the sunny side for exactly 7 days. Boil syrup or dissolve sugar in warm boiled water. Separate the berries from the tincture, mix two liquids: vodka infused with currants and sweet syrup. Filter again and bottle the liquor.

From white currant

White currant liqueur is viscous, rich and sweet, as befits a real fruit liqueur. This is also a relatively quick recipe: more than a liter of this wonderful drink will be ready for the table in just 2 weeks.

The principle is the same: prepare a tincture of currants (0.5 kg) and vodka (0.5 l) for a couple of weeks, mix with syrup from sugar (0.5 kg) and water (0.5 l). Now you can treat your friends and family with homemade clear liqueur of a light yellow hue.

Use

Connoisseurs of homemade alcohol will treat themselves to homemade liqueur after a hearty meal, knowing that this drink is an excellent digestif that helps digest food. In this case, it is best to serve it in small glasses with a stem.

The berry liqueur can be savored in small sips or drunk in one gulp, feeling an instant surge of warmth throughout the body. The taste of currant liqueur is best revealed if the drink is at room temperature.

There are several other ways to use currant liqueur:

• diluted by adding water or ice;
• as an additive to tea, coffee, cocoa instead of sugar;
• as an ingredient for desserts, baked goods, ice cream;
• in cocktails, for example, with juice.

Making blackcurrant liqueur at home is very simple. The taste of the drink is no different from the ready-made store product, and you can even use it for medical purposes to fight colds.

To prepare blackcurrant liqueur with vodka at home, you will need a lot of time - 6-8 weeks. But the result will be worth it: the drink will be aromatic, viscous-sweet, rich. If you have very little time and the liqueur must be ready by a certain date, use cognac as the alcoholic base. This recipe can be recreated in just 7 days, and the finished drink is in no way inferior to its brother infused with vodka.

A huge advantage of this drink is not only its delicious taste, but also its healing effect. It has been proven that it helps with colds, diseases of the gastrointestinal tract and strengthens the immune system. Naturally, we are talking about dosed consumption of liquor - in significant doses it will only cause harm to the body.

BLACKCURRANT LIQUEUR WITH VODKA

INGREDIENTS

Black currant fruits – 1 kg;
Leaves - 6-8 pcs;
Granulated sugar – 1 kg;
Vodka – 1l;
Water – 750 ml.

Or this dosage

1 kg black currants
1 liter of alcohol or vodka
500 g sugar
250 ml water
currant leaves

Or this dosage

Black currant - 1 kg.
Currant leaves - 10 pcs.
Vodka - 0.5 l.
Sugar - 0.75 kg.
Water - 3 cup

COOKING
Place fresh, whole berries and chopped currant leaves in a glass jar.
Pour vodka over the ingredients, seal the container tightly and leave to steep for 6 weeks. To infuse, choose a dark but warm place.
Pass the aged drink through a double gauze filter.
Now you can start cooking the syrup. To do this, boil water and add sugar to it. Keep the mixture over low heat until foam appears (usually 8-10 minutes), then remove the container from the stove and cool its contents to room temperature.
Mix the cooled sugar syrup with the currant infusion and stir thoroughly.
Pour the drink into glass bottles, seal tightly and place in a dark place for 7 days. During this period, the liqueur will ripen and acquire its signature viscousness.
The finished drink should be drunk chilled.

BLACKCURRANT LIVING WITH COGNAC

The following recipe is designed for impatient people - blackcurrant liqueur is prepared in just a week. True, its taste will not be as rich as in the first version.

INGREDIENTS

Cognac (brandy is also suitable) – 500 ml;
Black currant fruits (can be dried) – 250 g;
Water (for dried berries) – 250 ml;
Sugar syrup – 200 ml.

When using fresh berries, simply rinse and crush them. In the case of dried currants, place them in boiling water, cover with a lid and keep for 5 - 7 minutes, then drain in a colander.
Place the berries in a glass container, fill with alcohol base, seal and leave for 7 days, stirring the tincture periodically. After the specified period, filter the liquid and mix with sugar syrup. Pour the blackcurrant liqueur into bottles, seal it tightly and leave to steep for another 14 days.

LIQUOR – HALF BLOOD

We present to you a recipe for French liqueur - half-blood, which is very easy to make at home. It is made from black and red (sometimes white) currants.

INGREDIENTS

Blackcurrant – 2 full glasses;
Red currants – 1 full glass;
Strong alcohol (cognac, vodka, spirit or brandy) – 750 ml;
Dark sugar - 2 cups;
Water – 250 ml.

COOKING
Sort the currants, rinse thoroughly and crush so that each berry gives juice.
Place the pulp in a glass jar and fill with alcohol base.
Mix the mixture thoroughly, cover the container with polyethylene film and leave to infuse for a day. The temperature should be room temperature.
After 24 hours, crush the currants again and cover the jar with new film. Place the future liqueur in the refrigerator for 7-10 days. During this time, it should acquire a rich, dark purple color.
Strain the drink through double gauze, remove the cake.
Prepare standard sugar syrup, cool it and mix with the tincture.
Bottle the liqueur and put it in the refrigerator. Its shelf life is 3 months.

SPICED BLACKCURRANT LIQUEUR

INGREDIENTS

Black currant fruits – 1 kg;
Sugar – 400 g;
Vodka – 1 l;
Cloves – 5 buds.

Pass the washed currants through a meat grinder, place in a glass bottle, add cloves, and fill with vodka. Seal the container tightly and keep in a sunny place for at least 6 weeks. Then strain the tincture, add the required amount of sugar to it and, after mixing thoroughly, distribute into bottles. The containers should be shaken vigorously from time to time to completely dissolve the sugar. 3-4 days and a sweet, viscous drink with an unusual spicy taste is ready to drink!

LIQUOR “DRINK OF GODDESSES” FROM BLACKCURRANT AND CHERRY LEAVES

This wonderful liqueur is very popular not only with our family, but also with all our relatives and friends who were lucky enough to try it:)

INGREDIENTS

1 cup black currant berries;
100 pieces. cherry leaves;
10-15 pcs. black currant leaves;
2 liters of water;
500-600 g sugar;
1.5 teaspoons of citric acid;
250 g of alcohol or 1 bottle of good vodka.

COOKING
The washed berries and leaves need to be filled with water and brought to a boil. Boil over low heat for 25-30 minutes.
Drain the resulting broth. Add sugar and citric acid to it. Bring the broth to a boil until everything dissolves.

Strain the syrup through cheesecloth and cool.
Add alcohol or vodka to cold syrup - and the wonderful drink is immediately ready to drink.

The wonderful liqueur “Drink of the Goddesses” is indispensable for a light party.
It is important that this liqueur is not only very tasty and healthy, but also very economical. After all, having spent very little alcohol on its preparation, you get more than two liters of awesome liquor!

It’s also convenient that this liqueur is very simple and quick to prepare.
Try to make it, and you won’t regret it – you will definitely love the aromatic and light ladies’ “Drink of the Goddesses”!

Elina Khopryachkova

We will look at how to make currant liqueur at home using two proven recipes. Any variety is suitable, but you cannot mix red and black berries in the same drink. Before cooking, the fruits should be separated from the ridges and carefully sorted, removing spoiled and moldy ones, otherwise the taste of the drink will deteriorate. The alcohol base (alcohol diluted to 40 degrees, vodka, double-distilled moonshine or cognac) must be of high quality. There are no other requirements, you just need to adhere to the technology.

Compound:

• black or red currant berries (separately) - fresh, dried (half as much as in recipes) or frozen (defrost first, then use together with the released liquid);
• currant leaves – improve aroma;
• sugar - can be replaced with liquid honey or fructose;
• alcohol (vodka);
• water – reduces the strength and is needed for making syrup.

When using honey instead of sugar, in order to preserve the beneficial substances, do not bring the syrup to a boil, but heat it to a maximum of 40°C and stir until the honey is completely dissolved in the water.

Attention! When infusing, it is important to choose the right container; the alcohol base should cover the layer of berries by at least 2-3 cm; if necessary, pour in more alcohol.

Blackcurrant liqueur recipe

Ingredients:

• berries – 1 kg;
• leaves – 6-8 pieces;
• vodka (alcohol, moonshine) – 1 liter;
• sugar – 1 kg;
• water – 750 ml.

Preparation

1. Place the washed berries and leaves in a jar, pour in the alcohol base, and close the lid tightly. Leave for 5-7 weeks in a warm, dark room. Shake once every 5-6 days.

2. After aging, filter the contents of the jar through gauze or special filter paper. Squeeze the berries dry (no longer needed).

3. Make sugar syrup. To do this, boil water, add sugar and simmer over low heat until foaming begins (about 4-6 minutes). Then remove the syrup from the heat and cool to room temperature.

4. Mix currant tincture with sugar syrup. Pour the resulting drink into bottles and close tightly. Refrigerate for 5 days to improve taste.

Blackcurrant liqueur

Serve chilled. Shelf life when stored away from direct sunlight is up to 3 years. Strength – 15-17 degrees.

Redcurrant liqueur recipe

Ingredients:

• berries – 1 kg;
• leaves - 5-6 pieces;
• vodka (alcohol, moonshine) – 0.5 liters;
• water – 0.5 liters;
• sugar – 800 grams.

Preparation

1. Place the berries in a glass bottle or jar. Add currant leaves and vodka (alcohol) there. Close tightly and keep for 5-6 weeks in a sunny place (on a windowsill). Shake once every 7 days.

2. Strain the resulting infusion through cheesecloth. Squeeze the berries.

3. Prepare sugar syrup using the technology described in the previous recipe.

4. Add cold syrup to the currant infusion, stir, pour into glass bottles and close tightly.

After 5-6 days you can start tasting.

If sediment or turbidity appears, filter through cotton wool.

Redcurrant liqueur

Strength – 10-11%. Shelf life (in a dark room) – up to 3 years.

Despite the fact that the given recipes for currant liqueurs differ only in the proportions of ingredients, the taste of the drinks is very different.

Admirers of Hercule Poirot know that his favorite drink was Crème de Cassis. Agatha Christie recalled him more than once in her works. What kind of drink is this? Back in 1841, the owner of a cafe in Dijon formed a recipe for delicious blackcurrant liqueur. This Frenchman's name was Auguste-Denis Lagout.

To this day, it is in this region that the best copies of the drink are produced, but even they cannot beat homemade Creme de Cassis.

Homemade blackcurrant liqueur

There are a lot of recipes for this drink, but they all come down to one preparation technology: first of all, the berries are delicately crushed, then for two months they are infused in alcohol (traditionally brandy is used), the alcohol infusion is squeezed out and combined with sugar.

The result is a rich purple liqueur with a light berry aroma.

In order to get 2 liters of ready-made liqueur take:

• 1.36 kg of berries,
• 1.36 liters of vodka (the best option is 50% alcohol),
• 0.9 kg sugar.

Preparation:

1. The currants are thoroughly washed and sorted so that there are no stems, rot or other foreign elements in the berries.
2. The berries are crushed in small portions so that each of them is crushed, but the seeds remain intact. To do this, you can use a food processor or blender.
3. After this, the currants are poured into a container of the required volume and filled with vodka. The process of maceration follows - soaking the berries in vodka in a dark, cool place. Duration of soaking – 1 month.
4. After this time, squeeze out the alcohol juice using gauze, filter the liquid several more times and pass through a cotton filter.
5. The filtered alcohol infusion is combined with sugar. To obtain a regular tincture, it will be enough to take 20% of the sand from the total volume of juice. For the famous Cassis you will need about 45% sugar. In this case, the ingredient is added in small portions and stirred until completely dissolved.
6. The final stage is bottling and capping. It is very important that the liqueur is tightly closed, as it tends to oxidize quickly. You can notice this when the drink changes its color from purple to brown.

Reference! Creme de Cassis, unlike the usual tincture, turns out to be more rich and viscous. It is usually not drunk in its pure form, but is used to make cocktails.

The technology for preparing blackcurrant liqueur is described in the video:

Redcurrant with vodka - a simple recipe

The red currant tincture made with Belarusian vodka Zubrovka turns out to be interesting and rich.

To get an interesting tincture in Polish traditions you will need:

• 0.5 liters of Zubrovka vodka (can be replaced with regular vodka, but the taste will be different);
• 0.2 kg of red currant berries;
• 0.1 kg granulated sugar.

Prepare the tincture in Polish as follows:

1. The currants are washed well and sorted thoroughly. The berries are separated from twigs and other foreign substances.
2. The berries are placed in a jar and ground together with sugar.
3. The next step is adding vodka. After this, the container with the future drink is placed in a dark, cool place, where it will infuse until the berries are completely discolored (about two weeks). In this case, once every couple of days the container must be shaken to completely dissolve the sugar.
4. Filter the tincture and bottle it for further storage.

How to make aromatic redcurrant liqueur with vodka is described in the video:

How to drink the drink correctly?

Some time ago, currant liqueur was served in cafes for free. However, not a single Frenchman drank it in its pure form. The liqueur was necessarily diluted with wine, champagne, vermouth and even mineral water.

Currant is a useful plant; its leaves, berries and even twigs have long been used in folk medicine. Currant berries of all varieties are included in many recipes for delicious desserts; jams, jams, and juices are prepared from them. Currant berries make excellent alcoholic drinks, the most popular of which are liqueurs.
Liqueur (Latin: liquor - “liquid”) is an aromatic, usually sweet, alcoholic drink. Sugar content up to 100 g/l, strength from 15 to 50 percent. It is prepared from natural juices, aromatic infusions of fragrant herbs.

It’s very quick and easy to make liqueur at home, including from currants. These berries are perfect for this drink. It is often prepared with the addition of currant leaves, which enhance the flavor.

Blackcurrant recipe

Black currants differ from white and red currants not only in the color and appearance of the berries, but also in the taste and shape of the berry tassels. It has a more extensive list of beneficial substances and medicinal properties.

Blackcurrant liqueur is an aromatic, tasty drink of rich color, which, when consumed in moderation, enriches the body with useful substances, improves immunity, and helps with colds.

Ingredients:

• black currant (berries) – 1.2 kg;
• currant leaves – 7–9 pcs.;
• sugar – 1 kg;
• vodka 40 0 ​​– 1 l;
• water - 750 ml.

1. Separate the berries from the grains. Be sure to remove rotten berries, as they will worsen the taste of the wine.
2. You won’t be able to prepare the alcoholic component without it; you won’t be able to make currant liqueur: you should choose high-quality vodka, and in extreme cases, dilute the food alcohol to 40 degrees.
3. It is better not to use moonshine for making liqueurs, as this will affect the taste and smell of the liqueur. If you still want to infuse blackcurrant liqueur with this home-made product, then it must undergo high-quality double distillation.
4. Pour whole sorted berries into a glass bottle. Wash the currant leaves, chop and add to the berries. Pour vodka/alcohol and seal tightly. The preparation should be infused in a warm place for five to seven weeks.
5. Then the hop mixture must be filtered through clean gauze, a sieve, or special paper filters.
6. Now you need to prepare the sweet syrup. Pour boiled water into a saucepan, add sugar. Cook over low heat, stirring until foam forms (8–10 minutes). Cool the finished syrup to room temperature.
7. Add it to the currant tincture and stir. Pour the resulting liquid into the prepared container. Close tightly. You can taste the drink only after 5–10 days. During this time, the blackcurrant liqueur will infuse and reveal its amazing taste and aroma more clearly.

Using this recipe, you can make currant liqueur of any variety at home. Basic rule: you cannot mix red/white and black fruits in one drink.

Redcurrant recipe

Red currants have a ruby ​​color, which is imparted to alcoholic beverages. The taste of red currant liqueur is light, soft, with a pleasant sourness.

Ingredients:

• red currant (fruit) - 1 kg;
• currant leaves - 7–9 pcs.;
• vodka (40 0 alcohol) - 1/2 l;
• granulated sugar;
• water.

1. Pour the prepared berries (without garnishes) into a clean bottle or glass jar. Pour in vodka/alcohol. Good to close. Place the bottle in a warm place, preferably in the sun, for five to six weeks.
2. Pour the tincture into a clean container through gauze/sieve.
3. Next you need to make the syrup. The ingredients are taken according to the norm: water 1/2 liter + granulated sugar 800 g per liter of currant tincture.
4. Mix the cooled syrup with the tincture, pour into bottles, and seal hermetically with stoppers.
5. In 5–10 days, the currant liqueur will infuse and be ready for tasting.

Although these currant liqueur recipes have minor differences in the amount of ingredients, they taste completely different. At home, you can make both versions of currant liqueur at once to feel the difference.

Recipe for white currant cognac

This is a recipe for a very aromatic golden liqueur. Besides the fact that it is a pleasant drink, which is served with fruits, desserts and is used to enhance the aroma and strengthen wines made at home.

Ingredients:

• white currants (berries) - 900 g;
• sugar - 800 g;
• cognac – 1 l.

1. Sort the white currant fruits, separate the berries from the bunches, remove spoiled berries. Rinse thoroughly. Place on a clean towel to dry slightly.
2. Mash the currants with a wooden masher. Decant and filter some juice to prepare syrup, dilute it with 100 ml of boiled water. Use the minimum amount of liquid possible for the syrup.
3. Pour the cooled thick syrup over the currant berry pulp. You can add a few chopped leaves (up to 5 pieces).
4. Mix the mass. Leave for 18–20 hours so that the berries release their juice.
5. Pour the preparation with cognac. Seal tightly. Leave the mixture for 14 to 21 days. Strain through two to three layers of gauze. Squeeze out the cake.
6. Filter the resulting liquid and bottle it. Store in a cool place.

This amount of liqueur is enough to improve the aroma of up to 20 standard bottles of grape or fruit wine, prepared at home.

You can make a drink with vodka. In this case, the drink will be almost transparent and will lose its special cognac notes.

This recipe can be used to make redcurrant liqueur.

Having considered all the given recipes for currant liqueur, it will be easier for you to choose the one that is right for you. However, if you are not a professional, we strongly recommend that you do not mix berry varieties.