The famous French liqueur "Cointreau" is veryis popular in many countries of the world. It is a part of a huge number of cocktails and is popular with drinkers stronger. Do you want to add sophistication to your chocolate dessert? Add a little orange liqueur to it, and its taste will play new notes. It is interesting that this drink itself is prepared quite simply. This brandy, which insists on orange peel with the addition of sugar syrup. And from this, a completely logical question may arise: is it possible to make a cointre at home himself? Well, let's find out.
Gave this wonderful drink to the world the brothers Adolf andEdward Cointreau. Already since 1885, the liquor began to appear on the shelves of shops and quickly gained popularity. Today, two kinds of this liqueur are produced: classic and "Black Cointreau", the latter is prepared using the famous cognac "Remy Martin". Of course, the manufacturer is not in a hurry to devote to the mystery of creating a popular drink for the whole world, because this is a mystery with seven seals. But we still know some subtleties.
The basis for giving the drink a unique taste andaroma serves as a peel of sweet and bitter oranges with the addition of spices. She insists on purified alcohol, and after the product is subjected to double distillation. After that, the future cointre is subject to adjustment - equalize the strength and taste of the drink with syrup and spring water. Cointro to make liqueur at home under such a recipe is difficult. But we will talk about the way that allows you to get a drink that resembles the original.
The list of ingredients is quite simple.Buy a liter of good vodka or use refined alcohol, diluted to 45 degrees. Alcohol should be exactly quality, because it will affect the taste of the drink.
Also you will need 4-5 large oranges,grapefruit and lemon. Beforehand, the fruit should be washed in hot water and dried from the moisture. Then carefully remove the zest - a surface yellow layer, without white fibers. This is what we will use for the preparation of cointre at home. The rind must be clean, dense, juicy and without damage. Ideally, you need to use unripe fruits, they have the presence of essential oils is much higher than that of ripe ones.
Stock up on spices, just a little: a couple of sweet peppercorns, a laurel leaf, a black and red pepper.
For a liter of vodka you will need a glass of sugar.
In the original, the Cointreau may contain a differentamount of alcohol. The strongest is a liqueur with 40% alcohol. It is mixed with other alcoholic beverages, add lemon juice or ice. If you decide to make a lighter Cointreau at home, the recipe above should be supplemented with water. You can take a liter or half a liter of water, if desired. Preparation of such a light beverage will differ only in that it is necessary to prepare syrup from water and sugar, cool it and then mix it with liqueur. To make a stronger liquor sugar should be added directly to alcohol.
It is important to choose the right container.We cointre on alcohol at home we will cook, which means that it is unacceptable to use plastic containers. Alcohol reacts with plastic, absorbs unpleasant odors, and the taste can be significantly affected (and harmful to health). Therefore, insist and store alcohol exclusively in a glass bottle or jar. It would seem a trifle, but it's very important.
So, everything we need is already ready. Let's start the most interesting: how to make cointre at home?
Take the prepared container, pour sugar,grated peel, 4-5 peas of sweet pepper, bay leaf, a pinch of red and black ground pepper. Fill it all with vodka, mix, close tightly with a lid and leave it for 5-6 hours to brew. After you need to remove the laurel leaf, close the container and again thoroughly shake the contents.
In this form, our drink will be infused indark place. It must be shaken periodically. Cointreau at home will insist a week. After it needs to be filtered, poured into bottles and tightly corked.
If you are preparing a liqueur of a smaller fortress, thenyou need to do the following. Laying all the ingredients is the same as in the first option, but without sugar. Vodka with zest and spices is infused for a week, and after it needs to be filtered and sugar syrup added. It is prepared easily: pour the sugar with water and, stirring constantly, cook for 3-4 minutes. After cool and add to the previously infused and filtered drink. Stir thoroughly. Now you can pour the liquor into a container prepared for storage and close it with stoppers. It's better to store this cointre in a cool place: in the basement or on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator. In these conditions, the drink will easily stand for more than one year.
Well, hopefully, the result will please you.Liqueur to taste and color is very similar to the classic "Cointreau" - a favorite drink of French gourmets. He will give a zest to any celebratory table, will make a warm and cozy evening in the company of close friends.
Enjoy your meal!
