Calvados at home from apples – recipe, video

The content of the article

• Calvados – what is it
• Calvados – how to drink and what to eat
• How to make Calvados
• Braga for Calvados
• Calvados recipe at home
• Apple vodka
• How to make Calvados – recommendations from chefs

Apple vodka has been known for a long time, because it has an excellent aroma, and its taste is not worse than that of expensive cognac or whiskey. True connoisseurs of alcohol need to know how to make such a drink at home, so the information below will be your lifesaver.

Calvados – what is it

For a long time, the drink was considered the alcohol of commoners, because only apples are used to make it. When Remarque began to mention calvados in his works, the situation changed – the elite of the society turned their attention to the drink. Now Calvados is a well-aged apple moonshine in oak barrels. It is worth noting that calvados can only be called alcohol made in Normandy, the rest of the apple distillates are imitation tinctures.

Calvados – how to drink and what to eat

It all depends on the aging time of the drink and on its variety. Normans know the exact answers to questions about how to drink and what to eat Calvados, because they are the founders and great lovers of this alcohol. So, brandy is recommended to drink, taking into account such rules:

1. Aged for less than 4 years, brandy has a beneficial effect on digestion, so one serving (50-100 grams) is an excellent option for an aperitif. Also, apple tincture in between meals at the table.
2. Noble varieties of Calvados from apples, having a good aging, should be served as a digestif, even if they will be made at home. A thick-bottomed tulip-shaped glass is filled with liquid, which is recommended to be first heated in your hands, to enjoy the unique aroma of nectar collected in Norman gardens, and only after that you can start tasting the drink, savoring it with every drop. Alcohol having a strength of more than 50 degrees can be combined with a good cigar.
3. If you wish, you can mix Calvados with other drinks to get a cocktail. Best brandy combined with tonic.

As for the choice of snacks for the Norman alcoholic drink, here it is worth highlighting several types of dishes:

1. The characteristic taste of apple vodka is excellent in combination with meat dishes made with berry or fruit sauce.
2. From classic snacks to Calvados, wheat bread, fruits, sweet pastries, cheeses, chocolate, ice cream and sweet pastries are distinguished.

How to make Calvados

At home, few people make elite alcohol, because the preparation of calvados according to the classic recipe is a long and complicated process. Most prefer tinctures, which are its imitation: with the addition of vodka, sugar, yeast and even pears. How to cook calvados, which will be like the original? First of all, you need to carefully select the apples, taking into account the proportions of the application: bittersweet should be 70%, sour – 20%, bitter – 10%.

Braga for Calvados

Many recipes recommend squeezing apple juice and putting it to ferment under a water lock, but this judgment is incorrect. To make the drink have an unusual aroma, mash for calvados is made from crushed pulp with skin and apple seeds. After that, they are left for a couple of days for fermentation, then the juice is squeezed from the pulp, and the liquid is again left for another day. Next, the future base of Calvados is poured into the bottle, the container is closed. Distillation of the resulting mash is done in a month, and to preserve the aroma it is better if it is single.

Learn how to make mash from jam.

Calvados recipe at home

Some lovers of preparing elite alcohol use a simplified method, while adding yeast, vanilla sugar, mixing apples with pears. If you want to get a classic apple brandy calvados at home, get ready for the fact that the process will take a lot of time and that it is not at all simple. Performing steps step by step, as advised by a recipe for calvados at home, as a result you will have a fragrant, delicious brandy.

Apple vodka

• Cooking time: 6 months.
• Servings Per Container: 10 Persons.
• Calorie dishes: 256 kcal.
• Purpose: drink.
• Cuisine: French.
• The complexity of the preparation: difficult.

A strong alcoholic drink popular in Normandy has a rich, pleasant taste and excellent aroma. The presented traditional recipe for calvados from apples at home will help everyone get a product that is almost the same as natural. It is worth noting that for the preparation of apple vodka you can use the perfect composition when sweet and bitter apples are taken in 4 parts, and sour – 2 parts.

Ingredients:

• bitter apples – 1 part;
• sour apples – 2 parts;
• bittersweet apples – 7 parts;
• sweet apples – 7 parts.

Cooking method:

1. First of all, it is important to remember that fruits do not need to be washed, because you will destroy the wild yeast located on their peel. Cut the diced apples into cubes, send them under a press or put them in a juicer. Put the apple mass to infuse for a day at room temperature, covering the container with gauze. It is recommended to leave a place in the container, because during rapid fermentation, foam and pulp will be released on the surface.
2. Remove the resulting foam, squeeze the juice, pour it into a container where fermentation will continue.
3. Make a water seal. A rubber glove can also be used for these purposes: it must be put on the neck, then one needle must be pierced with a needle.
4. Reposition the dishes in a dark pantry. Cider is formed from juice at a temperature of 18-27 degrees. Signs that the cider is ready: the liquid has brightened, and sediment is visible at the bottom.
5. Drain the ready-made young cider, so that the taste of future vodka does not spoil the sediment. Put cider in a distillation cube.
6. Using a moonshine still, drive the distillate out of the cider. The output at the first distillation into fractions does not need to be divided, because it is necessary to select the entire product before the strength drops in the stream, the strength of which will be below 30 degrees. Alcohol meter to measure the strength of moonshine.
7. Dilute the first batch of Calvados with clean water, so that the liquid strength becomes 18-20 degrees.
8. Distill the product for the second time, selecting a purified 40-degree moonshine. About 12% (first dose) of liquid should be separated and drained, because this product is suitable only for technical use. After distillation, strong clean moonshine should remain, the strength of which ranges from 70 to 80 degrees.
9. Go to the last stage: pour the distillate into an oak barrel or glass container for further infusion. In advance, place the oak pegs treated with water and alcohol in the dishes.
10. Dilute alcohol obtained at home from apples, dilute with water to a fortress of 40 degrees.
11. Cans tightly close the lids or roll up.
12. Remove Calvados in a cool, dark place until ripe. The term for insisting apple vodka is from six months to a year.
13. Filter Calvados ready, bottled, corked and put in a permanent storage place.

How to make Calvados – recommendations from chefs

To make apple brandy at home, you must immediately be patient, because the drink will have a perfect taste 2 years after insisting, but the result will amaze you with its strength and aroma. You can do calvados with your own hands, but you need to strictly follow the technology for preparing alcohol, while still worth paying attention to such points:

1. The oak pegs described in the classical recipe should be sawn from the middle part of the tree trunk and have a diameter of 25-35 cm. Bars of 5×10 cm must be made of wood, filled with boiling water for 10 minutes. Then you need to hold the pegs for another 20 minutes, but already fill them with cold water. After all the actions done, drain the water and dry the tree.
2. From the bars you can still make chips. Calvados aroma will be more pronounced if the chips are heated in a frying pan without oil.
3. The wood must contain tannins – this way home calvados will have a bitterness characteristic of the original alcohol, but shavings, bark or sawdust are not suitable for driving home tinctures, because there are too many substances in them.
4. At home, Calvados can be made from apples with and without sugar, but adding yeast is not recommended: there are enough wild ones that are on the peel of the fruit.