What is schnapps - the history of the appearance and technology of making German vodka, how to cook at home. German schnapps: what is it, how many degrees and how to drink

One of the most popular among hard liquor is schnapps, what kind of alcohol is it:

What is schnapps

For the first time, such a concept as Austrian schnapps was discussed in the 15th century. It appeared almost simultaneously on the territory of both Austria and Germany. The center of its production in those days was the first state. In the eastern part of the country in Tyrol, alcohol was used as a remedy. It was used for colds and as a warming drink. The myth was widespread in those days that schnapps prolongs youth. Soon everyone liked the taste and intoxicating effect of the "medicine" and began to take it for pleasure.

In the future, the drink began to be produced in large distilleries. The recipe of the product was constantly changing, but the classic version was always taken as the basis. At its core, it is fruity, which has been double distilled. In its manufacture did not use sugar, yeast and flavor congestion.

Schnapps is similar in taste to fruit or herbal schnapps, only with a more pronounced taste and aroma. Previously, the drink was made from cherries or apples. Today, not only fruits, but also berries, spices and herbs are used to make alcohol. So, mint schnapps gained considerable popularity. It is added to give the drink freshness and unusual taste.

How many degrees

Since the product is alcohol-containing and has a standard strength, over time, its formula and the number of ingredients were streamlined to obtain the required degrees.

In the classic version, alcohol has 38-40%. But such a fortress is inherent in the original varieties of schnapps. Other brands may contain a lower degree. For example, in the American variety of the drink is about 20-25% alcohol.

It is impossible to answer unequivocally, how many degrees a classic schnapps contains. Since large distilleries have permission to produce the product. The common name "schnapps" refers to a whole group of strong alcoholic beverages. Accordingly, they can accommodate different levels of alcohol.

Composition and types of drink

Today, several dozen types of the drink are produced. The following varieties are considered the most popular and in demand:

How to make schnapps at home

In order to prepare natural German schnapps, you must follow a few basic rules:

1. The composition of the product does not include yeast and granulated sugar. It is forbidden to add these ingredients, otherwise the classical technology for making Austrian alcohol will be violated.
2. For the preparation of schnapps, it is allowed to use almost all fruits, berries and spices with herbs.
3. Before cooking, it is best to rinse the raw materials with cold water. It is not recommended to douse with boiling water, otherwise the natural yeast fungi will die.
4. Berries and fruits should be selected carefully. It is forbidden to use rotten and spoiled raw materials.

Cherry schnapps recipe has the following:

1. Initially take 5 kg of ripe cherries. The pits are removed from the berries and mashed into a puree.
2. The mixture is poured into 1.5 liters of water and placed in a warm place for fermentation. The neck of the container is rewound with gauze to provide oxygen access. Thus, the liquid is infused for about 4 days.
3. When signs of fermentation become apparent, 3.5 liters of water are added to the bottle and everything is mixed well. Seal the container with a water seal. Braga is insisted for about 1-1.5 months.
4. Braga is distilled. After that, the liquid is again diluted with water in a ratio of 1: 1 and distilled again.

The finished product is bottled and sent to a dark place for 3-4 days.

Apricot-based recipe is very popular:

1. 10 kg of ripe apricots are taken. Bones from fruits are removed and the pulp is passed through a meat grinder.
2. Add 3 liters of distilled water to the resulting mixture. Everything is thoroughly mixed, covered with gauze and infused for 4 days. During this period, the mixture should ferment.
3. Another 5 liters of water are added to the mash and put in a dark place to infuse for 1-1.5 months.
4. After the time has elapsed, the mash is subjected to distillation. After that, the moonshine is diluted again with water and re-distilled in a moonshine still.
5. At the exit, the finished product should contain no more than 40 °. If the percentage is much higher, moonshine is diluted with water.

At home, you can prepare any kind of drink. The main thing is to follow the recipe and adhere to the basic rules of manufacturing technology.

Who, if not the Germans, knows best how to drink schnapps. In their opinion, the drink should not be consumed chilled. In order for the taste and aroma of the products to be revealed, alcohol is heated to + 16 ... 20 ° C before serving. They drink schnapps from small glasses, pouring no more than 20-30 ml of liquid.

It is customary to eat Austrian vodka with fruits, cheeses, Bavarian sausages and even smoked fish.

Varieties of drink prepared on the basis of cereals do not have a pronounced aroma and taste. They are recommended to be consumed chilled. As an appetizer, it is best to use meat dishes, vegetable salads, sausages and cheeses.

The variety of alcoholic beverages today is unusually wide. This assortment includes drinks that are known to everyone, such as vodka, wine, cognac or, and there are also little-known alcoholic drinks, such as schnapps.

But often such little-known products are in no way inferior to their more expensive counterparts.

What drink is called schnapps in Germany, the recipes for its preparation and the rules for use are described below.

This is not just the name of any one alcoholic drink.

• Today, schnapps is considered a whole group of various alcoholic beverages.
• They are made by double distillation, and the main raw materials for manufacturing are a variety of crops, as well as herbs and fruits.
• Most often, schnapps is made from cherries, peaches, pears, apples or potatoes.

Masters in the manufacture of such alcoholic beverages say that raw materials that grow in the wild are best suited for their production. It is it that flavors, ready-made alcohol is best and has a beneficial effect on its taste.

Reference! Schladerer is one of the most famous brands of premium schnapps.

How many degrees?

These alcoholic beverages are classified as hard liquor.

In classic German schnapps, the amount of alcohol can reach 40 percent of the total volume, the most low-alcohol schnapps has a strength of 38 degrees.

Important! In the modern world, the so-called American schnapps has recently appeared. The strength of such a drink is not more than 25 revolutions, but in fact it is just a cocktail made on the basis of schnapps and a variety of fruit liqueurs. Such alcoholic drinks have nothing to do with classic schnapps.

How to drink?

Make sure the schnapps are at the right temperature before serving. It should be in the range of 16 to 20 revolutions.

Such drinks are served in small glasses, up to 30 ml, like any other strong alcohol.

Before you drink, you should definitely inhale the alcoholic aromas of alcohol and only then drink the contents of the glass in one gulp. Such use allows you to fully enjoy the taste and aroma of the selected alcohol at the same time.

Important! If schnapps is made on the basis of cereals, then it must be served at the table after cooling to a temperature of no more than 8 degrees above zero.

The best appetizer options are:

1. Fruits.
2. Sausages and sausages.
3. Smoked or salted herring.

You can use this alcohol in a slightly different way. A small slice of fruit is placed at the bottom of the glass, which is necessarily part of the schnapps. Then the drink is sniffed, the fruit is taken out of it, the schnapps is drunk and the prepared slice is eaten.

Making a German drink at home

But in order to get to know this German alcohol better, it is not at all necessary to go to Germany or visit expensive drinking establishments.

At home, with your own hands, you can quite prepare various types of schnapps, which will be no worse than their industrial counterparts.

Peach

This drink is prepared with just two ingredients:

1. fruits of the same name
2. purified drinking water.

No sugar or yeast is used here. The preparation process takes about two months, but the result is worth such a time investment.

Ingredients:

• ripe peaches - 5 kg;
• water - 5 liters.

Before use, fruits should not be washed, as the bacteria living on the surface of their skin will start the necessary fermentation process. All that is needed is to thoroughly knead them with your hands until smooth and remove the bones.

The further sequence of actions will be as follows:

1. Transfer the resulting puree to a container and pour half of the total volume of water, cover with gauze and leave for 3 days for fermentation.
2. Then add the remaining water to the container and place the container in a warm room under a water seal for 3-5 weeks.
3. After the specified time, strain the mash, drain from the sediment and overtake twice through the moonshine still.
4. Measure the strength of the obtained schnapps and dilute it with water to the required concentration.
5. Pour into an airtight container and place in the refrigerator for 5 days.

If there is no moonshine, then prepared peaches are poured with vodka in a volume similar to the volume of water and infused in a dark, warm place for 60 days.

Then it is filtered through gauze, poured into an airtight container and left to infuse for another 28 days. Then cool and serve.

Mint

Must be deposited in a bank 12 cloves, thirty mint leaves, 6 g anise seeds, 8 g dill seeds And 1 cup dried wormwood. Pour it all 0.5 l of quality alcohol with a strength of 95 revolutions.

Leave for one month in a dark and warm place. Shake the contents of the container well every five days.

After the specified aging period, the liquid should be filtered and distilled twice, then cooled and can be served at the table.

pear

Such an alcoholic drink is very aromatic and refreshing. For its preparation, sweet, ripe varieties of pears with sugar pulp should be used.

The sweeter and more aromatic the raw material is, the more rich and tasty the finished drink will be.

Cooking:

1. Pears must be cleaned of dirt and finely chopped with a knife, stones and seed chambers should be removed. Place the prepared raw materials in a container and pour half the volume of all the water. Put in a warm and dark place for 3 days.
2. Then the remaining liquid is added to the container and the fermentation mixture is placed under a water seal.
3. When the fermentation process is over, the mash is distilled twice through the distillate.
4. The first and last 10% of the liquid is poured out, as there are too many fusel oils in them.
5. Received pear. The distillation process is stopped when the strength of the drink at the outlet reaches 45 degrees.

Before serving pear schnapps, it should be infused for at least 3 days in a cool and dark place.

Watch the video recipe for making pear schnapps at home:

Apple

This type of alcoholic drink is considered one of the most famous and affordable. You can cook it at any time of the year.

1. Washed and peeled apples (10 kg) without pits should either be finely chopped with a knife or chopped with a blender.
2. Place the puree and an enameled container with a volume of at least 15 liters. And pour 5 liters of water, cover with a thin cloth on top. And send to a dark and warm place for a few days.
3. When foam begins to actively appear on the surface of the liquid, add another 3 liters of water to the container and put the mixture under a water seal.
4. When the fermentation process is over, schnapps is prepared in the same way as this type of pear drink.

By the same analogy, schnapps can be prepared from any other fruits and plants.

The finished alcoholic drink is tasty, fragrant, and most importantly completely natural. It should be understood that the more sour the fruits used for mash are, the more sour the finished drink will turn out.

In addition, in too acidic fruits, sugar for fermentation may not be enough, so you need to choose the most ripe and fresh fruits.

In Germany, schnapps is intended exclusively for drinking in friendly companies. The technology for making schnapps is very similar to the preparation of ordinary moonshine, with quite noticeable differences. We will tell you how to use this wonderful drink, as well as provide detailed instructions on how to prepare it at home.

Schnapps, what is it?

By schnapps, we mean a kind of strong alcohol, namely, a drink with a temperature of 38-40 ° C, produced by double distillation of natural mash, without the use of impurities. The taste of schnapps can be described as follows: in general, it is similar to fruit or cereal moonshine, which has a rich and rich smell.

As the main ingredients for schnapps, fruits and cereals are used: cherries, peaches, raspberries, apples, wheat and so on. It is desirable that these fruits or cereals be wild grown, as this allows for a distinctive taste and unique smell. About thirty types of schnapps can be distinguished, which depend on the raw materials underlying it.

Historians believe that the presented drink originated in the 15th century in Germany and Austria. Distilleries appeared only in the XVI century. Schnapps was indispensable in many homes, but what contributed to its popularity?

Initially, the drink was used as a medicine and a way of rejuvenation. Then, people realized that its intoxicating effect can serve as a means of relaxation, which is why schnapps began to be drunk for pleasure. It was now made not only in distilleries, but also at home, subject to the availability of the necessary raw materials.

Germany is considered the birthplace of schnapps, but the production center is located in Tyrol (Eastern Alps, Austria). Germany is progressively spreading schnapps around the world, which is why it is associated with it.

American Schnapps is a lighter drink (20-25°C). It is made in North America. In fact, these are liqueurs that are made on the basis of schnapps.

How to drink schnapps?

This drink should be drunk from glasses of 20-30 ml. To fully feel the fruity or cereal aroma, schnapps is drunk at a temperature of 16-20°C. Initially, you need to slowly inhale the pores of alcohol, and only then knock over the glass. Schnapps, made from those varieties of cereals that do not have a pronounced smell, should be drunk chilled. Various fruits, Bavarian sausages, sausages, sometimes even herring are used as snacks.

There is another way to use schnapps: you need to put a slice of fruit, which is the basis of schnapps, into a cognac glass, then pour the drink itself. Before tasting the schnapps, the slice is pulled out and sniffed. Then the drink is drunk, and a slice of fruit is used as a snack.

In some cities in Germany, it is customary to drink schnapps with white beer, but such mixing quickly intoxicates. If this is too strong for you, then it is better to drink mineral non-carbonated water or juice.

Schnapps at home cooking recipe

If you decide to cook schnapps, you decide how many degrees it will contain. Classic schnapps has, as noted earlier, 38-40 degrees. We will present the most popular and delicious recipes by analogy with which you can experiment.

apricot schnapps

Ingredients:
- ripe apricots - 10 kg;
- water - 8-10 liters.

Cooking:
1. You need to remove the seeds from unwashed apricots, then knead the fruits with your hands until a homogeneous mass is obtained. Why can't you wash fruit for this drink? They contain wild yeast, which the drink needs for natural fermentation.

2. The viscous mass made must be transferred to a can, pour 3 liters of clean water and stir.

3. The neck should be tied with gauze and put the can in a warm place where the sun's rays do not fall.

4. When signs of fermentation begin to appear (foam, pungent smell), add 5-7 liters of water and mix. The amount of water varies depending on the sugar content of the selected fruit. Braga should be liquid.

5. Then you need to fix the water seal, and take the can to a place where the temperature will be 26-28°C. Fermentation lasts long enough - from 25 to 40 days.

6. When the fermentation period is over (there will be no bubbles for 2-3 days), the apricot mash must be poured into a distillation cube, and then distilled in a distiller.

7. When distilling, the first 100 ml should be taken into another container and poured. This fraction is called the "head", as it has harmful substances that are forbidden to drink. The selection of the main product ends when the strength of the drink is reduced to 38°C.

8. The resulting tincture is diluted with water in a ratio of 1: 1, then it needs to be distilled again, no longer collecting the “heads”.

9. Then the schnapps must be poured into a glass container, tightly closed and kept for 3-5 days in a cool place protected from the sun.

10. Dilute the drink to a certain strength, optimal for you, and pour into bottles for storage.

mint schnapps

Ingredients:
- carnation - 12 buds;
- mint - 20-30 sheets;
- dried wormwood - 1 cup;
- dill seeds - 6 g;
- anise - 8 g;
- alcohol 96% - 500 ml.

Schnapps / … Morphemic spelling dictionary

- (German) vodka. Dictionary of foreign words included in the Russian language. Pavlenkov F., 1907. SHNAPS (German). Vodka. Dictionary of foreign words included in the Russian language. Chudinov A.N., 1910. SHNAPS ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

SHNAPS, schnapps, pl. no, husband. (German Schnaps) (colloquial family). Vodka. Explanatory Dictionary of Ushakov. D.N. Ushakov. 1935 1940 ... Explanatory Dictionary of Ushakov

Ex. vodka bitter wine white wine green wine potion white head forty-degree white vodka white Dictionary of Russian synonyms. Context 5.0 Informatics. 2012 ... Synonym dictionary

M. razg. German strong alcoholic drink; vodka. Explanatory Dictionary of Efremova. T. F. Efremova. 2000... Modern explanatory dictionary of the Russian language Efremova

Schnapps. Sweet liqueur with peppermint flavor and moderate alcohol content (20-30%). Schnapps are also produced with the aroma of cranberries, grapes, strawberries, iris, apricots, etc., which is indicated in the name. * * * (Source:… … Culinary Dictionary

A; m. [it. Schnaps] German strong alcoholic drink; vodka... encyclopedic Dictionary

schnapps- the name of the human family is Gorilka ... Spelling Dictionary of Ukrainian Movies

Ah, m. simple. neglected Vodka. The inflated baron blushed even more from the drunk schnapps. Mamin Sibiryak, No special rights. Shh!.. Slowly! Schnapps, it seems, is in the dining room, in the buffet. Chekhov, Ivanov. [German] Schnapps] … Small Academic Dictionary

Books

• Mendel Marantz. Set of 4 pieces, David Friedman. Life edition. Moscow, 1926. Publishing Society "Spark". Newly made professional binding, under which the original covers are preserved. The safety is good. Author…
• The Adventures of SS Standartenführer von Stirlitz, Boris Leontiev. An epoch-making humorous novel about the adventures of SS Standartenführer von Stirlitz, consisting of five books ("Operation Schnapps", "The End of the Corn Emperor", "The Spy Who Loved Stew", "Storm…

When a conversation about German vodka begins during a feast in a friendly company, schnapps is the first thing that comes to mind even for not great connoisseurs of strong alcoholic drinks.

Schnaps is associated with Germany, although it is also made in neighboring Switzerland and Alsace, a French historical region. For the Germans, it acquired almost a cult significance and began to be positioned as a kind of national alcohol.

What you need to know about schnapps

The name Schnaps comes from the Old Norse snappen, which can be literally translated as "to drink in one gulp". Tyrol, a small Austrian region, remains the main region where schnapps is made. But it was thanks to Germany that German vodka became known almost everywhere: on the North American continent, in Europe, and Asia.

Schnapps is often compared to moonshine. But, unlike the latter, it has a rich and pronounced cereal or fruit flavor. In terms of strength - 40-43% - Schnaps is almost as good as tequila or. Some varieties of the drink contain less than 30% alcohol.