Cherry Nalivka…

Want a vodka beverage that will tempt your soul? How about a ruby red vodka that is fit for that special guest? Try Cherry Nalivka…

To make real cherry nalivka it is necessary to follow the rules…

1. Only use high quality vodka…

2. Only use ripened, pure, whole and undamaged cherries…

3. Only fill the bottle 2/3 full of cherries, the cherries must be not be squished into the bottle. So use a bottle with a big enough opening and it has a good lid…

4. Pour over the vodka make sure that the cherries are covered well…

5. Then seal and leave to brew for 2 months…(do not chill)

6. The next important step (after two months) is to strain the nalivka, but not squeezing juice from berries… (yes you can eat the berries and they are great on icecream)

7.  Then sugar is added to the beverage, the amount of sugar is as a rule of thumb: 5% by volume for men to drink and 40% by volume for women to drink…

8.  Now the mixture should be brought to a boil in a sauce pan with the sugar and cooled down very quickly such as in the refrigerator…

9. Now comes the final bottling of nalivka. Pour into clean sanitized bottles that have good sealing corks and this time you may use regular vodka bottles. Seal them tight after filling and store in the cellar or similar place, to wait for that special guest to stop by and have a drink…

Red Vodka...

10. Three months later in the cellar, cherry nalivka is absolutely perfect. This dark ruby palatable vodka doesn’t have high percentage of alcohol and can be kept for many years in the cellar. The nalivka is ready to drink immediately but the longer you wait the better it gets. Nalivka ripens to perfection by the amount of sugar you use. The more sugar the longer it takes…

Notes: Nalivkas are also served as dessert, with tea, coffee and are added to sweets, jellies and drinks. Nalivkas are also made from any all all fruits. Some very popular combination’s are cranberries and gooseberries. Mixed fruit is very popular. One note about Russian cherries and American type cherries. Russian cherries are very sour and not like the sweet American cherries. So the amount of sugar should be adjusted… 🙂

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