Calvados is the hallmark of the homonymous region in the province of Lower Normandy. This brandy is made by distilling apple or pear cider.
The drink dates back to the 15th century, and is now protected by the "Rules of authenticity of origin" (in French AOS). This means that only the distillate that is made in several departments of Lower Normandy can be called a calvados.
The origin of the drink from Orne, the English Channel, Ayr, Loire, Sarthe and Mayenne is also allowed. A brandy of the highest quality is produced only in the eastern part of the department of Calvados. Such a drink is not cheap - from five to eight thousand rubles per bottle. Even if you follow the original manufacturing technology to the smallest detail, the resulting drink cannot bear the proud name “Calvados”. It can only be called "apple brandy." Calvados, like cognac and Armagnac, undergoes long aging in barrels. But this does not mean that it is impossible to cook it at home.
And in this article we will describe all phases of the artisanal process. Believe me: the resulting drink will only be slightly inferior to the branded Calvados.
Original process
In Lower Normandy, only 48 fruit varieties are used for apple calvados. As a rule, only small but ripe fruits are selected.
Producers carefully observe proportions. A good brandy should consist of 70 percent bittersweet apples, 20 percent sour apples, and another 10 percent bitter apples. That is, dessert varieties are not suitable for a drink. Apples should have a rich aroma and increased tannin, which is expressed in a somewhat bitter taste. After squeezing the juice, it is turned into cider. Then, when the wort has passed the fermentation process, it is subjected to double distillation. But this is not Calvados.
Alcohols are skillfully mixed and enclosed in oak barrels, where they ripen for at least two years. During this time, the distillate gains amber color, the aroma of haze and wood, and notes of dried fruits, caramel and spices appear in the taste.
Brandy cooking phases
There are not so many apple calvados recipes. And so that we do not get a Slavic tincture or German schnapps, we must strive to adhere to the original technology.
The whole process can be divided into phases:
- The selection of apples and juice.
- Making cider - a low alcohol drink.
- Straining.
- Distillation. Getting distillate.
- Exposure
- Filtration.
Of course, it is difficult to fully comply with the manufacturer’s technology. For example, oak barrels can be replaced with glass jars with wood chips. But if you want the drink to be aromatic, strong and tasty, you should use effort and patience.
Recipe for apple calvados at home. Step one
Carefully select the apples. Often, not very good fruits are taken for juice: broken, with spots of spoilage. But in this case, you need to be a perfectionist and strive for the ideal. We comply with the proportions. Seventy percent of apples should be moderately sweet and very juicy.
To start the process of preparing calvados, select autumn (September-October). Then the apples reach their full maturity.
Remember to add another 20 percent acidic varieties and 10% bitter ones. This does not mean that you can take unripe apples that have not gained sugars. Unripe fruits have no aroma, and it plays a paramount role in the drink. In no case do not wash my apples. After all, we need to preserve the wild yeast that lives on the peel. We just cut out the core with seeds from apples and squeeze the juice.
Any methods are suitable, including modern ones. A juicer will allow you to get the product with almost no pulp in just a few minutes. If the liquid is too turbid, filter it.
Step Two Making cider
Pour juice into a glass container. We put her in a dark place, but not in the cellar. Need room temperature. In a day - and even earlier - an abundant foam will appear on the surface of the liquid. As the Calvados recipe prescribes, it must be removed from apple juice. There are two ways to do this. The first way is with a spoon. The foam is rather dense, and at first the work progresses easily. But the remains of the foam are difficult to remove. Therefore, the second method is preferable - through a tube. So you will get rid not only of the foam, but also of the sediment that formed the pulp.
Pour the liquid into another tank and leave it under a water lock. If you do not have a professional installation (a glass twisty bulb), you can get out of the situation in one of two ways. We seal the jar with juice with an airtight lid. In it we make a small hole in which we insert a rubber tube. Its edge should not touch the juice. But we lower the second end of the tube into a vessel with water. Thus, air cannot penetrate into the fermentation tank, but the resulting gases can leave the tank.
There is a simpler way. Just pull a medical glove over the neck of the can by piercing the rubber on one of the fingers with a needle. We leave the juice to ferment in a dark place, but at room temperature.
Step Three Straining apple wine
After some time, you will see how the fermentation process started in the juice can. As winemakers note, it is important that you do not immediately get apple cider vinegar.
But no sugar or yeast is needed in the wort. Also, you should not resort to the help of vodka and alcohol if you want to make a real home-made calvados from apple juice at home.
Wild yeast on the peel of acidic fruits should do their job and start the process of wine fermentation. The rapid release of bubbles (or a glove that has inflated like a balloon) after a month will be replaced by another phase. It will be a quiet ripening. How to understand that cider is ready? Winemakers are advised to look at the bank under a water shutter. If for several days no bubbles appear, and the liquid has brightened and a precipitate has formed, then the cider is ready. If you have a glove instead of a water seal, then it should completely fall. Open the container and carefully filter the cider. Experts say that if this is not done, the solid parts during distillation will burn and spoil the taste of the drink. It is enough to pass the cider through several layers of gauze.
Step Four Primary distillation
To get apple calvados at home, you need a moonshine. It would also be nice to have an alcohol meter to determine the degree of the drink.
At this stage of cooking calvados, the main thing is not to be greedy. According to winemakers, to make one liter of distillate you need 14 liters of cider (or 20 kilograms of apples). Where does that much fluid go? To get quality brandy, cider is distilled twice.
In the primary distillation process (in Lower Normandy, copper "alambiks" of the Charente species are used for this) collect all the liquid. At the exit, we have the so-called raw alcohol with a strength of 25-30 degrees. It, unlike the cider, which tastes good, cannot be drunk.
Step Five and Most Important
In most Normandy distilleries, apple calvados undergoes double distillation. This second distillation process is very responsible. Professionals claim that it consists of three fractions. If we compare moonshine with a green serpent, we will call these parts “head”, “body” and “tail”.
First, a liquid is released from the apparatus that is saturated with toxic fusel oils. This is the “head” that needs to be mercilessly drained. The fortress of this lionfish is small, but you can’t drink it. “Heads” can be from 5 to 12 percent of the whole mash that went through the first stage of distillation. Next comes the "body." It will become the future apple calvados. Carefully collect alcohol with a strength of 80-90 degrees drop by drop. The tail crawls out last. The liquid strength drops. When it reaches a mark below 30 degrees, cut off this “tail”. It can be collected in a separate container and stored for a new cider.
Sixth step. Replacing Oak Barrels
As a result of our efforts, apple moonshine was devoid of color and with a rather boring bouquet. Calvados is a more noble drink that needs to be given time to mature. It is hard to imagine in an urban apartment an oak barrel in which brandy matures. We can do without her. But we still need an oak. And not sawdust, bark or shavings. They have a lot of tannins, because of which the drink will come out bitter.
We need wood, which we carefully divide into pegs 15 centimeters long and 1 cm in diameter. For a three-liter jar, a trunk cut of 25-30 centimeters in diameter will suffice. Scalp pegs with boiling water. Leave for 10 minutes under the lid. We drain the water, pour a new one, this time cold. Soak for 20 minutes. Dry the pegs.
Excerpt
We carry out all manipulations with oak wood ahead of time, so that by the end of the secondary distillation it is ready for use. We do everything like this.
1. First, we will dilute the resulting alcohol with distilled water to achieve a strength of 40-42 degrees.
2. Pour this liquid into a jar. At the bottom we place oak pegs. Close the jar tightly. You can even roll it with an iron cover.
3. After which we leave the container alone in a dark place for six months or even a year. Nothing bad will happen if you uncork your apple calvados in a few years.
4. Before drinking it must be filtered through several layers of gauze.
A simpler recipe for calvados (apple vodka) at home
The brandy preparation method described above is complicated. In addition, something may go wrong on any of the phases of the technological process - the juice will turn sour to vinegar, otherwise the fermentation process will not start.
It is much easier to resort to the second recipe. The result is not quite Calvados, but also a strong apple distillate that tastes good.
1. Two kilograms of apples are peeled and peeled, cut into small cubes.
2. Put these pieces in a jar, pour a bag of vanilla sugar (10 g). Pour a liter of quality vodka.
3. We close the jar tightly and set the liquid to infuse at room temperature in a dark place for 15 days.
4. We extract apples, we obsolete them.
5. The liquid is filtered through a cotton-gauze filter.
6. From 200 grams of sugar and 150 milliliters of water, we cook the syrup. Let it cool to room temperature.
7. Pour apple vodka. Stir and bottle the tincture.
Even faster way
The traditional recipe involves the preparation of calvados from apple juice. But you can simplify your task by passing 15 kilograms of fruit through a meat grinder. From the resulting mashed potatoes you need to separate 300 milliliters of wort. Add two tablespoons of sugar and dry yeast.
While the froth is formed, boil the syrup. To do this, dissolve three kilograms of sugar in half a liter of water and bring the mixture to a boil. Let’s cool the syrup and pour the must with yeast. Place the whole mashed mass in a large container (up to 50 l). Fill it with braga and put it under the water lock. Let's wait until the liquid ferments, then the foam disappears, and the sweetness in taste leaves. This may take about two weeks. Next, filter the liquid, removing the cake. We send for distillation a drink that can be called homemade calvados. To make it more reminiscent of a noble Norman brandy, winemakers recommend insisting it on oak pegs for about six months.