Why is water added to homemade wine? Health Recipes: Do-It-Yourself Delicious Drinking Water

If you care about your health and want to switch to a healthy diet, then it's time to give up soda and high-sugar juices and switch to drinking delicious home-made water. The main advantage of this drink lies in its benefits, taste and ability to perfectly quench thirst. You can take this water with you to work, workout, or just enjoy its pleasant taste at home. We invite you to familiarize yourself with the recipes for this miracle water, indispensable in the hot season.

Don't expect an explosion of flavor and some very sweet drink. You will receive water with a subtle, refreshing aroma. So light that sometimes it seems that it is not there, and the water will taste much more pleasant. By the way, it’s very easy to prepare. You don't even need any equipment like a blender, mixer, etc. Just a few cans in which you will then store the drink in the refrigerator.

To prepare water we will need:

Fruits. Any kind you like, except bananas. Fruits must be ripe to maximize their flavor and aroma. It’s good to put berries, citrus fruits, pineapple or watermelon in water.

Herbs. This is optional. It is not necessary to add herbs if you don’t really like them. However, sometimes they work wonders to bring out the flavors of the fruit and make the water delicious.

Jars or jugs. Preferably with lids.

Jug with strainer. Or you can just take a separate strainer. Berries from water in a glass will not look very attractive, and they will not taste very good. so it’s better to filter the water.

A muddler or just a spoon to mash fruits and herbs.

Water. Any water you always drink. It can even be tap water, if its taste and quality suits you.

What fruit should I take, fresh or frozen?

The answer is ambiguous. Out of season, naturally, it is better to take frozen ones, since fresh ones, even if they are in the store, usually do not have the rich taste that we need, and they are a little expensive. During the season, you can look for fresh ripe berries and fruits.

What herbs to use?

Which ones do you like and which ones do you have on hand? Typically mint is used in these recipes, but basil, rosemary, sage, thyme or lavender also provide interesting flavor combinations.

How long can such water be stored?

In the refrigerator - about 3 days. Therefore, it is not recommended to make too much water in advance, especially since it takes literally 2 minutes to prepare, and it will not be difficult for you to prepare fresh regularly.

The most successful combinations:

Cucumber and fresh mint

Apple and cinnamon sticks

Blueberries and strawberries

Orange, cucumber, lime and lemon

Lemon, cucumber, fresh mint and fresh rosemary

Frozen grapes, frozen strawberries and fresh mint

Watermelon, pineapple and apple

Peach and melon

Watermelon and peach

Strawberries and fresh mint

Fresh mint, fresh lavender and lemon

Peach, strawberry and raspberry/blackberry

Kiwi, raspberry and peach

Strawberry and orange

Recipes:

Citrus water

The amount of ingredients is indicated for 2 liters of water, but you can change the ratio of elements to your taste.

Cut 1 orange, 1 lime, 1 lemon into halves. Place in a jar and mash a little with a muddler so that the fruit releases juice but does not turn into mush. Fill the jar with ice and add water to the top. Gently mix with the handle of a spoon. Close the lid and put it in the refrigerator or just in a cool place.

You can drink it right away, but the aroma will become more intense after 1-2 hours, and the drink will acquire an even fuller taste after a day. Even until the next day, the ice may not melt completely and will serve as a kind of sieve separating water from pieces of fruit.

Raspberry and lime water

It turns out to be an interesting, slightly tart drink with a pleasant color.
Cut two limes into quarters, squeeze the juice into a jar with your hands, then throw the quarters into the jar. Add a handful of raspberries. Crush the fruit a little, but only lightly. Add ice, water, mix, cover with a lid, and put in the refrigerator.

Water with pineapple and mint

Place a sprig of mint or mint leaves (if you want them to float beautifully in the jar) in a container. Rub the mint a little with a muddler, you should feel its aroma. Add pineapple pieces and mash some more. Ice, water, mix, cover with a lid, put in the refrigerator.

Water with blackberries and sage

The result is a subtle and refreshing taste. Add sage leaves to the jar and mash a little. Add a handful of blackberries and mash. Ice, water, mix, cover with a lid, put in the refrigerator.

Water with watermelon and rosemary

We put a sprig of rosemary in a jar, knead it a little, even with a little effort, rosemary releases its aroma very quickly, so don’t be too zealous. Add watermelon cubes and knead very lightly. Ice, water, mix, cover with a lid, put in the refrigerator.

Rosemary-watermelon and pineapple-mint waters are the sweetest. If the rest seems a bit bland, you can add honey or even sugar. It will still be no worse than store-bought lemonade. By the way, these are just basic recipes; you can experiment endlessly, using other fruits and herbs, mixing them in different ways. This is a huge scope for creativity.

When preparing pasta, always use plenty of water - at least 1 liter per 100 grams of product. It is better to cook pasta in a large saucepan, because in order to cook properly and not stick together, it needs free space. Typically, to prepare pasta, boil 5.5-7.5 liters of water, add salt and cook the pasta according to the instructions on the package.

Should I add salt to the cooking water?

In Italy, salt is always added to pasta. A pinch of salt added to the water helps the flavor of the pasta to develop. We recommend sea salt because this natural product enhances, rather than overpowers, the flavor of the pasta. However, if you are following a salt-free diet, you do not need to add salt to your Barilla pasta.

Do I need to add oil to water when making pasta?

There is no need for oil to keep the paste from sticking. Just follow the instructions on the Barilla toothpaste package - just use plenty of water and you won't have any problems like this.

Why is it important to cook pasta until al dente?

Pasta is a source of slow carbohydrates. The al dente state of readiness (meaning the degree of readiness of the pasta, when, although completely cooked on the outside, it has a firm core on the inside) makes it possible to fully reveal the beneficial properties of the pasta. Al dente pasta is more filling and provides the body with energy longer. Due to the special protein structure of traditional pasta, it has a low glycemic index. This paste takes longer to digest than most other foods containing carbohydrates. Cook pasta al dente to maintain a low glycemic index.

Do I need to rinse the paste?

Barilla pasta should not be rinsed after cooking. Washing is necessary in order to wash away excess starch. Typically, the paste releases a lot of starch and sticks together if poor quality wheat was used to make it. And Barilla pasta is made from high-quality durum wheat.

When making homemade wines, novice winemakers are faced with problems such as molding of the drink, cloudiness, an increase in strength with the transformation into mash, the release of acetic acid, and loss of taste. All this suggests that mistakes were made during the preparation process: too much (or, conversely, too little) sugar was added, fermentation was not completed, the drink was not sealed correctly, the recipe was changed in terms of the quantity and volume of products used, etc. The main mistake home winemakers are incorrectly selected proportions (how much pulp, sugar, yeast is added to the number of berries, fruits, etc. used), which significantly affects the final result.

In many cases, the main solution to save your “masterpiece” will be dilution with water, which is what most winemakers are currently afraid of. However, you should not be afraid of this, but rather, on the contrary, you need to add as much water as required to improve the taste. When diluting wines, the ratio of excess added ingredients changes, bringing them back to normal, thereby improving the taste and aroma of the resulting drink. The main thing here is not to overdo it.

The strength depends on how long the fermentation stage lasts, and the alcohol produced during the process significantly suppresses the aroma of the berries used in preparation. If it has not fermented and has been bottled and set aside for further storage, “endless fermentation” occurs and the alcohol content constantly increases. Because of this, the bottle in which the wine is stored “explodes” or becomes unfit for consumption. To reduce the amount of alcohol content, you need to dilute the wine with water, then the berry aroma will intensify, giving a refined, pleasant aroma. During the hot season, you can add a few pieces of ice to the glass, which will make the drink cool, and drinking homemade wine much more enjoyable. This recipe does not reduce all the beneficial properties of this drink.

Where did the tradition of diluting with water come from?

Adding water to homemade wine is an old Greek tradition that goes back centuries. Previously, in
In ancient Greece, only natural yeast was used to make wine, so the alcohol content was minimal. Such varieties were not stored for a long time and quickly deteriorated because they began to release vinegar. To increase the shelf life of wines, large amounts of grape sugar and purified alcohol were added. But before drinking, you still had to dilute the drink with water, due to its excessive strength and cloying taste. The Greeks also used a recipe for preparing a wine drink with the addition of various herbs and spices. Boiled sea water was used to increase the acidity of wines.

Currently, the process of making homemade wines and storing them is not so problematic. In addition, a wide selection of crops allows you to create your own varieties and varieties. Winemakers often use a recipe that is popular today: adding sparkling water to various types of wine, thereby obtaining sparkling wine without any time investment. This drink perfectly quenches thirst on hot summer days.

In what cases can water be added?

Orthodoxy. Since ancient times, it has been customary in Orthodox churches and monasteries to give Cahors to people who come to the rite of Communion. Orthodox believe that by drinking a glass of Cahors, their soul is cleansed of sins and opens to communication with God, and the “sacred drink” itself is mistaken for “God’s blood.” Cahors, which is given in church, must be diluted with water, since it is considered one of the strongest varieties. For this purpose, use the following recipe: Cahors is diluted in proportions 1:3 and well
mixed. The diluted drink should be left to steep for at least 24 hours.

Traditional medicine. It has long been known that in folk medicine, red wine is used to treat coughs and colds, as well as to increase hemoglobin in the blood. Red varieties have antimicrobial and antiseptic effects, which significantly improves the patient’s condition in many diseases. When drinking wines for medicinal purposes, use an old folk recipe: add 200 ml of water, 5-6 sprigs of cloves and 3-4 tablespoons of honey to 1 liter of wine. You can also add nutmeg or cinnamon for taste and aroma. The drink is heated over low heat, without bringing to a boil. Consume hot, 200-300 ml 2 times a day.

Change in taste and decrease in strength. Often homemade wine contains too much alcohol and excess sugar, as a result of which it turns out strong and its taste is cloying. It is not possible to drink it in its pure form. To reduce excessive sweetness and reduce alcohol content, you can add water. In such cases, the drink must be diluted with water only before consumption, otherwise it may spoil.

Checking the quality of the prepared drink. By diluting with water, winemakers often check the quality of their wines. Beautiful color and pleasant smell, at first glance, do not mean that this is a high-quality product. To test purchased or independently prepared varieties, use the following recipe: one part of the volume of wine is diluted with two parts of the volume of water and mixed well. After this, the drink should be allowed to brew for about 30 minutes. High-quality wine retains its color and taste, but an unpleasant odor and cloudiness after such a procedure indicate that the product is not suitable for further storage.

Basic rules for diluting homemade wines

In order not to spoil the wine when diluted with water, you should consider a few simple rules:

• When diluting wines, use a ratio of 1:3
• red varieties need to be diluted with hot water
• white varieties need to be diluted with cold water
• for dilution, use only distilled or boiled water
• water should be poured directly into wine, and not vice versa
• the volume of water must be greater than the volume of wine being diluted
• fortified varieties cannot be diluted with water, otherwise they lose their taste

By following all the rules, you will receive an excellent drink that more than one gourmet will appreciate. When choosing a recipe, prepare all the ingredients in advance. Correctly selected proportions, which depend on how much wine material you have, will give an exquisite and sophisticated taste to your wine!

The water we use for cooking is of utmost importance. Tap water is fine, but many people do not like its characteristic metallic taste, which is transferred to dishes. Mineral water is also not suitable for cooking. Solution? Use filtered or spring water in the kitchen.

Most of our compatriots use ordinary tap water for cooking. And this is correct, because it can be drunk even without any heat treatment. Tap water does not contain dirt and bacteria, is free from organic and chemical impurities, so it is convenient and safe to drink.

High temperature kills microorganisms; In addition, boiling water leads to precipitation of some minerals, especially calcium and magnesium. This softens the water, but at the same time leads to a deterioration in the mineral composition.

Tap water, as already noted, can be consumed directly from the tap, however, we do not always fully trust its quality or we simply do not really like it. Chlorine present in the water, which is added to prevent biological contamination and the development of bacteria, may be responsible for the unpleasant taste. In addition, outdated equipment in residential buildings themselves is also responsible for the quality and taste of water. Therefore, many are looking for more “reliable” water for drinking and cooking.

Does filtering improve taste?

Tap water can be safely used for cooking. But many people believe that dishes will taste better if they are cooked with filtered water. Filtration has become a common practice and is carried out using special filters placed directly on the tap, or using filter vessels. These procedures are aimed at improving the quality and taste of water.

Chefs all over the world very often use filtered water for cooking. In Europe, recognized restaurateurs cook with it. Many places around the world not only provide filtered water to their customers for free, but use it in the operation of professional kitchen equipment, such as convection ovens, because this water is more delicate and soft. A simple example: when we cook with unfiltered tap water, a characteristic sediment remains on the dishes. If we use filtered liquid, this will not happen.

Filtered water is the choice of gourmets and restaurateurs.

Filtration results in the removal of components from water that adversely affect its taste and smell, and this has a beneficial effect on the quality of dishes. Vegetables cooked in this water become soft faster and soups become more tasty. This water is ideal for making ice cubes, ice cream, good tea or coffee.

Mineral water - only cold

Some people do not trust tap water, even filtered water, and use mineral water for cooking. This is not the best idea.

Mineral water is not suitable for cooking!

Mineral water is not suitable for cooking, because during heat treatment mineral salts precipitate, which are not absorbed by the body in this form. Experts add that when mineral water boils, its properties that are important for health change. This is especially true for highly mineralized or medicinal water. Both highly and moderately mineralized waters are intended for direct consumption, and in this form they are safe. After opening a bottle of mineral water, you should drink it within 24 hours, as bacteria can then develop in it.

Bottled spring water is an excellent choice

It is worth knowing that spring water, which is characterized by a low mineral content, is suitable for cooking from bottled water. Its composition should not change after heat treatment. Spring water is often used to prepare food for children, such as soups and stews. It's tasty because it's neutral. Neutrality is the essence and advantage of water. Through the cooking process, it helps to extract flavor and aroma from other foods, but it itself should remain invisible.

The main advantage of spring water is its neutral mineral composition and taste.

So, let's summarize the above. It is quite possible to use ordinary tap water for cooking, filtering it if desired. But if the taste and quality do not suit you, you can use bottled water, the quality of which will not depend on the condition of the water supply in our apartment, the chlorine content or the hardness of the water.

› Water for cooking

We rightly care about the origin, quality and purity of every ingredient that makes up our dishes. However, there is a component that we use every day without paying any attention to it. This cooking water. For some reason, its properties are usually not questioned. But if we perform a chemical analysis of the water that we pour into a saucepan, for example, from a pitcher filter, from a bottle purchased in a store, or directly from a tap, it turns out that we are dealing with different water each time. And each has its own influence on the cooking process.

It is in water that many, many dishes are formed: from buckwheat porridge to Belgian soup. Water acts as a universal medium that unites all the components of the future dish, extracting various substances from them and... adding to them its own - those that, by the will of fate, ended up in it itself. Grandma's pie dough contains a pinch of sodium hypochlorite, cheaply and cheerfully thrown in at the city water treatment plant - against dysentery.

In the borscht there are pieces of rust, almost invisible to the eye, but noticeable to the taste, from the walls of pipes laid decades ago. And almost certainly - brown flakes of iron. It had already oxidized from a divalent to a trivalent state and precipitated while we were cooking delicious trout caught in ecologically clean areas of Norway. Hardness salts form a well-known scale not only on the surface of teapots and pans, but also on every piece of cabbage, carrots and meat that we throw into the soup. The list of impurities can be continued for a very long time, but this will hardly improve your appetite.

Cooking food in water with impurities is about the same as listening to a gramophone record with noise and interference. Foreign substances mask and distort the true taste of products. In order to reveal and fully experience the organoleptic properties and color of your favorite dish, you need an impeccably clean cooking water. The formation of taste and smell is a complex process. This is exactly what culinary art is all about. In search of the perfect taste, we worry about an hour of collecting Chinese lettuce leaves during the day, not to mention the settings of the oven operating modes. But even if a car is truly recognizable only when it is washed, is it permissible to forget about the purity of the water that we drink and use in cooking? What water to cook with better?

Water without interference

Where can you get water without impurities? After all, no filter adsorbs them with sufficient reliability. The more particles already stuck in the adsorbent, the lower its filtering capacity becomes. It's inevitable. Many household filters require replacement within a few days after installation. The only acceptable solution to this situation was bottled liquid, which is intended for drinking. It contains a large amount of mineral salts and cooking water fits only slightly better than tap water.

The question remains: what water to cook with? The coming century has brought new water to our fatherland, designed specifically for preparing tasty and healthy food. This drinking liquid is becoming almost universally available, but is not sold in stores, since its industrial production and delivery to the retail chain is accompanied by certain overhead costs and cannot compete with the technology for its production in domestic conditions. Water flows from the tap, which belongs to the Atoll system, which works on the principle of reverse osmosis. This one is installed in the kitchen and makes it easy to get pure H2O - instantly and in sufficient quantities.

Reverse osmosis technology is borrowed from nature itself: the cell membranes of living organisms regulate the balance of liquids and salts, being natural osmotic membranes. A semi-permeable membrane installed in a pure water generator is guaranteed to reject all impurities, allowing almost only water and oxygen molecules to pass through. In addition to them, only light inorganic salts remain in the water in minute quantities (about 1 mg/l). They do not have any effect on human health or the taste of cooked dishes. These same substances are also found in food - only in much larger quantities. Meanwhile, in a liter of tap water, usually 200 to 300 mg of various impurities are dissolved. Among them are full of organochlorine and other far from harmless compounds, salts of heavy metals, suspensions and other deteriorators of taste and health.

Digest in the stomach, not in the pan

Atoll reverse osmosis water is also good because it reduces the cooking time until dishes are ready. If tap liquid envelops pieces of food immersed in it with a film, then Atoll water does not contain these same salts. Nothing prevents such water from interacting with the ingredients of our dishes. In addition, it itself is living, active, free to quickly dissolve substances with which it comes into contact.

If previously we had to cook a dish for a long time and take samples many times in anticipation of the desired taste, the formation of which occurred slowly and imperfectly, now there is no need for this. The risk of overcooking a dish over the fire is a thing of the past. The processes occurring under the lid of the pan are accelerated. The result is a tasty, optimally cooked dish that is easily digested by the body.

The feeling of satiety is a matter of taste

Why do we so often eat a lot and still not feel full? Not at all because there is not enough food in the stomach. And especially not because we are experiencing a calorie deficit. On the contrary, the energy value of the modern human diet is too high. A significant portion of the population is overweight. It is difficult to reduce even with the help of fairly intense physical education. So why do we eat a lot even when we want to limit the amount of food we eat, once again deciding to start a new life on Monday? Do we have weak willpower? Are we faced with stress again and again, and we are forced to “eat it up”? Because of poor nutrition, our metabolism has changed, and now the body “demands” more and more food? Of course, these factors influence our nutrition. However, they are not the only ones.

An equally important reason for overeating is that there is too little food for the taste buds located on the tongue, and not at all for the volume of the stomach, muscle function, blood supply to the brain and psychological comfort. Food with a muted, distorted taste does not saturate the receptors, and they send a hunger signal to the brain, demanding another portion of food. And this despite the fact that the norm has already been objectively met. The feeling of satiety turns out to be a matter of taste. Try eating a bowl of corn with a teaspoon, slowly chewing the grains thirty to forty times before swallowing. This meal will last the same ten to fifteen minutes that we allot for dinner, but it will fill you up no less than a whole kilogram of roast and potatoes. Taste buds will be completely satisfied.

I will follow the dish

If you think that natural products are better than those obtained with the help of “high technology”, and you would rather choose fresh food supplies in a store than perfectly preserved ones for three months, then you will definitely give preference to natural fresh water. One that is not burdened with artificial additives. That water that has just been produced in your presence as a result of its purification from particles accumulated over a long previous life (by contact with waste from a nearby plant, during treatment with standard chemicals at a municipal water treatment plant, when passing through dilapidated water pipes) .

The water cycle in nature should be left in the past before you start cooking. Otherwise, we cannot prepare a dish, since “dish” and “observe” are the same root words. A dish is what results from following the recipe, ingredients and cooking conditions. Cooking water must have the “correct” composition, otherwise we will not be able to prepare decent dishes. The quality of any dish is equal to the quality of its worst component. Precisely the worst, not the best. Therefore, in order not to spoil the barrel of honey with a fly in the ointment, we will purify the drinking liquid. And only Atoll filters operating on the principle of reverse osmosis can do this adequately.

› › Water for cooking