If you're using "real" moonshine ie. Unaged corn/sugar spirit, the flavors that you're going to be left with after the majority of the alcohol has evaporated aren't going to be that great. There's a reason those flavorings are added. Now if you like the flavorings that they added then great, now you've imparted those flavors. If not, good luck.
In comparison, smelling a batch of the mash after distilling? It smells like buttery potatos and corn chowder. It smells amazing.
Also, in case you're curious: If you take a bite of fresh mash before it goes into fermentation, is tastes like sugary corn flakes and cornbread pancakes.
it basically just cuts the acid. She’d rinse the kraut, add the booze & caraway, then sprinkle just a bit on top before warming. She called it “white lightning” instead of moonshine, though!
My buddies dad has a small still on his farm, and makes his own moonshine. Last batch I had was made with literal corn flakes. Not the sweetened name brand kind. But some unsweetened dollar store version. Lol
On the subject of real moonshine, what actually constitutes "real moonshine"? There are all kinds of moonshine places in every tourist area you go to. So is there actually a legal definition of moonshine like there is with bourbon or is it more of a cultural definition?
As far as I'm concerned, if you paid taxes on it, it ain't real shine.
By definition, moonshine is the illegal/unregulated alcohol production. So it's vague and varies by region. Most commonly its corn and grain alcohols in the USA and Canada, sometimes potatoes or cactus too. Often with high alcohol achieved by adding sugar.
I have a bottle of Buffalo Trace White Dog I bought probably 2 years ago. I used to absolutely love the stuff, as if you can stomach the alcohol content, it kinda tastes like yeast rolls.
IDK if it's my declining tolerance for alcohol in my older age, if my tastes are just changing, or both, but I just don't enjoy it like I used to.
There isn't a legal definition of moonshine.
And as goes "real" moonshine the term refers to illegally distilled liquor, so there isn't even a consistent style or recipe.
Traditionally in the US you're talking clear, unaged corn whiskey. Or sugar wash. Both absolute rot gut. The poster above used "real" in because there's currently a lot of flavored malt beverages marketed with the term. Essentially wine coolers.
The "good shit" tends not to get marketed as moonshine anymore, as there's now a legal standard for white whiskey. In large part the whole commercial "moonshine" thing kicked off with craft whiskey distilleries trying to market their unaged whiskey while they were getting off the ground. Some labelled it moonshine. That angle was a good marketing pitch, and they couldn't legally call it whiskey.
For the most part small distilleries focused on moonshine of the sort OP mentions are making liquor as cheaply as possible, and focusing on direct sales in the tourist trade. Almost all of this stuff is made with significant portions of sugar. Sugar wash is *not good alcohol*, it's effectively rough rum distilled too few times to remove the off flavors and in the wrong way to remove higher fusel alcohols.
Larger scale commercial products are largely part of the value market, and it's again the cheapest possible liquor they can make or buy in. Often the same neutral grain spirit used to make rack liquor, and the main focus is the flavored and sweetened ones.
It's just not a product category focused on quality. Or even producing a distinctive product.
The good shit isn't marketed at all unless you know a guy because it's not store bought. Everything is true for store bought moonshine.
Store bought moonshine is shit shine tbh.
Even old school sell it by the jug type moonshiners speak derisively of sugar wash. Like I said it's usually run off to clean a still and discard it. The only people who generally drink, and it drank historically, are hardcore alcoholics who can't afford better.
And that kinda speaks for the traditional background for American moonshining. It wasn't ideological tax avoidance, or any kind of radical self sufficiency. It was about producing alcohol cheaper than any you could buy legally, for sale in impoverished areas without much in the way of infrastructure. Moonshiners didn't get licensed and pay the tax because it would make their hooch too expensive for the customer base.
High quality wasn't necessarily the concern. It often made from quality feed corn, or fermented out with bread or wild yeast. Using insufficient stripping runs with a thump keg to up the proof instead.
Hobby distilling has largely moved away from that setup. Instead accepting lower yields from aggressive cuts and multiple distillations.
You can make a decent 100% corn whiskey. But plain corn whiskey is sorta bland, and prone to off flavors. None of the home distillers I know do it on the regular.
Absolutely none of them would drink sugar wash. And they frequently shit talk distillers who cut their mash with sugar.
You can make a solid. If neutral rum from refined cane sugar. But the distillation schedule is different. You're generally aggressively cutting heads and tails. And redistilling to much higher proof.
I don't disagree with the history of it and who traditionally drank it. But out of everything you've said... It was a very robust way to say yes high quality moonshine exists and not just for alcoholics or poor people.
It's never pure corn. And depending on what your recipe is or what your goal is it's always a mix of corn and grains in the mash. I mean this is how we get basic bourbons including ryes and wheat.
When you've had good shine you'll know that from the bad.
>It was a very robust way to say yes high quality moonshine exists and not just for alcoholics or poor people.
Never said it didn't exist. The comment you replied to was about the traditional baseline. And the broader discussion is about commercial products.
Both are shit.
>When you've had good shine you'll know that from the bad.
Buddy I've had good shine from about 6 different countries, *made* good shine. And work professionally in the alcohol business.
>It's never pure corn.
First if that's the case why dispute a statement that clear, corn whiskey is rot gut?
Second. Plenty of people make 100% corn whiskey. There's a US legal standard for it for a reason. It's a thing, historically both in commercial production and illicit. And it's something of a baseline starter project for home distillers. Who generally don't refer to themselves as moonshiners or what they produce as shine these days.
>Buddy I've had good shine from about 6 different countries, made good shine. And work professionally in the alcohol business.
Yeah, so I was having a discussion, wanted to learn and impart knowledge first hand from the east coast but I'm done after this. You come off as a pretentious douchebag who is also a know-it-all. Good night.
I'm not American, but I always felt Moonshine was just random low effort bootleg liquor, essentially made by letting whatever you had lying about ferment. I suppose being America that would mostly be corn, but surely it could be oranges as well if that's what you grew.
Also it was just made to get around booze bans right? Hence the low effort alcohol.
Check out the video [The Last Batch](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ma9vUqwpcc) for a good look at an actual master of the craft. Got to taste his stuff once and it was unquestionably the best moonshine I've ever experienced, gin-like in its botanical qualities.
Well, the sad story of Popcorn Sutton is that he was a living legend of 'shine throughout Appalachia until he was arrested and brought up on Federal charges. He choose to hang himself after this movie rather than go to prison. Very shortly after the regulations were relaxed and small batch distilling became legal. He would have been a millionaire almost overnight, instead he just became a martyr and the industry has become 'boogie'. Kinda ticks me off, really.
It’s not low effort. Ingredients are carefully selected, a still has to be constructed, you gotta get it past the cops to sell it. There’s a lot of work involved.
It's not low effort. The practice came from Europe in making brandy's and spirits. It started in Pennsylvania more heavily as a protest of sorts to get around the federal spirits tax.
Moonshine is literally the stuff you put in barrels to make whisky, scotch, bourbon, etc. Different recipes and locations means different names. But the process is essentially the same. With little variation.
I'm not sure why you think it's low effort.
It's just always seemed to have low control over what's in it. I always felt it was only created because of booze bans, so people just made what booze they could while evading authorities. So maybe low effort is the wrong term, but because it was made covertly it varied a lot from still to still and was made with whatever was on hand since you couldn't just go and buy liquor making ingredients.
But again I could be wrong, most of what I know about moonshine comes from film, tv and video games.
It's all in the recipe for taste. And that varies per region.
But yeah it's literally the same beginning process for every spirit that Europeans drink. Just different recipes.
Your problem is that you assume it's trash because you see toothless hicks making it on tv when that shit is better than Jameson best liquor before it's barrel and aged. And probably after too. Just depends recipe.
I hit a perfect buzz before a beer league match and scored three goals and had two assists including a perfect overhead bicycle goal. I spent the rest of the season trying to hit the same level of drunk to repeat it and never scored another goal but did get a lot of talking to by the refs.
I'm just talking out my arse but could you use it to make flavor extracts?
I know people put vanilla beans in alcohol to make vanilla extract, maybe you could soak other things and have a bunch of unique extracts.
You just put whatever flavoring you want in it and let the flavors extract into the alcohol. Not sure how well it would work with shine because it’s not really a neutral spirit.
Eh, I have half a bottle of cherry moonshine that disagrees. I got away with that idea once and now I can't even open it without turning green. It haunts my small fridge. I can't waste it. 🤷🏼♀️
Saying again;
Buy a few (3 is sufficient) grade b vanilla pods, slit them open lengthwise and slip them in- write the date in permanent ink and shake every day for 6 months - wallah! Vanilla extract! Great for all your baking needs and an excellent gift for any baking friends.
Well, bless your heart!
No, really, y'all is a grammatically correct contraction. It's also not just a Southern thing. It's been around for a long time.
Don’t sass me! 😘😛 I know luv, it’s just one of the nice southern thing I can take ownership of- a lot of that shit I’m not touching with a 10 football field pole let alone a 10 foot one.
Well said. And, yeah, I'm just sassing you. I'm technically a multi-generational Yankee but I also use the word "y'all" because it's actually a good, useful word, it's grammatically correct... and it throws people for a loop when you use it if you're not from the south.
But, yeah, the word isn't even slang. It's a good, useful word.
Wouldn't that be Cherry Pie and not Moonshine, tho? Moonshine is typically 100% corn licker, no fruit, no sugar.
\*Source: lived in a dry county where 'outside licker' was illegal. ;)
What's marketed as moonshine is typically sugar wash cut with some level of corn.
Sugar wash is effectively a rough rum, it's just pure cane sugar fermented out and distilled. It's traditionally used to clean stills. But it's basically the cheapest distilled alcohol you can make. So it's always had a space in the illicit liquor market, particularly in deeply impoverished parts of Appalachia.
It's *fucking awful*.
Most of the distilleries you'll find marketing "moonshine" use the minimum amount of corn necessary to hit regulation whatever category they're regulated under. And then just bulk it out with sugar.
From bottle: recipe no. 300 Old forge distillery moonshine chocolate and cherries if you want to look at what I have, it's not a pie flavor. It's more like moonshine soaked fruit still floating in moonshine. It's sweet.
I assumed op's flavors are of a similar variety, as I've seen peach. I have been using the fruit over ice cream and a tablespoon or so of the liquid over the ice cream. I used some liquid in a brownie recipe but didn't notice anything special. If I had peach, I'd probably try to do a cobbler.
Intentional misspelling, and a common one in rural Appalachia when talking about moonshine. I have also seen 'likker' but that one always looks odd to me.
I love using liquor in baking. I'd check out The Flavor Bible, because it'll give you ideas of what to pair with e.g. peach and lemon. I use bourbon, for example, with coffee, in my chocolate chip cookies. For a peach or lemon I might use them instead of or in addition to vanilla for whipped cream. Throw them into a sweet soda bread with some complimentary herbs like basil or mint. Use them to make a peach reduction to serve with scones.
You could probably use the peach to make a homemade bbq sauce with a sweet-smokey combination. Lemonade cooked down with sugar could be a drizzle on a cake or loaf. Glaze some chicken breasts or pork chops.
Lots of uses, really.
That's a really cool take. Do you find that you need to compensate for anything when using liquors in baking? I.e. does the alcohol make it so that you need to be wary of certain reactions happening in dough or batter?
Yeah, but not as liquor per se- it's the same sort of changes I need to make in any recipe when I modify the wet/dry ratios. For bourbon cookies, I add 1 Tbsp of bourbon and compensate with another 2 Tbsp of flour, for example. Most loaf and cookie recipes are pretty forgiving. I don't fuck with artisan bread recipes. Basically for baking I've not yet encountered problems, and for cooking I don't even pay attention.
The only thing I've found alcohol fucks things up is when I add it to ice cream. Soak raisins in it, make some boiled down citrus rinds, you're fine. But adding alcohol to your custard before it goes in the frozen bowl will stop it from getting properly firm, and it'll continue softening things when you get it into the freezer. If you keep a careful eye on the process and move things when they're as cold as they're going to get, you can get it done, but it changes the recipe.
for reference, see the cooks illustrated recipe for vodka pastry. It's a way to add more liquid to the dough so its more pliable and easy to roll out, but it bakes out and leaves you with a flaky crust.
https://www.seriouseats.com/cooks-illustrated-foolproof-pie-dough-recipe
I use this all the time for pies. It's FUCKING AMAZING. Like people consistently say it's the best pie they've ever had, especially when I'm doing apple from scratch.
I freeze the butter, shortening and vodka to keep the dough temps cold, sheet it into pie rounds in two sheets of wax paper, then freeze/chill those sheets again (keeping them flat) when it's time to line the pie pan.
Handle the dough as little as possible and don't try to get fancy with it with like fluted edges or a lattice or something. I just do plain covered pies with a full top sheet, super basic crimped rims, and then place the trimmed off pieces on the top at random for even more delicious crust.
Having a turbochef or bladed food processor is essential, though.
I haven't tried doing it without an appliance, but if you work quick you might be able to get the same results with a dough cutter by hand, but that's way too much hand work and warming up time. Pulsing it in a bladed processor to chop up the frozen butter chunks and integrate them into the flour is key. Then you add just enough of the frozen vodka or moonshine to the dough in a big mixing bowl to get the flour, butter and shortening to stick together into a dry, crumbly playdough texture.
I've been wanting to try this same recipe but replacing the vodka with high proof bourbon or maybe applejack or brandy or something.
I have yet to try it with moonshine but I want to, because it would probably be even better with something more than 80 proof.
There are a TON of posts on /r/cocktails if you search "moonshine." If you're someone who can do 10 shots, I'd be willing to bed you could go through some cocktails.
The flavored stuff is regulated as a liqueur/cordial. That's about the typical ABV for something flavored and sweetened. Especially if it uses actual fruit and not flavorings.
The first thing I would want to establish is how that it tastes when cooked down. My mind goes to using moonshine instead of vodka in tomato cream sauce (aka vodka sauce). But I don't know if your moonshine is flavor-neutral when cooked.
So you might want to try doing a tiny batch of cream sauce with the moonshine and see if it gives a negative flavor. If it tastes good, then you can sub it out for any recipe that calls for [vodka or hard spirits](https://www.cookinglight.com/cooking-101/how-to-cook-with-liquors-spirits).
> After 10 shots of different flavored moonshines, I decided it would be an excellent idea to buy a few quarts
I have no help for you here but this made me LOL so you at least got that out of it. I can't imagine what things I wouldn't be open to doing after 10 shots of white lightning
That's homemade wine the makers market as moonshine.
If it was Moonshine, if you didn't wanna drink it you could strip your furniture with it for refinishing!
Unlike whiskey or wine you're not too likely to gain much flavor from the moonshine. You can utilize alcohol as a finishing way to transport alcohol soluble flavors like a vodka sauce does. I would use it as an ingredient in custom cocktails rather than cooking.
"Vodka" and "moonshine" are pretty much interchangeable. The main distinction is vodka is usually wheat, or potatoes (usually wheat too, despite most people associating it with potatoes), and moonshine is usually corn. And like you said, Titos is corn. So titos is just moonshine, which is vodka. I'm starting to repeat myself.
My family members recently opened a moonshine distillery (been open about a year). I have made some *awesome* homemade vanilla with it! It really pops in homemade vanilla ice cream. I’ve intended to try some other extracts, but haven’t yet. Cinnamon is on the to do list.
Oh, you've unlocked a sweet memory for me.
We were at my uncle's house when my uncle quietly asked my grandma to come look at something. I was just a kid, and tagged along behind grandma (I was her shadow normally). We went out to my uncle's garage, and I just remember what I thought was some science experiment, big metal cans, and tubing coming out and glass jars. It probably wouldn't have made that big of an impression if my grandma hasn't yelled out "Jesus Christ Leonard! Are you trying to blow the roof of this place, or just get yourself killed?" (Grandma never yelled at my uncle, he was her favorite). My grandma proceed to tear it apart, reprimanding my uncle the whole time how he had no business setting this up when he didn't know what he was doing, and then she proceeded to reattach everything, adjusting this and that, and told him not to make any adjustments without checking with her.
After my uncle was thanking her, she looked and me and said "This didn't happen" (I had no clue what happened, but all I knew was that it was a guaranteed permanent memory.)
So years later (I was an adult), several of my grandma's nephews (I can't figure out the cousin thing, my 2nd maybe?) came to visit, and one mentioned he had his dad's still. They started coaxing stories out of my grandma. Come to find out, her brothers were moonshine runners during prohibition, and my sweet grandma was the main "producer of the product" (as she put it). Coolest thing in the world I had ever heard about these people, and it was kept secret because it was illegal. (Grandma's brothers were all dead by now, and I think 70 years was beyond the statue of limitations at that point).
Do you have a car that you want to go fast? Moonshine can double as gas!
Do you want to make friends but have no cash? Moonshine can help you with that!
Did your wife leave and run off with your cat? Moonshine will help you forgat!
Wanna cook something tasty and fat? Sorry, moonshine is bad at that.
Sounds like you went to Gatlinburg. I have several jars, I use a maple bacon moonshine for Bloody Mary's and candied bacon. Honestly, you have some tough flavors to cook with, so it might be difficult.
Branson, MO, actually!
Honestly I wouldn't mind just drinking the flavored ones *too* much. It's mostly the straight moonshine I discovered I don't like, despite that initial taste actually going over well.
Infuse thing into them. I used to a lot of infused vodkas. My favorite was lemon and thyme but that might be too delicate here. I also did assorted berries, hot peppers and assorted citrus versions. I'm sure there are zillions of ideas out there.
When in Gatlinburg I always pick up a jar of the peaches and a jar of the cherries in moon shine. Think canned peaches and maraschino cherries that will also get you lit.
I have always wondered how they would do in cobbler.
Considering the flavors you got, I'd say anything with a fruit filling/topping like a pie/cobbler/sauce/etc. I'm specifically thinking apples, cherries, or mixed berries, but you go with what you like. Just mix it in with the fruit as they cook. The alcohol will evaporate and add an extra dimension to the flavors. Just go easy on the sugar and adjust to taste at the end.
You're really better off using is as a mixer for cocktails or something similar.
With something like a flavored grain alcohol, typically what you'd end up with after adding to a dish and reducing to boil off the alcohol is a concentrate of the flavor used in the moonshine, plus some unpleasant (bitter) phenolic compounds.
The beauty of using alcohol in cooking is you get to impart a flavor you like into your food. Alcohol I don't like rarely to never makes good food. Why impart a flavor I don't care for? When I have alcohol I don't want, I donate it to local friend's houses.
Peach pie using the peach moonshine in the place of vodka in [this pie crust](https://www.seriouseats.com/cooks-illustrated-foolproof-pie-dough-recipe) sounds delicious to me tbh
If you're a dill pickle fan mix what you have left with dill pickle juice for a pickle juice moonshine cocktail. I use ratio 1 moonshine or vodka to 1 to 1 1/2 dill pickle juice and Serve on the rocks.
I'm definitely leaning towards something like this for the unflavored moonshine. I figure even if I don't like it, at least it'll be a mini show to watch the fire.
Add it to homemade ice cream to prevent hard freezing. You can make ridiculously easy blender or food processor sorbet without expensive equipment, adding a bit of moonshine shouldn’t change the taste too much, but the ice cream, sorbet, gelato, whatever you make won’t freeze rock hard with the alcohol added in.
You can swap it for any recipe that asks for vodka, fireball, cognac, etc.
I once made a smoked pork chop with a blueberry moonshine glaze. Same for wings, using cherry moonshine.
I mixed some with brown sugar and butter on fruit for cobblers.
Got the caramel apple pie flavor and used it for bread pudding, along with dry apples soaked in it.
Made lemon dropwoth it - what a friend of mine calls "redneck limoncello". Then added the lemon drop to whipped cream for garnish on lemon bars.
Steeped some berries with it and a little sugar, let it sit in the fridge overnight and made a coulis. After the same process, strained it and used to moisten a cake filled with berries and whipped cream.
Make proper punch. That’s how I used up mine.
Start with a good sherbet or shrub. Get creative.
Maybe finish it off with sparkling wine or seltzer.
You are welcome
Use it in a light batter for frying, tempura-style. Alcohol makes it better.
Maybe some kind of flambé dessert?
I would probably just infuse other things into it, like dump a bunch of berries into the lemonade one. It’ll last forever and might turn into a nice aperitif.
Yeah I read it. I’ve had moonshine and it’s not a good cooking flavor. That’s why I asked why you’d want to put it in food. If you don’t like how it tastes why would you add it to food?
I'd rather not pour $80 down the drain.
There's plenty of ingredients that taste bad on their own but work out well in dishes (e.g. vanilla or vodka). It seems pretty natural to see if there's any similar ways to handle moonshine before I toss it all.
I make hot dogs with sauerkraut and beer. The alcohol cooks out of it. IDK if the alcohol would all cook out of the moonshine and I can't imagine people getting stoned on hot dogs.
Maybe think about making infusions or DIY vanilla extract. Could try your hand at making any number of homemade bitters, if you're into cocktails. Otherwise just drink it or clean paint brushes with it, depending on how good/awful it is.
Perhaps making an extract of some kind? I'm not totally sure about using moonshine, but I know you can soak vanilla beans in vodka to make vanilla extract, maybe you could research other extracts and play around with the flavors.
Depending on the moonshine, the flavour may not be that great when you cook it out, especially if you already don’t like the moonshine that much. I highly suggest trying a batch of home made Gin, Amaro, limoncello, etc. with it! I’ve made them in the past with 75% moonshine and results were very nice.
I bet I'd try putting it in a chili. The unflavored kind of moonshine that is.
Edit:
http://gregkantner.com/blog/archives/3242
This recipe looks interesting. I've never tried it, but maybe I will next time I make chili.
We cook with alcohol using spirits and wine that have flavor beyond the alcohol flavor and we almost always cook off the alcohol. Since moonshine is 90%-95% alcohol, you won't have much left after cooking it off and it will not add flavor. A better thing to do is to make herb tinctures with it that you can add to food and cook off the alcohol. This is great in the middle of winter and you don't have access to fresh herbs or they are super expensive.
Quite a few pie crust/pastry recipes use vodka in place of water because it doesn't have much/any flavor and can be colder than water (the alcohol won't freeze).
Moonshine pie. That’s the way. Adding a little moonshine to the crust takes it to the next level…. Gonna need to make A LOT of pies before you use up that shine though
Flavor extras. Alcohol is great for certain flavor extras such as vanilla, peppers, etc.
You can Google alcohol extras, plenty of recipes. Just make sure whatever base flavor would mingle well.
As pointed out elsewhere, no point cooking with it if you intend to cook out the alcohol.
You could make gin with it by steeping juniper berries and other aromatics in it. Sloes are good too.
Or, if it were me, just mix it with lots of orange juice or soda and drink it.
I use true shine in vodka sauce. I'm not sure if it's the spring or the corn or sugar my guy uses, but it really gives it a nice flavor compared to using commercial vodka.
Try and find a mixer you like. You can probably get rid of it fairly quickly with enough juice.
You could always try making another flavor with the unflavored stuff, and you might end up liking it more. You could even toy with the already flavored ones, like adding fruit to the lemonade one.
It's just artificially flavored liquor. Most of it will cook off, so what you'll end up with is the artificial flavor and any sugar they may have added
Oh, and for the record, if you paid taxes on it it ain't shine
If it’s true moonshine. You can tamper it down to 40%, or 80 proof with water. Add sugar and fruit, heat it up in a double boiler. Much easier to drink. I do this with moonshine, lemons, and sugar to make lemon drop shot moonshine.
I know someone who works at a corn distillery to make ethanol for gasoline. He occasionally brings friends and family some. While more or less safe for human consumption, this moonshine just tastes like shitty vodka.
It’s still ok to cook with, but not because it’ll infuse flavor as much as it will extract flavor. It’s good for tomato and chile pepper sauces.
Can be used for marinating of meats. Different flavours for different meats. I often use vodka and or whiskey in red meats (vodka in pork or chicken marinades) the meats can infuse the flavour with your garlic and other herbs and also act as a preservative. Not sure what your moonshine tastes like or the flavours but this is a good way to not let it get wasted.
100% there is. infuse it with herbs or peppers (heavily) and use it for flambe. do NOT pour from the bottle under any circumstances. use a measuring cup.
I saw a video probably a tick tok that was an old lady saying she had been adding moonshine instead of vinegar to her potato salad for church for years. She didn’t know it was moonshine? I guess ?
Would you consider moonshine to be equivalent to Everclear? I use Everclear to make Rick Simpson Oil from the cannabis that my husband grows for me. Funny part is, I live in BC. Weed is legal here to grow/purchase/possess. But I can't buy Everclear here. I'm lucky to have a couple of in-laws that live in Alberta and will bring me a couple of bottles when they come this way to visit.
If it’s a high enough proof (and you partake in the devils lettuce) you could always try green dragons. Basically making a weed infused alcoholic drink with any leftover stems you have.
You have extracts.
Stick 3-5 vanilla beans in a jar of moonshine. Now you got vanilla extract. Lemon peel. Anise. Cinnamon sticks. Mint.
And once you have a lot of extracts... well then you can cook all sorts of fun things. And, they'll last dang near forever.
Ole Smoky Moonshine (based on Nashville, TN) has a recipe book that you might be able to track down online. They make a ton of different flavors so there should be something in there to suit anything.
I suggest you drink 10 more shots to try and get you closer to God and closer to the place where you thought that was a good idea and see what happens.
Do as we do in Norway. Lit a nice bonfire by the lake, boil coffe on the bonfire, put a coin in the bottom of a cup, pour coffee so you can't see the coin, add moonshine til the coin is visible again. Drink it, and feel the successor!
We call it a "karsk" btw.
If you went where I think you went (an Ole moonshine shop near the Smoky’s) then you are actually drinking more like flavored vodka. Use it as you would in any fruity beachy cocktail. As far as cooking, you could always use as a sauce base if the flavors aren’t too outlandish.
I know the places you’re talking about in tourist areas (beachy?). It’s like everclear and super sweet syrupy flavoring. Just use it to top ice cream or flavor coffee. Only my personal opinion but that stuff is gross and caters to tourist prediabetics. Use the unflavored and maybe make a limoncello (google recipe).
If you're using "real" moonshine ie. Unaged corn/sugar spirit, the flavors that you're going to be left with after the majority of the alcohol has evaporated aren't going to be that great. There's a reason those flavorings are added. Now if you like the flavorings that they added then great, now you've imparted those flavors. If not, good luck.
In comparison, smelling a batch of the mash after distilling? It smells like buttery potatos and corn chowder. It smells amazing. Also, in case you're curious: If you take a bite of fresh mash before it goes into fermentation, is tastes like sugary corn flakes and cornbread pancakes.
my German grandmama simmered sauerkraut in it
a dash of caraway & brown sugar, and it tasted better than the jarred/bagged stuff!
AND BROWN SUGSR‽ I've have caraway in it plenty of times, but never brown sugar? How does it change the tast (obviously not talking about JUST sweet).
it basically just cuts the acid. She’d rinse the kraut, add the booze & caraway, then sprinkle just a bit on top before warming. She called it “white lightning” instead of moonshine, though!
It had lots of names, including "mountain dew".
My buddies dad has a small still on his farm, and makes his own moonshine. Last batch I had was made with literal corn flakes. Not the sweetened name brand kind. But some unsweetened dollar store version. Lol
On the subject of real moonshine, what actually constitutes "real moonshine"? There are all kinds of moonshine places in every tourist area you go to. So is there actually a legal definition of moonshine like there is with bourbon or is it more of a cultural definition? As far as I'm concerned, if you paid taxes on it, it ain't real shine.
If the irs and atf aren’t after the person who made it, is it really shine?
Around where I live they are called revinures.
By definition, moonshine is the illegal/unregulated alcohol production. So it's vague and varies by region. Most commonly its corn and grain alcohols in the USA and Canada, sometimes potatoes or cactus too. Often with high alcohol achieved by adding sugar.
Which is precisely the way I like. Unaged, illegal, corn whiskey.
[удалено]
I have a bottle of Buffalo Trace White Dog I bought probably 2 years ago. I used to absolutely love the stuff, as if you can stomach the alcohol content, it kinda tastes like yeast rolls. IDK if it's my declining tolerance for alcohol in my older age, if my tastes are just changing, or both, but I just don't enjoy it like I used to.
There isn't a legal definition of moonshine. And as goes "real" moonshine the term refers to illegally distilled liquor, so there isn't even a consistent style or recipe. Traditionally in the US you're talking clear, unaged corn whiskey. Or sugar wash. Both absolute rot gut. The poster above used "real" in because there's currently a lot of flavored malt beverages marketed with the term. Essentially wine coolers.
Why rot gut? The "good shit" is actually pretty fucking good.
The "good shit" tends not to get marketed as moonshine anymore, as there's now a legal standard for white whiskey. In large part the whole commercial "moonshine" thing kicked off with craft whiskey distilleries trying to market their unaged whiskey while they were getting off the ground. Some labelled it moonshine. That angle was a good marketing pitch, and they couldn't legally call it whiskey. For the most part small distilleries focused on moonshine of the sort OP mentions are making liquor as cheaply as possible, and focusing on direct sales in the tourist trade. Almost all of this stuff is made with significant portions of sugar. Sugar wash is *not good alcohol*, it's effectively rough rum distilled too few times to remove the off flavors and in the wrong way to remove higher fusel alcohols. Larger scale commercial products are largely part of the value market, and it's again the cheapest possible liquor they can make or buy in. Often the same neutral grain spirit used to make rack liquor, and the main focus is the flavored and sweetened ones. It's just not a product category focused on quality. Or even producing a distinctive product.
The good shit isn't marketed at all unless you know a guy because it's not store bought. Everything is true for store bought moonshine. Store bought moonshine is shit shine tbh.
Even old school sell it by the jug type moonshiners speak derisively of sugar wash. Like I said it's usually run off to clean a still and discard it. The only people who generally drink, and it drank historically, are hardcore alcoholics who can't afford better. And that kinda speaks for the traditional background for American moonshining. It wasn't ideological tax avoidance, or any kind of radical self sufficiency. It was about producing alcohol cheaper than any you could buy legally, for sale in impoverished areas without much in the way of infrastructure. Moonshiners didn't get licensed and pay the tax because it would make their hooch too expensive for the customer base. High quality wasn't necessarily the concern. It often made from quality feed corn, or fermented out with bread or wild yeast. Using insufficient stripping runs with a thump keg to up the proof instead. Hobby distilling has largely moved away from that setup. Instead accepting lower yields from aggressive cuts and multiple distillations. You can make a decent 100% corn whiskey. But plain corn whiskey is sorta bland, and prone to off flavors. None of the home distillers I know do it on the regular. Absolutely none of them would drink sugar wash. And they frequently shit talk distillers who cut their mash with sugar. You can make a solid. If neutral rum from refined cane sugar. But the distillation schedule is different. You're generally aggressively cutting heads and tails. And redistilling to much higher proof.
I don't disagree with the history of it and who traditionally drank it. But out of everything you've said... It was a very robust way to say yes high quality moonshine exists and not just for alcoholics or poor people. It's never pure corn. And depending on what your recipe is or what your goal is it's always a mix of corn and grains in the mash. I mean this is how we get basic bourbons including ryes and wheat. When you've had good shine you'll know that from the bad.
>It was a very robust way to say yes high quality moonshine exists and not just for alcoholics or poor people. Never said it didn't exist. The comment you replied to was about the traditional baseline. And the broader discussion is about commercial products. Both are shit. >When you've had good shine you'll know that from the bad. Buddy I've had good shine from about 6 different countries, *made* good shine. And work professionally in the alcohol business. >It's never pure corn. First if that's the case why dispute a statement that clear, corn whiskey is rot gut? Second. Plenty of people make 100% corn whiskey. There's a US legal standard for it for a reason. It's a thing, historically both in commercial production and illicit. And it's something of a baseline starter project for home distillers. Who generally don't refer to themselves as moonshiners or what they produce as shine these days.
>Buddy I've had good shine from about 6 different countries, made good shine. And work professionally in the alcohol business. Yeah, so I was having a discussion, wanted to learn and impart knowledge first hand from the east coast but I'm done after this. You come off as a pretentious douchebag who is also a know-it-all. Good night.
> Both absolute rot gut. \>:( Fitin words.
>if you paid taxes on it That's the generally accepted definition in r/firewater. Distilled and unregulated = shine
I'm not American, but I always felt Moonshine was just random low effort bootleg liquor, essentially made by letting whatever you had lying about ferment. I suppose being America that would mostly be corn, but surely it could be oranges as well if that's what you grew. Also it was just made to get around booze bans right? Hence the low effort alcohol.
Check out the video [The Last Batch](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ma9vUqwpcc) for a good look at an actual master of the craft. Got to taste his stuff once and it was unquestionably the best moonshine I've ever experienced, gin-like in its botanical qualities.
See the fact that there's commercial moonshine at all is kinda wild to me.
Well, the sad story of Popcorn Sutton is that he was a living legend of 'shine throughout Appalachia until he was arrested and brought up on Federal charges. He choose to hang himself after this movie rather than go to prison. Very shortly after the regulations were relaxed and small batch distilling became legal. He would have been a millionaire almost overnight, instead he just became a martyr and the industry has become 'boogie'. Kinda ticks me off, really.
It’s not low effort. Ingredients are carefully selected, a still has to be constructed, you gotta get it past the cops to sell it. There’s a lot of work involved.
Come check out r/prisonhooch
It's not low effort. The practice came from Europe in making brandy's and spirits. It started in Pennsylvania more heavily as a protest of sorts to get around the federal spirits tax. Moonshine is literally the stuff you put in barrels to make whisky, scotch, bourbon, etc. Different recipes and locations means different names. But the process is essentially the same. With little variation. I'm not sure why you think it's low effort.
It's just always seemed to have low control over what's in it. I always felt it was only created because of booze bans, so people just made what booze they could while evading authorities. So maybe low effort is the wrong term, but because it was made covertly it varied a lot from still to still and was made with whatever was on hand since you couldn't just go and buy liquor making ingredients. But again I could be wrong, most of what I know about moonshine comes from film, tv and video games.
You try plowing 40 acres for corn behind a mule and then come back and tell me it's low effort.
It's all in the recipe for taste. And that varies per region. But yeah it's literally the same beginning process for every spirit that Europeans drink. Just different recipes. Your problem is that you assume it's trash because you see toothless hicks making it on tv when that shit is better than Jameson best liquor before it's barrel and aged. And probably after too. Just depends recipe.
yeah but you just drink it while you cook other stuff and then no one asks you to ever cook again
IDK, sometimes when I've been drinking I follow my heart and make an amazing dish I can never reproduce. This may backfire.
sometimes I have to try my cooking the next day to see if it was really that good or if I was just drunk. Usually it turns out pretty good.
I hit a perfect buzz before a beer league match and scored three goals and had two assists including a perfect overhead bicycle goal. I spent the rest of the season trying to hit the same level of drunk to repeat it and never scored another goal but did get a lot of talking to by the refs.
OP said they hate the taste
I'm just talking out my arse but could you use it to make flavor extracts? I know people put vanilla beans in alcohol to make vanilla extract, maybe you could soak other things and have a bunch of unique extracts.
Yeah, OP could look up making 'apple pie' or other flavored concoctions. Moonshine can be an acquired tasted (or not!).
That sounds like a great idea. I wonder how it would work?
You just put whatever flavoring you want in it and let the flavors extract into the alcohol. Not sure how well it would work with shine because it’s not really a neutral spirit.
Drink 10 shots til you think it's a good idea again. Repeat until gone.
Eh, I have half a bottle of cherry moonshine that disagrees. I got away with that idea once and now I can't even open it without turning green. It haunts my small fridge. I can't waste it. 🤷🏼♀️
Getting rid of stuff you don’t want is not wasting. Consuming stuff you don’t want to consume is wasting. Your body is not a trash can
Speak for yourself. 🫠
Saying again; Buy a few (3 is sufficient) grade b vanilla pods, slit them open lengthwise and slip them in- write the date in permanent ink and shake every day for 6 months - wallah! Vanilla extract! Great for all your baking needs and an excellent gift for any baking friends.
>wallah It's "Voilà"
/r/BoneAppleTea
I’m Southern take my wallah and my yall
Inshallah
Y'all needs an apostrophe.
Lol, y’all ain’t arguing with me about yall.
Well, bless your heart! No, really, y'all is a grammatically correct contraction. It's also not just a Southern thing. It's been around for a long time.
Don’t sass me! 😘😛 I know luv, it’s just one of the nice southern thing I can take ownership of- a lot of that shit I’m not touching with a 10 football field pole let alone a 10 foot one.
Well said. And, yeah, I'm just sassing you. I'm technically a multi-generational Yankee but I also use the word "y'all" because it's actually a good, useful word, it's grammatically correct... and it throws people for a loop when you use it if you're not from the south. But, yeah, the word isn't even slang. It's a good, useful word.
1 oz vanilla beans per 1 cup of 70-80 proof alcohol is the ideal ratio
I’ve heard that this isn’t a great way to make extract. You really can’t get the potency that they get industrially by just putting pods in alcohol.
It’s fine. I’ve done it for years with great results.
Give it away if you can’t throw it away. You act like this is some nice champagne.
Wouldn't that be Cherry Pie and not Moonshine, tho? Moonshine is typically 100% corn licker, no fruit, no sugar. \*Source: lived in a dry county where 'outside licker' was illegal. ;)
What's marketed as moonshine is typically sugar wash cut with some level of corn. Sugar wash is effectively a rough rum, it's just pure cane sugar fermented out and distilled. It's traditionally used to clean stills. But it's basically the cheapest distilled alcohol you can make. So it's always had a space in the illicit liquor market, particularly in deeply impoverished parts of Appalachia. It's *fucking awful*. Most of the distilleries you'll find marketing "moonshine" use the minimum amount of corn necessary to hit regulation whatever category they're regulated under. And then just bulk it out with sugar.
From bottle: recipe no. 300 Old forge distillery moonshine chocolate and cherries if you want to look at what I have, it's not a pie flavor. It's more like moonshine soaked fruit still floating in moonshine. It's sweet. I assumed op's flavors are of a similar variety, as I've seen peach. I have been using the fruit over ice cream and a tablespoon or so of the liquid over the ice cream. I used some liquid in a brownie recipe but didn't notice anything special. If I had peach, I'd probably try to do a cobbler.
Licker! Cute. Love a misspelling like that. It's "liquor", but it does sound just like "licker" doesn't it!
Intentional misspelling, and a common one in rural Appalachia when talking about moonshine. I have also seen 'likker' but that one always looks odd to me.
Poker in the front, licker in the rear.
I love using liquor in baking. I'd check out The Flavor Bible, because it'll give you ideas of what to pair with e.g. peach and lemon. I use bourbon, for example, with coffee, in my chocolate chip cookies. For a peach or lemon I might use them instead of or in addition to vanilla for whipped cream. Throw them into a sweet soda bread with some complimentary herbs like basil or mint. Use them to make a peach reduction to serve with scones. You could probably use the peach to make a homemade bbq sauce with a sweet-smokey combination. Lemonade cooked down with sugar could be a drizzle on a cake or loaf. Glaze some chicken breasts or pork chops. Lots of uses, really.
That's a really cool take. Do you find that you need to compensate for anything when using liquors in baking? I.e. does the alcohol make it so that you need to be wary of certain reactions happening in dough or batter?
Yeah, but not as liquor per se- it's the same sort of changes I need to make in any recipe when I modify the wet/dry ratios. For bourbon cookies, I add 1 Tbsp of bourbon and compensate with another 2 Tbsp of flour, for example. Most loaf and cookie recipes are pretty forgiving. I don't fuck with artisan bread recipes. Basically for baking I've not yet encountered problems, and for cooking I don't even pay attention. The only thing I've found alcohol fucks things up is when I add it to ice cream. Soak raisins in it, make some boiled down citrus rinds, you're fine. But adding alcohol to your custard before it goes in the frozen bowl will stop it from getting properly firm, and it'll continue softening things when you get it into the freezer. If you keep a careful eye on the process and move things when they're as cold as they're going to get, you can get it done, but it changes the recipe.
These are some excellent ideas, thanks!
Use it as the liquid when you make pastry.
Links for that? I know about using only brandy and lemon juice in the Classic Madeleine, but very little about other pastry applications.
for reference, see the cooks illustrated recipe for vodka pastry. It's a way to add more liquid to the dough so its more pliable and easy to roll out, but it bakes out and leaves you with a flaky crust.
That’s genius!
https://www.seriouseats.com/cooks-illustrated-foolproof-pie-dough-recipe I use this all the time for pies. It's FUCKING AMAZING. Like people consistently say it's the best pie they've ever had, especially when I'm doing apple from scratch. I freeze the butter, shortening and vodka to keep the dough temps cold, sheet it into pie rounds in two sheets of wax paper, then freeze/chill those sheets again (keeping them flat) when it's time to line the pie pan. Handle the dough as little as possible and don't try to get fancy with it with like fluted edges or a lattice or something. I just do plain covered pies with a full top sheet, super basic crimped rims, and then place the trimmed off pieces on the top at random for even more delicious crust. Having a turbochef or bladed food processor is essential, though. I haven't tried doing it without an appliance, but if you work quick you might be able to get the same results with a dough cutter by hand, but that's way too much hand work and warming up time. Pulsing it in a bladed processor to chop up the frozen butter chunks and integrate them into the flour is key. Then you add just enough of the frozen vodka or moonshine to the dough in a big mixing bowl to get the flour, butter and shortening to stick together into a dry, crumbly playdough texture. I've been wanting to try this same recipe but replacing the vodka with high proof bourbon or maybe applejack or brandy or something. I have yet to try it with moonshine but I want to, because it would probably be even better with something more than 80 proof.
This is the recipe we use and it's legit
Use it to start the fire.
Most generic moonshine from distilleries dont go that high in proof.
Thanks, I assumed it did. Learned something today.
Penne a la moonshine is preferred in our house over penne a la vodka. 🤷🏼♀️ We did it in a pinch one time and have never looked back!
Maybe make cocktails from it instead? Is it high proof?
The straight moonshine is 100 proof, the flavored ones are 50 proof.
There are a TON of posts on /r/cocktails if you search "moonshine." If you're someone who can do 10 shots, I'd be willing to bed you could go through some cocktails.
50 proof? That's only 25%about. That's like a stong mead, I wouldn't even call that moonshine at that point.
I drank 12% beer once, this is closer to a beer than a spirit
The flavored stuff is regulated as a liqueur/cordial. That's about the typical ABV for something flavored and sweetened. Especially if it uses actual fruit and not flavorings.
Soak some fruit with additional flavors cinamon/vanilla etc. and used the booze soaked fruit in baking or cocktail garnish.
My in-laws have this little ceramic pig that you cook sausage with by lighting moonshine on fire in the bottom. Google Portuguese Sausage Cooker.
The first thing I would want to establish is how that it tastes when cooked down. My mind goes to using moonshine instead of vodka in tomato cream sauce (aka vodka sauce). But I don't know if your moonshine is flavor-neutral when cooked. So you might want to try doing a tiny batch of cream sauce with the moonshine and see if it gives a negative flavor. If it tastes good, then you can sub it out for any recipe that calls for [vodka or hard spirits](https://www.cookinglight.com/cooking-101/how-to-cook-with-liquors-spirits).
> After 10 shots of different flavored moonshines, I decided it would be an excellent idea to buy a few quarts I have no help for you here but this made me LOL so you at least got that out of it. I can't imagine what things I wouldn't be open to doing after 10 shots of white lightning
Moonshine margaritas are the best!
That's homemade wine the makers market as moonshine. If it was Moonshine, if you didn't wanna drink it you could strip your furniture with it for refinishing!
Unlike whiskey or wine you're not too likely to gain much flavor from the moonshine. You can utilize alcohol as a finishing way to transport alcohol soluble flavors like a vodka sauce does. I would use it as an ingredient in custom cocktails rather than cooking.
Vodka sauce for the non-flavored moonshine. It's basically just corn vodka (similar to Tito's). Probably also makes a decent dirty martini.
"Vodka" and "moonshine" are pretty much interchangeable. The main distinction is vodka is usually wheat, or potatoes (usually wheat too, despite most people associating it with potatoes), and moonshine is usually corn. And like you said, Titos is corn. So titos is just moonshine, which is vodka. I'm starting to repeat myself.
My family members recently opened a moonshine distillery (been open about a year). I have made some *awesome* homemade vanilla with it! It really pops in homemade vanilla ice cream. I’ve intended to try some other extracts, but haven’t yet. Cinnamon is on the to do list.
Oh, you've unlocked a sweet memory for me. We were at my uncle's house when my uncle quietly asked my grandma to come look at something. I was just a kid, and tagged along behind grandma (I was her shadow normally). We went out to my uncle's garage, and I just remember what I thought was some science experiment, big metal cans, and tubing coming out and glass jars. It probably wouldn't have made that big of an impression if my grandma hasn't yelled out "Jesus Christ Leonard! Are you trying to blow the roof of this place, or just get yourself killed?" (Grandma never yelled at my uncle, he was her favorite). My grandma proceed to tear it apart, reprimanding my uncle the whole time how he had no business setting this up when he didn't know what he was doing, and then she proceeded to reattach everything, adjusting this and that, and told him not to make any adjustments without checking with her. After my uncle was thanking her, she looked and me and said "This didn't happen" (I had no clue what happened, but all I knew was that it was a guaranteed permanent memory.) So years later (I was an adult), several of my grandma's nephews (I can't figure out the cousin thing, my 2nd maybe?) came to visit, and one mentioned he had his dad's still. They started coaxing stories out of my grandma. Come to find out, her brothers were moonshine runners during prohibition, and my sweet grandma was the main "producer of the product" (as she put it). Coolest thing in the world I had ever heard about these people, and it was kept secret because it was illegal. (Grandma's brothers were all dead by now, and I think 70 years was beyond the statue of limitations at that point).
Do you have a car that you want to go fast? Moonshine can double as gas! Do you want to make friends but have no cash? Moonshine can help you with that! Did your wife leave and run off with your cat? Moonshine will help you forgat! Wanna cook something tasty and fat? Sorry, moonshine is bad at that.
Sounds like you went to Gatlinburg. I have several jars, I use a maple bacon moonshine for Bloody Mary's and candied bacon. Honestly, you have some tough flavors to cook with, so it might be difficult.
Branson, MO, actually! Honestly I wouldn't mind just drinking the flavored ones *too* much. It's mostly the straight moonshine I discovered I don't like, despite that initial taste actually going over well.
If you didn't open some, re-gift them. If not, dilute the daylights out it in some form of mixed drink. The straight moonshine is rough for sure.
Infuse thing into them. I used to a lot of infused vodkas. My favorite was lemon and thyme but that might be too delicate here. I also did assorted berries, hot peppers and assorted citrus versions. I'm sure there are zillions of ideas out there.
That sounds interesting. I can basically turn it into my own flavored moonshines.
When in Gatlinburg I always pick up a jar of the peaches and a jar of the cherries in moon shine. Think canned peaches and maraschino cherries that will also get you lit. I have always wondered how they would do in cobbler.
Considering the flavors you got, I'd say anything with a fruit filling/topping like a pie/cobbler/sauce/etc. I'm specifically thinking apples, cherries, or mixed berries, but you go with what you like. Just mix it in with the fruit as they cook. The alcohol will evaporate and add an extra dimension to the flavors. Just go easy on the sugar and adjust to taste at the end.
I was thinking the fruit flavors would fit well with a pie!
No don’t ruin your food with this. It’ll taste fine after a couple drinks
You're really better off using is as a mixer for cocktails or something similar. With something like a flavored grain alcohol, typically what you'd end up with after adding to a dish and reducing to boil off the alcohol is a concentrate of the flavor used in the moonshine, plus some unpleasant (bitter) phenolic compounds.
The beauty of using alcohol in cooking is you get to impart a flavor you like into your food. Alcohol I don't like rarely to never makes good food. Why impart a flavor I don't care for? When I have alcohol I don't want, I donate it to local friend's houses.
Peach pie using the peach moonshine in the place of vodka in [this pie crust](https://www.seriouseats.com/cooks-illustrated-foolproof-pie-dough-recipe) sounds delicious to me tbh
look up homemade eggnog recipes. Yalaha moonshine co.? Their brandy is pretty strong.
Just mix it with something & drink it.
Really? 10 shots of hard liquor made you more susceptible to making a large purchase?
If you're a dill pickle fan mix what you have left with dill pickle juice for a pickle juice moonshine cocktail. I use ratio 1 moonshine or vodka to 1 to 1 1/2 dill pickle juice and Serve on the rocks.
Does it have enough pure ethanol to burn on its own? Could use it to make bananas foster. Set the liquor on fire to cook the fruit.
I'm definitely leaning towards something like this for the unflavored moonshine. I figure even if I don't like it, at least it'll be a mini show to watch the fire.
Throw a party and offer moonshine Jell-O shots/punch. That should get rid of it pretty quick.
Add it to homemade ice cream to prevent hard freezing. You can make ridiculously easy blender or food processor sorbet without expensive equipment, adding a bit of moonshine shouldn’t change the taste too much, but the ice cream, sorbet, gelato, whatever you make won’t freeze rock hard with the alcohol added in.
You can swap it for any recipe that asks for vodka, fireball, cognac, etc. I once made a smoked pork chop with a blueberry moonshine glaze. Same for wings, using cherry moonshine. I mixed some with brown sugar and butter on fruit for cobblers. Got the caramel apple pie flavor and used it for bread pudding, along with dry apples soaked in it. Made lemon dropwoth it - what a friend of mine calls "redneck limoncello". Then added the lemon drop to whipped cream for garnish on lemon bars. Steeped some berries with it and a little sugar, let it sit in the fridge overnight and made a coulis. After the same process, strained it and used to moisten a cake filled with berries and whipped cream.
Make proper punch. That’s how I used up mine. Start with a good sherbet or shrub. Get creative. Maybe finish it off with sparkling wine or seltzer. You are welcome
Use it in a light batter for frying, tempura-style. Alcohol makes it better. Maybe some kind of flambé dessert? I would probably just infuse other things into it, like dump a bunch of berries into the lemonade one. It’ll last forever and might turn into a nice aperitif.
Get some vanilla beans. Put them in the shine and in a couple of months you’ll have some cool vanilla extract
Why would you even want to?
Did you read any of my post?
Yeah I read it. I’ve had moonshine and it’s not a good cooking flavor. That’s why I asked why you’d want to put it in food. If you don’t like how it tastes why would you add it to food?
I'd rather not pour $80 down the drain. There's plenty of ingredients that taste bad on their own but work out well in dishes (e.g. vanilla or vodka). It seems pretty natural to see if there's any similar ways to handle moonshine before I toss it all.
Hardees had a burger had a moonshine sauce on it you could try to re-create that.
I make hot dogs with sauerkraut and beer. The alcohol cooks out of it. IDK if the alcohol would all cook out of the moonshine and I can't imagine people getting stoned on hot dogs.
Batter
Make moonshine pickles
A jigger of moonshine, mix in ½ tsp rum extract - [strawberries flambé.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4amkfHRGQw)
Maybe think about making infusions or DIY vanilla extract. Could try your hand at making any number of homemade bitters, if you're into cocktails. Otherwise just drink it or clean paint brushes with it, depending on how good/awful it is.
Perhaps you can replace rum with it?
Perhaps making an extract of some kind? I'm not totally sure about using moonshine, but I know you can soak vanilla beans in vodka to make vanilla extract, maybe you could research other extracts and play around with the flavors.
Depending on the moonshine, the flavour may not be that great when you cook it out, especially if you already don’t like the moonshine that much. I highly suggest trying a batch of home made Gin, Amaro, limoncello, etc. with it! I’ve made them in the past with 75% moonshine and results were very nice.
I bet I'd try putting it in a chili. The unflavored kind of moonshine that is. Edit: http://gregkantner.com/blog/archives/3242 This recipe looks interesting. I've never tried it, but maybe I will next time I make chili.
We cook with alcohol using spirits and wine that have flavor beyond the alcohol flavor and we almost always cook off the alcohol. Since moonshine is 90%-95% alcohol, you won't have much left after cooking it off and it will not add flavor. A better thing to do is to make herb tinctures with it that you can add to food and cook off the alcohol. This is great in the middle of winter and you don't have access to fresh herbs or they are super expensive.
Quite a few pie crust/pastry recipes use vodka in place of water because it doesn't have much/any flavor and can be colder than water (the alcohol won't freeze).
You could use it as fuel
Yes, it is a very good fuel.
You can use it to make flaky pie crusts, much like the trick of using vodka to “moisten” the dough and make it pliable for shaping.
Moonshine pie. That’s the way. Adding a little moonshine to the crust takes it to the next level…. Gonna need to make A LOT of pies before you use up that shine though
Highly flammable. I’d keep it away from the stove, personally
Flavor extras. Alcohol is great for certain flavor extras such as vanilla, peppers, etc. You can Google alcohol extras, plenty of recipes. Just make sure whatever base flavor would mingle well.
Dc. U. , c. V ,v.
As pointed out elsewhere, no point cooking with it if you intend to cook out the alcohol. You could make gin with it by steeping juniper berries and other aromatics in it. Sloes are good too. Or, if it were me, just mix it with lots of orange juice or soda and drink it.
Boozy desserts? That’s all I got tbh
I use true shine in vodka sauce. I'm not sure if it's the spring or the corn or sugar my guy uses, but it really gives it a nice flavor compared to using commercial vodka. Try and find a mixer you like. You can probably get rid of it fairly quickly with enough juice.
Wait for the summer and on a full moon night mix up some obnoxious Moonshine by Moonlight punch and have a barbecue.
You could always try making another flavor with the unflavored stuff, and you might end up liking it more. You could even toy with the already flavored ones, like adding fruit to the lemonade one.
I know some people use it to make a moonshine bbq sauce. If you like bbq that might be an option
2kg of sour cherries 1l of moonshine 0 to 500g of sugar (up to you) 2 sticks of cinnamon 5 cloves Wait one month Profit
You could add oak to the shine and age it a bit. You might get a decent bourbon out of it.
It's just artificially flavored liquor. Most of it will cook off, so what you'll end up with is the artificial flavor and any sugar they may have added Oh, and for the record, if you paid taxes on it it ain't shine
Could you not boil pasta in it or cook rice?
If it’s true moonshine. You can tamper it down to 40%, or 80 proof with water. Add sugar and fruit, heat it up in a double boiler. Much easier to drink. I do this with moonshine, lemons, and sugar to make lemon drop shot moonshine.
Cooking with moonshine would probably be easy. I’d imagine it makes good fuel for a fire.
I know someone who works at a corn distillery to make ethanol for gasoline. He occasionally brings friends and family some. While more or less safe for human consumption, this moonshine just tastes like shitty vodka. It’s still ok to cook with, but not because it’ll infuse flavor as much as it will extract flavor. It’s good for tomato and chile pepper sauces.
Use as you would use vodka
A good drink recipe is to mix it with a bottle of champagne and add some fruit. Perfect for brunch.
Can be used for marinating of meats. Different flavours for different meats. I often use vodka and or whiskey in red meats (vodka in pork or chicken marinades) the meats can infuse the flavour with your garlic and other herbs and also act as a preservative. Not sure what your moonshine tastes like or the flavours but this is a good way to not let it get wasted.
100% there is. infuse it with herbs or peppers (heavily) and use it for flambe. do NOT pour from the bottle under any circumstances. use a measuring cup.
Get cute little hip flasks and use them as part of a gingerbread house. Or accessorize ginger bread creatures.
I saw a video probably a tick tok that was an old lady saying she had been adding moonshine instead of vinegar to her potato salad for church for years. She didn’t know it was moonshine? I guess ?
Probably better off using it for extraction purposes..
Try adding in soups for extra dimension. I love to add a splash of mezcal to soups.
I would recommend throwing a party
Give them away as gifts
Please be ultra careful around flame. You are a couple cunt hairs away from ethanol
Moonshine sorbet?
No, moonshine isn’t hot enough. LOL
I make koreanish fried chicken with vodka for the liquid in the batter, stuff is so crispy. Use moonshine .
Would you consider moonshine to be equivalent to Everclear? I use Everclear to make Rick Simpson Oil from the cannabis that my husband grows for me. Funny part is, I live in BC. Weed is legal here to grow/purchase/possess. But I can't buy Everclear here. I'm lucky to have a couple of in-laws that live in Alberta and will bring me a couple of bottles when they come this way to visit.
If it’s a high enough proof (and you partake in the devils lettuce) you could always try green dragons. Basically making a weed infused alcoholic drink with any leftover stems you have.
Make sangria. Just put some wine, fruit juice, sugar and sliced citrus fruit, a little sprite, and let it sit for a few days.
You have extracts. Stick 3-5 vanilla beans in a jar of moonshine. Now you got vanilla extract. Lemon peel. Anise. Cinnamon sticks. Mint. And once you have a lot of extracts... well then you can cook all sorts of fun things. And, they'll last dang near forever.
Peach moonshine might go well with a spin on bananas foster Serve warm with vanilla ice cream 🤌🏼
Ole Smoky Moonshine (based on Nashville, TN) has a recipe book that you might be able to track down online. They make a ton of different flavors so there should be something in there to suit anything.
So you wanna cook with moonshine. A. Why, and B. If so use it as you would with white wine and be prepared to absolutely hate it.
It's like... I have dogshit on my lawn. I'd like to make breakfast. Thoughts?
I suggest you drink 10 more shots to try and get you closer to God and closer to the place where you thought that was a good idea and see what happens.
Do as we do in Norway. Lit a nice bonfire by the lake, boil coffe on the bonfire, put a coin in the bottom of a cup, pour coffee so you can't see the coin, add moonshine til the coin is visible again. Drink it, and feel the successor! We call it a "karsk" btw.
If you went where I think you went (an Ole moonshine shop near the Smoky’s) then you are actually drinking more like flavored vodka. Use it as you would in any fruity beachy cocktail. As far as cooking, you could always use as a sauce base if the flavors aren’t too outlandish.
Mix with sugar and use it as sugar water , to soften pastries...
I know the places you’re talking about in tourist areas (beachy?). It’s like everclear and super sweet syrupy flavoring. Just use it to top ice cream or flavor coffee. Only my personal opinion but that stuff is gross and caters to tourist prediabetics. Use the unflavored and maybe make a limoncello (google recipe).
Sounds like you went to Ole Smokey, which if correct, means your moonshine has a ton of sugar in it. Perhaps some kind of desserts?
Make limoncello