Midori might have you feeling Saturday Night
Fever, but I think it’s time to bring it into the present and future. So let’s make an improved homemade
version of this melon liqueur, made famous in the disco era. You’ll like this thing so much you’ll
use it for more than just adding green color to your cocktails. Speaking of which, I’ll show you
a couple of easy cocktail recipes to use this improved liqueur in. Plus a bonus one at the end,
so stick around for that. And let me know in the
comments if you did. Now, it’s Cocktail Time. Midori Melon Liqueur was first introduced
in Japan in 1964 under the name Hermes Melon Liqueur. It was renamed to Midori, meaning ‘green’,
when it was introduced to the United States in 1978. That launch was held at New York's famous
Studio 54 nightclub, with the party hosted by the cast of Saturday Night Fever,
including John Travolta. Midori is made from Japanese musk and
Yubari melons, and is of course artificially colored green. The bottle's texture resembles the surface
of a melon. In 2012 the recipe was changed based
on bartender’s feedback, to cut back on the sugar content by 20%. According to some sources the sugar content
may vary, depending on where it’s produced - Japan, US, Mexico, or France. Let’s give this one a taste. Melon is quite subtle, with the major flavor
being closer to bubblegum or gummy bears, with hints of banana and green apple. I decided that instead of trying to replicate
the flavor of Midori I’ll aim for a more natural-tasting melon liqueur. Since melon is pretty mellow in flavor and
doesn’t infuse all that well, I decided for a technique we covered recently,
cryo-concentration. Freezing out part of the water from the melon
will concentrate the flavor and boost the natural sugar content, which is key
for our improved DIY Midori. Along with melon, you’ll also need some
banana chips for a subtle tropical note, a grain spirit to add the ABV, ascorbic acid
and sodium citrate as preservatives and flavor enhancers, and a little food coloring,
but these three are optional. We’re aiming for a liqueur with 25% ABV,
slightly higher than Midori’s 20-21%, and a sugar content of 150 g/liter,
as I usually do with DIY liqueurs. For starters we need to get cryo-concentrated
melon juice. I went into the details of this flavor-boosting
technique a few weeks ago with pineapple, but it’s basically the same process here
- peel and juice the fruit. And while I’m not using japanese melons,
I am using a japanese knife, so that’s something. Interestingly, Midori production starts with
Yubari melons that are harvested, broken down into a pulp and then immediately frozen, before
being sent off to the distillery, so we might be starting with a similar process. With the cooler that I’m using I’ll need
about 1,5 l of melon juice. At this point it’s also good to check for
the sweetness level, which we can do with a refractometer. This juice has a BRIX value of 10 and we’ll
see how far we can bump that up. Place the cooler in the freezer and leave
for most of the water content to freeze on the top. For me that took around 24 hours. Continue by cutting through and removing the
frozen part, which I’ll place on the strainer. First thing we want is the concentrated melon
juice, so strain that. As for the frozen liquid, I realized that
the first part that will melt still has a significant amount of sugar in it -
sometimes even more than the melon juice that didn’t freeze. To measure the exact amounts you’ll need
to get the liquid to room temperature, which I’ll do with
this glass under warm water. Then you can measure the sugar content again. You’re aiming to get 19 BRIX with
your cryo-contentrated juice. If you’re not quite there you have two options. Place in the freezer again and concentrate
it even more, or just add sugar. We have the right sweetness and along with
that we also have a very intense melon flavor. You can use leftover melon water for highballs
like we did at the end of the pineapple episode. As for our liqueur, we’ll make it with 500
ml of the cryo-concentrated melon juice. Like mentioned earlier I wanted to add a subtle
tropical note so I’ll mix in banana chips. 7 grams will be enough for our 500 ml of melon
juice, both of which I’m adding into a blender. We’ll also add 1.2 g of ascorbic acid or
vitamin C and 3 g of sodium citrate; both will act as a preservative and flavor enhancer
for our melon liqueur, but even if you don’t have this, you can try making the liqueur. Then blend for at least 30 seconds,
for everything to mix in nicely. After that we’ll mix this with 96% grain
alcohol to get the liqueur to 25% ABV level. This is similar to switching, another freezing
technique used by Panda&Sons, where they freeze spirits to remove water and replace it with
something else, like clarified fruit juice, so the original spirit gets a different flavor. For our cryo-concentrated juice
we need to add 34,4 ml of grain spirit
for every 100 ml of our juice. You can also divide your total amount
by 2.9 and get the end result. As always, the easiest way is to use the calculator
on kevinkos.com - type in the amount of juice you have and you’ll get how much alcohol
you need to add. For my 500 ml of juice I’m adding 172 ml
of our grain spirit alcohol. Now we have a homemade melon liqueur with
25% ABV and 150 g of sugar per liter. You can filter this right now and use this
as is, but if you want to add green coloring you first need to clarify it. To do that just leave it to sit at room
temperature for at least 24 hours, for the alcohol to clarify the liqueur. You can double that time for better results,
like with this small bottle. Now we filter the liqueur
through a cloth filter. As always, transfer the filter once you see
clear liquid coming through and re-filter the first part. At the end we’ll end up with a clear liqueur
with a yellowish hue. We’ll change to green with some
green food coloring. Matcha green tea isn’t a great option here
as it wouldn't be as stable and would change color. The best way to get the color you want is
to use a technique shown by Jean-Felix of Truffles on the Rocks. Pour out a small amount of the liqueur and
add a little bit of green coloring into it. Stir to mix well, then we’ll use this to
slowly add the right amount of green color into our liqueur. Go for bright green, like Midori,
or add a little less if you don’t want that neon green look. The beauty of this technique is that
you can decide for yourself. What’s left can be enjoyed as a shot by
yourself or a friend. Add a label and unlike most liqueurs, I’d
suggest storing this in the fridge. But we’ve waited enough so let’s give
it a quick taste before we make a couple of simple cocktails. It has a sweet fruity aroma of melon with
subtle honeyed and tropical notes. Our DIY Midori has a lovely melon flavor on
the palate, which lingers on the aftertaste. The flavor of the liqueur will continue to
develop and have an even better taste after a few days because the alcohol will mellow
and round out the flavor. But even now, I’d say we made a superior
liqueur. The first cocktail we’ll make will be the
simple 3-ingredient Midori Sour, so you’ll only need our DIY MIDORI, lime juice and egg
white. And saline solution, so technically 4 ingredients. Start by separating egg white into a separate
container through a hawthorne strainer. We’ll add that last. The homemade melon liqueur will be the base
spirit and the sweetener. We need 2 oz or 60 ml. For lime, I’m first prepping the garnish
- a lime peel coin. Then the juice - 1 oz or 30 ml of freshly
squeezed lime juice. Follow that with a little less egg white - 0.75
ml or 22,5 ml. Another egg white tip: if you whisk it slightly
you stretch out and unravel the proteins, making it easier to dose correctly. Lastly, 2 drops of saline solution, to boost
the flavors. We’ll give this a dry shake first, to emulsify
the egg white and create a nice foam. Then add plenty of ice and shake again to
chill and dilute, before double straining the cocktail
into a chilled rocks glass over fresh ice. Our first cocktail of the day has a fresh,
citrusy aroma with subtle hints of melon, with more of the same on the palate - while
it’s a refreshing blend of lime and melon sweetness, I think a stronger base, like gin
or vodka would be a good idea. As for the fluffy texture and the green color it’s no wonder the Midori Sour
was so popular in the 80s. These days a contender for that level
of popularity is the Spritz. Aperol may be the king in that category, but I think melon can go with
prosecco just as good as orange. Let’s make the Midori Spritz. Here you’ll start with a chilled stemmed
glass, filled with ice. We’re going with the traditional 3-2-1 ratio,
starting with 3 oz or 90 ml of prosecco. As usual, I’m using FIOL. Next, 2 oz or 60 ml of our DIY Midori. The sweetness will mix it nicely
with the prosecco. Then, as per Cocktail Time tradition, 2 drops
of 20% saline solution. And to make it a spritz, 1 oz, 30 ml, or a
spritz of soda water. Give everything a gentle lift and mix with
a barspoon, garnish with a slice of melon and that’s it. Tell me you wouldn’t enjoy this next to
a Venice canal. The Midori Spritz has a light, bubbly aroma
with a hint of sweet melon. When you take a sip, you'll taste the sparkling
prosecco mingling with the refreshing melon flavor from our liqueur. This is a light and delightful drink with
just enough of the bubbles and a touch of melon sweetness. As for the third cocktail, it’s this,
the Greener Negroni. This is my version of the bitter Italian classic,
with a green twist. It’s what you’d expect and more: bitter, sweet, subtly fruity and pleasantly dry.
All in all, delicious and beautiful in its own way. ’ll share the recipe with all readers of
The Cocktail Times, my weekly newsletter, and a video of me making it with
all the Patrons of Cocktail Time The newsletter keeps you up to date with all
Cocktail Time episodes, plus you also get useful cocktail tips, answers to your most
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my website, kevinkos.com So with that we’ve reached the bottom of
the glass. To let me know you’ve made it all the way
here, post a melon emoji in the comments. Yeah, that emoji you were never sure what
it was - it’s a melon. Today I have a quick fun
fact regarding Midori. I already mentioned Midori is
Japanese for ‘green’, But did you know it’s also
a popular girl’s name? Japanese figure skater Midori Ito and
American actress Midori Francis share this interesting name. Check out our Patreon here and check out more
homemade liqueurs here. I’ll see you next week, Friends of Cocktails.
