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What do you need to make Irish cream in a more professional way that lasts for a long time without going bad like baileys.

  1. Do you have to use a homogenizer, and is there alternatives so it doesn't curdle?
  2. Should E471 emulsifier and E331 Acidity Regulator be used, or anything similar, and if so how are they used and mixed?
  3. There are so many recipes with minor differences what is the best one. For instance some recipes use condensed milk and other recipes only heavy cream.

To sum up: How can you make it last longer and not curdle or separate.

Shar
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    How long do you intend your liqueur to last? See for example https://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/9420/why-doesnt-baileys-go-bad/9424#9424, it seems you cannot use Baileys as a benchmark, if not even other producers can achieve their longevity. But an average homemade recipe should give you at least a couple of months of usable shelf life, does yours separate sooner? – rumtscho Jan 02 '19 at 11:05
  • I want it to last at least a year - and outside the fridge - is this doable? – Shar Jan 02 '19 at 16:59
  • It's outside of the average I have heard of for homemade recipes. I have no idea if it is still doable or not, let's wait and see if somebody has some good technique to share. Note that it has nothing to do with the fridge - foods are either safe to keep out of the fridge for 4 hours, or indefinitely long, and you should choose a safe-at-room-temperature recipe. So the issue here would be the separation. – rumtscho Jan 02 '19 at 17:04
  • And what is the difference between home made and commercially made Irish creams - is it the use of emulsifiers and stabilizers - is it the homogenization process? – Shar Jan 02 '19 at 19:10
  • Sorry, I personally don't know that. Could be either one, or both. For clarity, if you look around the site, you will se that our conversation here has a different grafical representation than full answers. What we are doing now are just comments, which are usually used to clear up the question and expectations of both the asler and the answerers. When somebody with enough knowledge comes along, they will write a full answer, which actually addresses what you want to know. – rumtscho Jan 02 '19 at 19:56
  • Nitpick: is the question implying that Baileys does go bad, or does not?  (A comma after ‘time’, or after ‘bad’, would help to clarify one way or the other.) – gidds Oct 08 '23 at 09:47

1 Answers1

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For long shelf life, don't use real milk. Focus on viscosity and mouth texture. (Guar bean or guard gum) will produce a thick cream like liquid that will not curdle or chunk. Sulfides or the boiled rock bentonite can add shelf stability just like wine yet over consumption will add a wine like headache/hangover.

Obviously higher alcohol content will create a liquid that bacteria and spoiling agents will not want to eat.

Keep sugar content low or out of the recipe as the surface or top edges can grow. Consider boiled leaves of stevia plant or Stevia extract for sweetness.

I suppose you could use non-dairy cream, or defenetly (lactose protein free). Lactose loves to clump in the presence of alcohol as the protein changes into longer clumpy bonds.

Journeyman Geek
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Captain Scott vintner
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  • Welcome to SA! A lot of your advice goes radically against standard Irish cream recipes; you might explain in more detail where your experience comes from, and whether you've actually made it using these instructions yourself. If you're quoting a source, it helps to link to that source. – FuzzyChef Oct 20 '23 at 17:48