Seasoned Advice is a question and answer site for professional and amateur chefs. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
Over the past week or so, I've been experimenting with infusing lime peels in alcohol, by:
What I got is a nice, clear-green liquid:
However, I've discovered that when you dilute this with water, it becomes cloudy:
(click to see bigger, longer version)
Why does mixing two clear liquids create a cloudy liquid?
This is a kind of emulsion called the Ouzo Effect (ouzo and other aniseed drinks also do this). I won't pretend to know enough to explain it, but it's essentially down to how oils (like those in fruit skin), water, and alcohol interact when stirred or otherwise agitated.
Wikipedia has an article that explains it fully.
Easy, when you make your extract with the peels you extract the oil also and when you mix it with water to thin it down the oil "demulsify" meaning it comes out a solution. If you would take the same solution and add high-proof spirit back to it it would go away.
