Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Strawberry Infused Vodka

I'm not a fan of cold rainy weather in the spring, but it has one benefit: great berries. A couple weeks ago, Wifey went to the local farm stand and brought home some of the best looking strawberries I've seen since, well, last year. Large, plump, and juicy, the berries worked great in my first attempts at strawberry vinaigrette, and strawberry syrup (Bryers Vanilla anyone). I may have issues, but I had to make some strawberry infused vodka for chilling on the hot summer days.

Strawberry infused is the second of the three infusions I ALWAYS make each year, apple cinnamon and blueberry (in a month or so) are the others. Like the apple-apple I often drink strawberry in a martini glass, but a snifter's worth after dinner is really nice.
Ingredients
  • Strawberries
  • Sugar
  • Water
  • Vodka
Tools
Infuse It
I use the same basic process as the Apple-Cinammon infusion: clean and cut fruit and fill jar with fruit and vodka. To enhance the strawberry flavor, I add a little simple syrup to the jar with the berries and vodka.

Simple syrup is, unsurprisingly, simple to make. For my 204oz jar, I make about 3/4 cup of syrup. Bring a quarter cup of water to a boil in a small pan, then stir in a half cup of sugar and stir continuously until the mixture is clear. That's it; let it cool a little and pour the syrup over the berries with the vodka.

Let the mixture sit for at least a week, then strain and serve. Keep any extra in the refrigerator so it stays fresh and can be served at a moments notice.

11 comments:

Keesh said...

Thanks for posting this...it doesn't look too difficult for me to try. I suppose those round rocks in the bottom of jar are so the strawberries don't get caught in spigot, are they the regular ones you can pick up at any dollar store?

bilhelm96 said...

Keesh,

You are correct. The marbles dp keep the spigot form clogging, and you can get them anywhere. The website I go the jar from also sells the marbles, but they are waY overpriced.

Chef E said...

WELL! I am glad I found your site! Love the infusions here- I played with that last year, and need to do it again. Where did you get the jar with the spout?

I am on the the steak and jalapeno mashers next...

bilhelm96 said...

Chef E,

I got my jars at Infused-Vodka.com. I use the 204oz Verona jar.

Nancy said...

Strawberry and vodka? How could it go wrong? The marble idea is genius! Thanks.

Unknown said...

Be careful! I've seen these marbles crack. Especially when they are frozen and thawed repeatedly. I put my drinks in a glass but never glass in my drinks!

bp said...

Shouldn't there be concern as to whether the marbles are food safe? Especially considering the beverage is often acidic with citrus ingredients. Glass contains lead. Glassware marked for food use should be ok but marbles are not manufactured as food safe.

bilhelm96 said...

Chaunta. I don't freeze the marbles. They sit at room temperature in the jar and are not served in the drink so there shouldn't be any concern.

bp. All glass is Generally Regarded as Safe for food use. The jar itself is glass. Actually I really don't use the marbles anymore since they are a pain to clean. If the spout clogs I stick a spoon in the jar and push the food back.

Mona said...

How much vodka do you put in it??

JLC said...

Is it ok to use a jar made of plastic?

Anonymous said...

I bet the dollar store(s) have some!