I embrace ‘eating with the seasons’ and have found the joy of drinking with them too!
In these autumn months there is plenty of inspiration drawn from the garden: feijoa, persimmon, mandarin and chilli, to name a few. What a perfect opportunity to infuse vodka!
Homemade Infused Vodka
Vodka can be infused with just about anything, to be honest: cinnamon, herbs, vanilla pods, pear, plum, green apple, kiwifruit, honey, orange…you name it, it is more than likely to work, within reason. The ‘infusee’ has to contain a palatable flavour – chilli is subjective I know, but these particular vodka infusions are intended as a gift for my brother (shhhhhh)- and has he LOVES anything out of the ordinary, I’m giving it a go. After all, what a delicious Bloody Mary mix!
The general rule for flavouring white spirits: allow fruit/herbs to steep for 3-4 days in an airtight container, swirling every day to help activate the flavours. Check, smell and taste. If to your liking, remove whole fruit then strain remaining liquid through a fine sieve or cheesecloth to remove any ambient floating bits! If you prefer a more flavour, simply infuse for longer. Bottle into a sterilised jar or glass bottle and enjoy with soda water or whatever takes you fancy!
Feijoa Vodka
As the skin can be bitter, either peel with a vegetable peeler and discard the skin, or scoop out the flesh with a teaspoon to use for infusion. Squeeze in as much as you choose although 4-5 feijoa should do the trick. The more feijoa the merrier if you want Boozy Fruit where the fruit is the hero and the remaining vodka is almost an afterthought!
Chilli Vodka
Wash and pat dry your whole chilli. Keep the stalk on. Either make a small incision down the length of the chilli (being careful not to expose or release the seeds) or take a pin and generously prick the skin all over to help release the flavour. 3-4 cups of vodka with 3-4 whole chilli should do the trick. Add more if you are feeling wicked.
Mandarin Vodka
In this instance while you wouldn’t normally eat the peel, the skin contains wonderful citrus oil that makes a perfect flavour maker (much as zest does). Peel the mandarin, removing as much of the stringy white pith as possible, and plonk into your 3-4 cups of vodka. 3-4 mandarin should be plenty. Be sure to swirl your mix every day to help release the flavours.
Persimmon Vodka
Try to select medium-ripe persimmon for this. Too ripe and they get squishy and too hard to handle, too unripe and they may not exude the flavour you expected. Peel the skin and cut flesh into chunks much like a ripe mango. This recipe will get murky over days, but strain (as per ‘general tips’ above) and you’ll be left with a fragrant, slightly coloured vodka infusion.
As I have alluded to previously, this batch is for a gift so I’ll have fun with labeling – and sampling of course, just to make sure it’s perfect!
