Three Infusions: Persimmon Vodka, Lemon Vodka, and Pear and Ginger Vodka
Note: The amounts given are just approximations. The amount of fruit and vodka you will need will depend entirely on the size of the jars you use. You don’t need any special bottles, jars, or containers either–I used an old juice bottle (persimmon), an applesauce jar (pear/ginger), and a honey jar (lemon). Also, a mid range vodka will work just fine for this (i.e. Smirnoff). Save the Grey Goose for the dirty martini.
Persimmon Infused Vodka:
-5 Fuyu persimmons, tops with stems cut off, cut into 1/2 inch slices, and then cut in half again
– approx 1/2 liter vodkaLemon Infused Vodka:
– 2 lemons, sliced lengthwise into eighths
– approx 1/4 liter vodkaPear and Ginger Infused Vodka:
-2 Bartlett pears
-2 inch knob of fresh ginger, peeled, thinly sliced
-approx 1/4 liter vodkaTightly pack infusion ingredients into a clean glass jar. Pour enough vodka over the top to cover. Seal with lid. Place in a cool dark spot and allow to infuse for about 2-3 weeks. At this point, you might want to strain the vodka, and add simple syrup (sugar and water heated until sugar dissolves) if you’d like the vodka to be more like a liquer or after-dinner drink (optional). Enjoy!
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Lazy Sundays can’t be beat. There have been times in my life when the day of the week didn’t matter too much and time was a very fluid thing–for good or bad though, now is not one of those times, and I savor my lazy Sundays.
This past Sunday I awoke on the early side, 8:30 or so (we’re talking weekend time here), made myself a cup of coffee, sat on my couch, and just looked out the window for a little while. How often does one do that? Or a better question, when does one possibly have the time to do that? only on a lazy Sunday, I suppose.
Staring out the window my mind wandered to a culinary adventure I’d seen in a blog post I’d read the previous day by ‘The Baklava Queen‘, a regular contributor to Ethicurean.com, about non-traditional, non-consumerist, home-made food-related gifts (that sure is a lot of hyphens!). Even before reading the entry, I had decided that this year for the holidays I was going to give edible gifts. I’ve been feeling the proliferation of ‘stuff’ this year (this short video also made me want to avoid more ‘stuff’), and instead of filling my favorite people’s lives with more ‘stuff’, they will instead eat home-made, delicious treats.
One of the holiday tasties I decided to make is an array of fruit-infused vodkas. So, Sunday morning I jumped in my french fry-mobile and headed to the farmer’s market to pick out some infusing fruits. Persimmons are practically falling off the trees right now here in the Bay Area, including my favorite–the crunchy and firm Fuyu persimmon. Lemons too are starting to come into season, as are mandarins and other winter citrus. Apples and pears have been making appearances during the last month or two, and will continue into the winter and early spring. Due to their abundance (and the fact that all were less than $1/lb), I settled on persimmons, lemons, and pears (to be combined with ginger).
Infused vodkas are sooooooo easy to make. The steps are:
- cut fruit
- put fruit in jar
- pour enough vodka over fruit to cover
- put a lid on the jar
- wait
seriously, that’s it.
The waiting part is a little bit gray. I found a source saying that three days is enough infusion time, but I found another that said wait at least a year! I think that 2-3 weeks is probably a good amount of time to infuse.
Instead of giving these as gifts, I’ll probably just take them home to Seattle and make holiday cocktails for my family. I’m thinking a simple combination of fruit-infused vodka, seltzer, and one accent ingredient to compliment the flavor of the vodka is the way to go, for example:
– Persimmon vodka, seltzer, and a tiny dab of home-made cranberry sauce
– Pear/Ginger vodka, seltzer, and 1T. of pear nectar
– fresh mint leaves muddled with sugar, Lemon Vodka, and seltzer
… but really, let your imagination guide you.
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