Recipe Review: Infused Vodka

I'm not much of a vodka drinker myself, but a friend's birthday provided the perfect excuse to try infusing a little bit of flavor into alcohol. Out of all the berries at the supermarket, the raspberries were the most fragrant, so I decided that they and a couple of moist-looking vanilla beans would make a nice combination.

I've got to warn you, though, that you really should check this concoction regularly. Due to school and the rigorous cat medication and feeding routine, I completely forgot about this for a week. Although it had turned a lovely raspberry color (sucking the pigment right out of the raspberries themselves), the dominant flavor wound up being the vanilla. Perhaps one bean would have been enough, but I suppose it will make a nice flavorful mixer.

Vanilla-Raspberry Vodka
Adapted from wikiHow

750 ml medium grade vodka
1 punnet fresh raspberries
2 vanilla beans
1 1-qt. mason jar

1. Wash fruit and split open vanilla beans. Place the fruit and vanilla beans in the clean mason jar

2. Add the vodka and seal the jar. Put it out of the sunlight (perhaps in a cabinet), but somewhere where you won't forget about it like I did.

3. Wait a week or so, testing the flavor every day or two. You might want to take out the vanilla beans a few days before the raspberries finish infusing.

4. Filter liquid back into the bottle (I used a coffee filter I liberated from my school's lab supply closet) and enjoy. One could also turn the pale raspberries into a rather potent smoothie, if so desired.

Of course, now that I've done that I find myself wanting to try other projects (and am pining over the associated tools).