Blackberry-Infused Vodka - To be Sipped at 5pm or 4pm or....

our blackberry-infused vodka

Two things are very obvious, produce-wise, during this summer of '16 visit here to my parent's most glorious COMO garden and wooded land. We are drowning in a massive amount of blackberries and chanterelle mushrooms. I do believe mom and dad are almost to the point of running an ad to let folks know they'll pay to have folks come pick! I swear at least a 1/2 gallon of blackberries are picked every day, and so far, mom and I have picked close to 5 pounds of chanterelles! Mom and I have come up with many inventive ways to enjoy chanterelles so we turned our attention to the blackberries. After doing all the normal cooking things you do with blackberries - crisps, pies, jams etc. - mom turned to me and said "Why don't we try flavoring some vodka?" Well...why didn't I think of that??? So, off we were to infuse vodka with blackberries!

the beginnings of blackberry-infused vodka goodness! slurp...

The throw 'n go: 

A 4-cup Mason/Ball jar, or equivalent jar

1 C. or so fresh blackberries, picked over and rinsed if necessary

5 T. or so simple syrup*

3 C. vodka - we used Smirnoff

Place the blackberries in the Mason jar and pour the simple syrup on top. Then muddle the heck out of those berries! I used mom's knife sharpener which has a nice solid wooden handle with a flat end that easily fit in the jar and smashed those berries to smithereens. Once the berries are well and truly muddled, pour vodka over them until you reach the 3 cup mark on the Mason jar. Put a lid on it and then shake it well till all is blended. For the next 3 to 7 to 20 days, taste your concoction and if you don't think it's quite blackberryish enough, recap it, shake well and let sit another day. When you finally decide it's reached the flavor you want, strain to get the large bits out. Then, to make a clear liqueur, place a coffee filter (like Melitta) in a funnel that's stuck in the neck of the bottle you're using to store your blackberry wonderfulness and pour in the flavored vodka. You'll have to do this a bit at a time and it will take up to a day for all the liquid to drip through. But the end result?? SO worth it! 

*To make simple syrup: put equal amounts water and sugar in a sauce pan and boil until sugar is completely melted. For 5 or so T. simple sugar, use 1/2 C. sugar and 1/2 C. water.

Blackberry Martini

1 martini glass

3 frozen blackberries

1 lemon skin twist
1 skewer

blackberry vodka, freezer-chilled, to fill the glass

Fill martini glass with freezer-chilled blackberry vodka. Spear 3 frozen blackberries on your skewer then spear on the lemon twist. Place the skewer across the top of the martini glass and serve.

~~~

YUM!

'till we feast again! 

xoabb