A few weeks ago we went strawberry picking, only to get home to find that I didn’t have an operational cooktop. Not wanting any of those glorious berries to go to waste, I made an interesting strawberry jam, a delicious strawberry pie and cake, and with what I had leftover – I steeped the berries in vodka for a week and made this beautiful strawberry infused vodka!
Isn’t the color just glorious? And the flavor? The flavor is all juicy, ripe berries. When I strained the berries out they were pure white. Alcohol is funny like that. You can extract flavor from anything with it! Last year my husband made a really different hot pepper IPA by soaking a few habeneros in vodka, then adding that pepper extract to the final product. We’re looking forward to another batch of that already! But I digress, that’s another post.
This strawberry vodka is mellow enough to be sipped over ice, or to-die-for mixed into an icy glass of lemonade. I’m hoping that the bottle makes it through to the winter. To enjoy the freshness and flavor of these berries in the cold winter months would be a treat for sure! Next year I’ll probably make 2 bottles. Good stuff, folks!
DIY Strawberry Vodka
One bottle (750ml) vodka, decent quality
2 pints (about 1 1 /4 pounds) strawberries
Rinse, hull, and quarter the strawberries and place them in a glass container with lid. Add vodka, cover, and agitate the jar.
Store in cool, dark place for 7 days, swirling around once a day to promote extraction.
After 3 to 7 days, strain with a coffee filter. Store in a bottle – such as the original vodka bottle – and use at your discretion.
Source: Dave Lebovitz, as seen on Punk Domestics
19 Comments
I feel a bit tipsy just reading this post!
How pretty and refreshing!
Oh sweet baby Jesus…I need this in my summer life!!! Thanks for sharing!
oooo, I love infused vodkas! Once for Christmas, I made pineapple infused vodka and gave out small bottles of it as party favors. Good stuff!
What a fabulous idea!
What do you do with the strawberries after straining them from the vodka?
Ann, I felt like I had extracted all that the berries had to give, so I just tossed them. But, Dave suggested adding them to strawberry jam – which sounded like a great idea to me!
Over vanilla ice cream!!!
Awesome. I love vodka. Wonder about doing that with tequila.. WooHoo Strawberry Midnight Marguaritas.
Candy, that same thought crossed my mind too – I’m sure it would be wonderful!
Mmmm…. Thanks for sharing. I’m gonna try this and hide until January, so I can enjoy some summer while I’m freezing!
This looks delicious. I made blueberry gin several years ago and often make sloe gin. I was feeling sad that you had found pick your own strawberries already when there are none near me. Then I saw you are in America. In the south of England the weather has been so bad this year the strawberries are really late.
I was wondering…. Does this need to be in the fridg since there are fresh strawberries? Will it last until winter? And can you put in smaller bottles and give as Christmas gifts? Is there something I would need to do so it would not spoil.. These are maybe stupid questions, but I ahve never done this before, but really sounds like a super gift idea….
Marty, they most certainly would make lovely Christmas gifts in smaller bottles. No need to refrigerate afterwards, just keep in a cool dark place. Will last just fine until winter, provided you don’t drink it all before then. Have fun!
Gurl, this here is some good stuff. I am sipping on some strawberry vodka right now. My husband wants me to try it with tequila next. What can I say, he’s a Texan. Thank you for the recipe!
So glad you like it, Erika! I’m looking forward to trying out tequila myself.
Thank you Laura! The people on my Christmas list will thank you too. Have you ever tried cherry vodka? Strawberry vodka will be great with lemonade when we are camping, I might have to make extra:)
Hi, I’m from Australia and just found this post on Pinterest . I recently made mulberry liqueur by steeping them in vodka for 3 months, strained them and added a sugar syrup to it. Sooo delish. Bit like a good sweet port. TFS. Virginia
It will work with any fruit you can get your hands on, Virginia – mulberries sound phenomenal! Glad you enjoyed