Last Thursday Rachael and I hosted our last craft night until fall. We held it at a bar/supper club in our town and had 20 people. We did two crafts. We made vodka infusions and people got to hand paint their own shot glasses. I did the vodka infusions part and Rachael taught people how to hand paint their shot glasses.
There are a TON of recipes out there for vodka infusions. I did quite a bit of research on them while preparing for this class and I'll list my top tips below. We wanted to use in season fruits and vegetables for this class so we choose three infusions using mostly in season ingredients. People could choose the one they wanted to do.
The three we had at the class were
Strawberry Rhubarb-mix strawberries and rhubarb using a one to one ratio
Bloody Mary-mix tomatoes, garlic, onion, celery, lemon, fill and peppercorns to your personal preference
Cucumber Mint-mix cucumber and mint using a four to one ratio
We used these bottles from SKS glass. We got the larger 750 ML size but you could also get the smaller size for this project.
You want about two inches of fruit/vegetables at the bottom of your jar. I just love the bottles we got but honestly if we do this craft again we will just get mason jars because after a few days your vodka is infused and you will need to empty out all of the fruits, vegetables, etc from your bottle. These bottles are pretty but getting rid of all the organic stuff from your bottle would be so much easier with a Mason jar.
I first learned to make infusions when I went to the Beekman Boy's Christmas class last November. Since then I have been really interested in making them and seeing what kind of different flavors you can mix together.
Some of the ladies that come to our class don't drink so we had them do the strawberry rhubarb or cucumber mint infusion and just add water. I made a mint and cucumber one for myself and it was delicious. Flavored water is great for a party!
Everyone had a blast! We have found that people just love to get together and create something that they made. It always makes us so happy when people come to our craft nights and have a good time.
If you decide to make your own infusions here are some notes that have helped us--
1. Don't take too much, think about how much you'll drink or need for a party and make that amount.
2. You need to shake your infusion twice a day and taste it once a day.
3. Most flavors take 4-7 days to infuse but make sure you taste it daily to get the taste that you want.
4. Alcohol is very good at extracting flavors from herbs, spices, fruits and vegetables. It takes a lot less time than you think for an ingredient to flavor your vodka
5. You must strain everything out of your vodka. Because overtime those stay bits of fruits, herbs etc will create an off taste with your vodka.
6. You can store your infusion at room temperature or in the fridge.
7. Don't eat your fruits or vegetables after they infuse your vodka they will taste awful...trust me!!
Let me know if you try infusing your own vodka or water! I
Happy Wednesday.
Xoxo
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