Raspberry Liqueur
Hi, my name is Justine, I was thrilled to meet Willi a few years ago while we served together on the board of Seattle Tilth. Willi is one of the first people I met in Seattle that has a passion for growing vegetables that equals my own and I love reading what she is up to on Diggin’ Food!
My husband John and I live in a small house on an average sized 5000 sq ft lot in Seattle. I mention this because when I talk about my garden people often think it’s really big, when in fact our number one challenge is dealing with limited space! However, we have been inspired by people like Angelo Pellegrini and the Dervaes family to grow as much of our own food as possible on our little plot of land. So for the past six years we’ve been working hard to turn our little plot into a productive edible oasis in the city.
John and I share a passion for food, but each in our own way. I love to grow it, and he loves to create delicious meals, which makes us a good team. Together we enjoy experimenting with gardening, cooking, foraging, and various DIY projects. Our most exciting recent project is a wood-fired clay oven that John built to bake pizza and bread. Needless to say when Willi asked us to be guest bloggers on Diggin’ Food over the next few weeks we were excited by the opportunity to share what we’re up to on our little urban homestead!
Raspberry Drinkin’ Season!
We grow raspberries in our garden and this years’ crop is particularly abundant! Sometimes we fall behind picking berries and those that were perfectly ripe yesterday are, today, overripe. The sugars in raspberries intensify when they go past their peak making them very sweet. But they begin to develop a bit of an off flavor, a little fermented, which gave us an idea…
Not wanting to waste the berries, and taking inspiration from the Italian liqueur limoncello, we thought we could try making a raspberry infused liqueur. The results have been fantastic and it’s incredibly easy to make! Served chilled with a sprig of mint on a hot summer afternoon its raspberry flavor is intense and refreshing. Or bottle it up and give as a gift!
You don’t have to grow your own raspberries to make this tasty treat. Go out and buy a flat of berries from a local farmer. We’ve never tried it, but other berries could work too.
Raspberry Liqueur Recipe
Proportions are not super critical; you can use any amount of raspberries. The important thing is to use enough vodka to completely cover the raspberries.
What you need:
1 quart Raspberries (overripe or regular both work fine)
1 – 750ml bottle Vodka
Glass jar with lid large enough to hold berries and vodka
Fine mesh strainer
Put raspberries in the jar, add vodka, and put on the lid. Let steep for about 7 days. That’s it!
Every day or two give the jar a little swish to mix it. After a few days you will notice that the berries begin to turn whitish as their color and flavor is infused into the vodka. When the time is up pour the mixture through a fine mesh strainer collecting the raspberry infused vodka in another container. Compost the raspberries.
Store in a bottle in the freezer and you will have your own homemade raspberry liqueur on hand to add to cocktails or sip by itself through the hottest days of summer. Enjoy!
What a great website! and your tips on how to make raspberry infused liqueur are so easy to follow! I think it needs to be enjoyed on a beach somewhere, while watching the sun go down and the stars come out!!!
July 16th, 2009 at 11:13 pmIt has been so enjoyable to have such a mix of folks filling in- it is like being at a nice party and meeting someone with similar interest each posting like a progressive party. I love it. Perhaps a new form of”progressive blog”. Love this idea and going to try it ASAP… love it.
July 17th, 2009 at 8:37 pmlovely recipe! can’t wait to come sample the goods in the lovely urban homestead. great pics too!
July 18th, 2009 at 9:15 amThis is great! I made Limocello a little while ago and loved it – can’t wait to try this! If you guys are interested, here is a link to the lemon liquer recipe I got from a grandma in Italy. http://ballsoutdomesticclub.com/?p=480
I have heard you can follow the same basic recipe with lots of other fruits… hmm…..
July 18th, 2009 at 12:06 pmJustine,
Loved your slide show pics! We too live on an average lot. I’ve only lived here a couple years, but our edible landscape is increasing in size.
Today’s salad was a mesclun mix, snow peas, green onions, cherry tomatoes, sunflower seeds, sliced cucumber, nasturium blossoms, shredded zuchinni and cheddar cheese. All but the cheese were fresh from our raised beds.
So pleased to meet you, Jusine.
July 18th, 2009 at 10:26 pmGreat post! Where do you store this while it’s steeping?
July 19th, 2009 at 11:21 amWow how did you make the clay oven, it looks great!
July 20th, 2009 at 4:26 amEmily – we’ve never been too particular about where we let it steep. Usually it’s just some out of the way corner of the counter. I would keep it out of direct sunlight, but other than that anywhere seems to be fine.
July 20th, 2009 at 9:28 amAnna – We built our oven with the help of a book called “Build Your Own Earth Oven” by Kiko Denzer. Stay tuned, we’re planning on doing an oven blog post in the remaining weeks.
July 20th, 2009 at 9:31 amOoh! I just bought that same book, but have been afraid to tackle that project. It’s nice to see pictures of other people doing making the ovens, it makes me feel like I can do it too.
July 21st, 2009 at 6:40 amWhy not try freezing the rasberries to use as ice cubes. I don’t know if there is enough water left in them to freeze (the alcohol won’t) but even white they would make a really neat embellishment to any cocktail you use the vodka in.
July 27th, 2009 at 1:55 am[...] home and discovering such a wonderful collection of guest posts was so fun. I can’t wait to make fruit infused vodka, basil ice cream, and authentic New Jersey red [...]
August 12th, 2009 at 5:36 pmRecipes like this make me feel totally vindicated!! There are many people that look at me like I am crazy when I say I will never again plant anything that can not be eaten or provide some type of food. I will now sit and drink my liqueur and laugh back at those that laughed at me. Thank you!!
May 11th, 2010 at 8:24 am