“Bartosz Kaczmarek/istockphotoDCL
Flavored vodkas have become all the rage in the past few years. Vanilla, blueberry, raspberry—you name it, it’s everywhere. But you don’t have to buy it by the bottle. Instead make smaller quantities of fresh infused vodka from organic providers. Infusing your own vodka is much greener because you can use what?s seasonally available to make your eco-cocktail truly shine. And infused vodkas make it unnecessary to use sugary mixers and other junk that just add calories and eco-impact to your drink (more stuff = more impact on the planet, generally speaking). Organic vodkas are also much easier on the planet because they typically use rye that’s not treated with any chemicals and pesticides. Plenty shows us that infusing your own vodka is super easy and way tastier than the mass produced variety.
Making Infused Vodka: The Method
The basic method is to cut up your chosen infusion (local, season farmers’ market bounty) and add it to a liter bottle of organic vodka for a few weeks. Adjust the amount of fruit by taste and don’t worry about exacts. Choose whatever combination that you like and experiment!
Homemade Infused Vodka Suggestions
Blueberry Mint infused vodka
Add 2 cups of blueberries and 2 tbsp of fresh mint and let it steep for a week. This one is perfect for summer.
Melon infused vodka Start with about 1/4 of a whole melon. Cut it up, dump it in, and steep for a week.
Lavender Honey infused vodka This one is great because there’s no waiting. Take about two tbsp of dried lavender flower. Brew the flower in a regular drip coffee maker with a filter, using about four cups of water. Put the coffee pot’s resulting contents into the vodka bottle with a 1/4 cup of lavender honey (available at a gourmet grocery), squeeze in 1/2 a lemon, and stir. Cool it to room temperature and serve. This is doubly relaxing because the lavender is also a great natural way to feel at ease.
Grapefruit infused vodka Make a grapefruit vodka with no added sugar—just fruit. Peel and section the grapefruit, dump it in, add a few twists of rind, and wait two weeks. Perfect for those that like it tart.
Watermelon infused vodka Slice 1/6 of a melon cut into chunks, place in bottle, wait one week.
Apple spice infused vodka One apple, one cinnamon stick, and a clove. This one is great for the holidays.
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