Making fruit-infused spirits is one of my favorite summer projects. I came up with a quick technique that captures the bright, vivid flavor of fresh fruit without the usual weeks-long wait. These homemade fruit liqueurs are ready in just 24 hours ~ cheers!
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I developed a quick method for infusing vodka with bright, fresh fruit flavor, and I think it’s just about perfect. These homemade fruit-infused spirits taste far better than anything off the shelf, with just fresh fruit, a little sugar, and vodka. Best of all, there’s no long wait ~ they’re ready to strain, chill, and drink the very next day.
What readers are saying
➡ I made it with nice ripe plums, and it was amazingly good. My guests couldn’t keep their hands off it!
➡ Just what I needed for summer entertaining. I made strawberry and it was amazing.
➡ A perfect way to celebrate the summer months!
choosing fruit for flavored spirits
I chose five different summer fruits to experiment with, and every one turned out fabulous. I used, from left to right above:
- strawberries,
- white peaches
- pluots ~ a hybrid between a plum and an apricot
- rhubarb
- and apricots.
the vibrant colors (and flavors) are all natural!
The vodka pulls out all the flavor and vibrant color from the fruit and believe it or not, these colors aren’t enhanced— they smell wonderful, they taste incredible, and they’re so pretty! I’ve never liked artificial fruit flavors, so it’s incredibly satisfying to be able to fuse the real deal into alcohol like this.
technique for making fresh fruit infused liqueur
I won’t keep you in suspense—I’ll get straight to the technique. It differs from the traditional method, where you cut up fruit and let it steep in vodka for several weeks. You have to shake it daily and wait, wait, WAIT. My method is way better 🙂
- In my method, I chop the fruit and cook it very briefly, just to soften it and bring out the juices and flavors.
- I use an immersion blender to puree the fruit.
- Then I combine it with the vodka and let the mash sit overnight.
- The next day, I strain it, and voilà ~ you’ve got a fully flavored homemade fruit spirit ready to drink.
how does it work?
Vodka, at about 40% alcohol, is very good at drawing flavor and color from fruit. Briefly cooking and puréeing the fruit releases its juices and exposes more of it to the vodka, so the infusion happens much more quickly.
you’ll never buy an artificially flavored alcohol again
You can see the difference after the mash has been strained, the spirits are clear and beautiful, ready for cocktails!
get creative with your flavors
One of the reasons I love this so much is that you can create unique flavors…a few deep purple pluots made one of the most memorable, and the pale pink white peach was amazing. These fresh flavors are are so much better than the artificial mass produced versions.
other fruits to try
- melon
- guava
- mango
- papaya
- blackberries
- raspberries
- blueberries
how to use your homemade fruit spirits
These spirits are potent and very flavorful. I like to serve them over ice with sparkling water and a squeeze of lemon or lime, but you can also use them to make all kinds of simple cocktails.
Mix them into a pitcher of lemonade, add a splash to sparkling wine, or shake with citrus juice and ice for an easy fruit cocktail.
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Fruit Infused Spirits
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb fresh fruit (choose strawberries, apricots, rhubarb, pluots, white peaches, or a fruit of your choice)
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 1/2 cups vodka (any brand will work)
Instructions
- Start with clean fruit. Depending on what fruit you are using, hull the berries, pit the stone fruit, or trim rough ends from the rhubarb. Do not peel stone fruit, much flavor and color comes from the skins.
- Chop the fruit into bite sized pieces and add to a saucepan, along with the sugar. Add 1/4 cup water, and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. If your fruit is dry you may need to add a bit more water. Cook for about 5 minutes, just enough to soften the fruit.
- Puree the fruit using an immersion blender, a regular blender, or food processor.
- Add the fruit puree to the vodka and give it a stir. Let sit on the counter, covered, for 24 hours.
- Strain through a nut bag, or several layers of cheesecloth, squeezing to get all the liquid out. Discard the solids.
- Keep the liqueur in the refrigerator until needed. Note: these liqueurs need to be refrigerated because of the fresh fruit component, and should be consumed within 2 weeks.
Notes
- There’s no need to buy expensive vodka for this, use the cheap stuff, because all the flavor will come from the fruit.
- You can use almost any fruit, I think tropical fruit like guava or pineapple would be fun to try, and while I wouldn’t touch a store bought blueberry vodka, I’m excited to make my own, it’s next on my list.
- A nut bag is the perfect tool for this job…it’s a fine mesh bag made for straining out solids when making nut milks, and it works great for this, too. You can find them online here, the ones I like are a very fine nylon mesh that outlasts cloth and rinses clean. I originally tried straining my liqueur through coffee filters, but it took way too long, and coffee filters are so delicate they can split. Cheesecloth is messy and not quite fine enough.
- You don’t technically need the sugar, but I think it helps to bring out the flavor of the fruit.
- Try mixing herbal notes with these liqueurs, rosemary, thyme, sage, and lavender would all go well.
Nutrition
Oh Sue, you must of had so much fun making these different fruit liqueurs. Will have to try this myself, what a perfect way to celebrate the summer months!
I had SO much fun. The only problem was I wanted to keep going with every fruit I could think of… and then of course I’d be swimming in vodka :/
Sue- this is terrific! I can’t wait to share this with my grown children and “borrow” a nut bag from my daughter. They are beautiful to look at and can’t wait to taste. Flavor combinations are only limited by ones imagination. Thank-you for this wonderful post. Happy Memorial Day!
Have a wonderful weekend with your family Ellen!
Have you tried using citrus, I’m thinking grapefruit? But orange oooohh. I’m going to make one of these this week.
I decided to focus on summer fruits, but I’m sure citrus works beautifully, and grapefruit would be my first choice! Let me know if you try 🙂
Would you peel the oranges?
I think you could do it either way, and I think I would puree the whole fruit.
Now this is up my alley. Seriously, I can’t wait to try all of them! I’ve had a bottle of vodka sitting aside for a long time now. Well. I think the time has come. My summer happy hour thanks you!
Abbe I promise you’ll love this, it’s such fun, and who wants to drink plain old vodka, anyway??
Whoa, how awesome are these!! I always thought it takes months to make fruit infused vodka! Totally trying this. How long is it good for in the fridge? Thanks!
I can’t say for sure how long it will last, but I would use within a couple of weeks. These are small batches, so they should go before that anyway.
Oh my goodness! These look incredible! Such vibrant colors! It would be hard to just drink one!
I did notice that Sara 😉
I bought some rhubarb liqueur when I was in Iceland last week and it was delicious! So glad I came across this recipe so I can make more here at home!
Try the pluot flavor, you’ll never find that in a bottle!
Sounds like a party to me! These are so beautiful! Love the colors and I’m imaging the flavors are fantastic.
I don’t know about you Chris, but I can’t stand most bottled ‘flavored’ alcohols, they taste so artificial. These are really different.
Such a great idea and the colours are so fabulous! Will be trying this with some summer fruit 🙂
I’m already chomping at the bit to try new flavors…just gotta finish up these batches first 😉
These are so beautiful, and I can’t believe all that color is natural!! I love it. Great tip about the nut bags. I’ve been meaning to pick a couple up for when I make stock, but they really are useful for so many things. Pinning!!
Thanks Tracy — the color is amazing, it actually seems to intensify after the final straining, and you will love the nut bags, they are so much easier than fooling with cheesecloth.