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
Hi..I want to try this but don’t have the proper straining tools…NUT BAG, or even cheesecloth. Are nutbags available at grocery store? Going on vacation in 2 days and don’t have time to order. Other ideas?? Thanks looks delish!
You might try coffee filters.
french press coffeepot works, too –
Can you use frozen fruit to make the vodka liqueurs
Yes!
Could I use fejoas? And just wondering if honey can be added as well.
I don’t see why not, and honey can be used, yes.
I made pear wine but would like to make a pear liqueur from it. Do you know how?
Use pears and follow this recipe, it will work fine.
Can you use Concord grapes as well. I have lots of Valiant grapes, which look and taste just like Concord, but are much smaller in size
That would be amazing Dianne, the flavor of Concord grapes is the best!
Did you try it? Did you puree the grapes with the seeds?
We have an abundance of Saskatoons. Would like to try making a fruit liqueuer? Can this be bottles and used llonger than 24 hrs.
I have an easier method, clean your fruit, I never wash raspberries or blackberries. They don’t need to be cut. Cut up whatever fruit you are using. I use a 1 gallon glass jar, place fruit in the jar, add 2 cups of sugar cubes, add 40 oz. bottle of vodka. Stir to start the sugar cubes melting, not hard, you don’t want to break up the fruit. Then place the jar in a cool dry place and leave for at least 2 months. Strain off liquid and put it back into the vodka bottle. Serve the fruit over Vanilla ice cream. Enjoy the liqueur.
I love how versatile this concept is, thanks for sharing your method Leslie!
I have also tried to shorten the time by adding temperature. I have one problem with your method: you are technically making a jam to which you add alcohol. Boiling the fruit leaves a specific taste into your liqueur.
I have a slightly different technique which avoids boiling. Place fruits in a pot or jar whatever you want. Depending on the fruit you may need to cut them.
Compact them decently and add the sugar on top. Place them in an oven at 70 deg C or so and leave them overnight. Temperature and time varies depending on the type of fruit. Do not go to 100C (boiling) or under 60C where you may grow bacteria.
The next morning you will find the jar full of a bright clear delicious liquid. Add your Vodka after it cools down. You may keep it for a while but it’s ready to enjoy.
In essence you have pasteurised the contents while extracting the juices. The flavor is not of boiled fruit but fresh because you have not changed the chemical composition nor evaporated the aromatic oils.
Good luck!
I don’t know if Adrian will see this comment but I am curious about how long his liquor will last at room temperature, or if it requires refrigeration after making.
If I put the fruit solids in my compost, would I just have drunk worms? I wouldn’t want to OD my worms but hey, why throw all that good fruit away, right?
Lol you’re right!
You could put the fruit solids on ice cream. But perhaps not for the kids!
🙂
I can’t wait to try this with my rhubarb! And, just in time for Father’s Day. Oh do I love it when I find a really unique, personalized gift that I can make. Nope, no tie for Father’s Day this year.
I’m also going to substitute sugar with HONEY… mmmm
Thank You!
Your Dad’s a lucky guy 🙂