I have picked a lot of blackberries over the past few weeks. A lot. You know it’s bad when you start dreaming you’re picking berries! All told, I’ve picked enough to:
- fill 10 quart-sized freezer bags full.
- make a batch of homemade blackberry ice cream.
- make 5 pints of blackberry jam.
- have some for snacks.
But, I also wanted to do something a little extra special with blackberries. Something to enjoy late some night as a reward for hours spent getting stuck by thorns and reaching my body in odd directions to get “just one more berry!”
Yes, I’ve decided to attempt homemade blackberry vodka. I initially wanted to make blackberry wine, but I’m too cheap to spend the money just now on the equipment I’d need. (Maybe some day?)
After scouring the internet for recipes, I came up with my own version. Will this work? Well, I think so…and part of me wonders how wrong could you go by mixing vodka and blackberries?
Here’s my recipe:
- Quart-sized canning jar
- 3 cups of fresh blackberries
- 1.5 cups of sugar
- Enough vodka to fill up the jar
I started by cleaning the blackberries in cold water. Then, I funneled them into quart-sized canning jars. Next, I topped with the sugar. Finally, I poured the vodka on top.
I gently stirred the mixture to let the vodka settle a bit so I could continue to add more until the jar was mostly full. Now several of the recipes I found suggested you use cheap vodka, which I had no problem doing. I suppose you could spend more on something nicer if you wished, but considering you are using it as a base to make your own? I went cheap bottle of vodka all the way.
So here’s my plan. Every day for the next month, I’m going to shake these up a bit to keep things mixed. Then, I’ll shake once per month for the next two months. After that, this should be done. At the end of the three months, when this is ready, I’ll strain the liquid through a cheesecloth.
If everything goes as planned, I should have my blackberry vodka ready just in time for the holidays.
I added some canning labels to remind me of the dates and instructions.
It’s not too late to go blackberry picking and make some of this yourself! Refer back to my wild blackberry picking post for more ideas and tips.
Have you ever made your own fruit-infused liquor? How did you do it? Did it turn out good?
