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Friday, September 30, 2005
Infused Vodka Project
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About Me
- obachan
- Muroto, Kochi, Japan
- "OBACHAN" means a "middle-aged woman" or "aunty" in Japanese. .*************************. Having moved back to my hometown in April 2009, I live in one of the desperately underpopulated areas in Japan now. Let me share my life in a real countryside with aging parents living in the same house. And here in Muroto -- the place where I chose to live -- you can hear the heartbeat of the Earth! ;)
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15 comments:
I like fruit infusions, but I'm really a fan of making herb and spice infused vodkas like rosemary, dill, gingner, saffron, cinnamon, basil, lemongrass, etc. They are also great to cook with.
Very cool, Obachan!
PS: harsh, I just did a mint/sage infusion. Awesome. And a fennel pollen infusion.
I really want to find some unsprayed rose petals to try infusing. I wonder if that would work.
Hey..Obachan,
I'm so excited for you.. and excited to see your new creations..!
hmmm, isn't persimmon season just around the bend?!!!
This year, I made a lychee infused vodka (lychee-shu), and a less-sweet-than-average umeshu. Last year I made lychee also, and a little longer than that I made quince (karin-shu). Recently I frequently make matcha-infused gin, and that one is convenient because it is perfect in about 6 or 7 days with just a moderate amount of sugar. Tonight I drank a little bit of the umeshu even though it's not quite ready yet, because we wanted to have it after all the food I made tonight :)
When I made cucumber-infused vodka or cucumber-infused shochu, I only used a short infusion (7-10 days) and no sugar, because I just want the aroma, and I use that one for martini-type drinks. I think cucumber shochu is very refreshing.
I guess these must all taste better than the cobra-infused liquor I was given in China, which I was never brave enough to try; I gave it to my coworker.
harsh
Welcome to my site : ) Yeah, I have herbs in my balcony garden. Why not? OK. Now I’m going for rosemary infusion, and that will use up the vodka I have left from this project. Thanks a million for your advice!
cookiecrumb
Fennel pollen infusion? Wow! Using rose petals is such a romantic idea. I wish you a good luck!
Big Bok
I’m excited too… no matter what disaster I might create ;)
rae
Yep! And nashi (Japanese pear? Asian pear?), too! Gee, I’m gonna have to buy another bottle of vodka on my pay day.
Jason Truesdell
Boy, you really love doing infusion, don’t you? I love umeshu, too. They say it’s good for your stomach, so drinking it after your wonderful dinner must have helped your digestion. How did your co-worker like the cobra-infused liquor? Maybe you’ve heard of mamushi (adder?)-infused shochu we have in Japan. I’d rather stay away from that kind of drink…
The coworker to whom I deferred the cobra infused vodka lucky draw prize is actually Chinese, so I guess he was probably reasonably happy with it. I think the mamushi must be similar... I guess it's served more for drama than for flavor. I think Chinese consider it kind of medicinal but maybe for virility rather than digestion.
hi.. came across your blog.. like the grape infused ones... just wanna check.. what grapes you used?? Black, red? Seedless??
Thanks :)
Jason
Sorry I forgot to respond to this. No matter how great it is for my health, I'm not really willing to try mamushi infused alcohol anyway. Well...maybe just tasting might be OK...just enough to satisfy my curiosity.
anonymous commenter
Hi. Welcome to my site :) I don't remember the name, but they were in dark-purple, not red, and slightly smaller than concord grapes. I guess they were not seedless.
はじめまして。ロンと申します。先日、Obachan のブログを見つけて楽しませていただきました。田舎にお住みになってもそんなにさまざまなお料理ができることにはちょっとびっくりしました。Obachan が撮られたお写真も、プロののように見えるほどきれいだと思います。その上、Obachan の英語もネーティブスピーカーみたいに完璧なんです。関心関心。さて、harshさんがおっしゃったとおり、ハーブなんかを使っておいしいですが、その限りなく、お花の花びらも葉も使えます。(農薬なしのを選ぶ必要）。バラとか、パンジーとか、スミレとか、何かいい香りするのがよいでしょう。特に、いろんな種類があって、ゼラニウムの葉を使ってみるお勧めです。おまけに、ケーキなんかを作るとき、液体の材料の一部の代わりにその infused vodka を使うと違う味になります。では、これからも、ブログを楽しみにしております。
Ronさん、
親切なコメントをありがとうございます。ロンさんの日本語も素晴らしいですね。
花びらを使うアイディアはとてもロマンチックでいいですね。まだ遅すぎないなら、どこかで桜の花びらを集めてやってみようかな・・・。ゼラニウムの葉というのも面白そう。いつか試してみたいと思います。
ケーキにvodkaを使うと言うのはちょっとピンと来なかったけど、確かに花の香りのものだったら合いそうですね。
ステキなアイディアをありがとう！
Hi Obachan!
I have just started on vodka infusion 2 days ago - red grapes.
Do you actually have to add some sweet drinks like Sprite or Cranberry juice etc when drinking the infused vodka?
The grapes have now discoloured and there is no grape taste at all in the vodka.
I wonder if I am doing it right.
Please advise. Thanks a lot!
I guess it’s up to you whether to add sweet drinks to the infused vodka. I usually like rather “dry” drinks than very sweet, so for me my grape infused vodka was sweet enough as-is. Maybe two days is not long enough for the vodka to acquire the flavor of grapes? Also we seem to have used different kind of grapes, so it might make a difference… I’m not an expert to give someone an advice, but I would wait for a couple more weeks, and if the vodka did not turn out very flavorful, experiment on some mixed drinks. You know, creativity and flexibility ;)
BTW, I love the beautiful photos on your site.
Thank you. I love your photos!!! Like straight out of those expensive recipe books....And I will wait patiently for a few more days for the vodka.
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