This one is strictly for the adults!…
Back in December, you may remember that I took part in
Belleau Kitchen’s Random Recipes – where bloggers are challenged to pick a recipe at random and then follow the recipe, no matter how bizarre it may be. I managed to select Blackberry Vodka from Nigella Lawson’s
‘Kitchen’* for my recipe (completely at random, I hasten to add!) and you can read about how incredibly easy it was to make
in this post.
The jar of vodka soaked blackberries have been hidden away at the back of my pantry ever since, only surfacing occasionally for me to give the jar a quick shake. I have to admit that I even forgot about it for a couple of weeks when life got even more hectic than usual.
Yesterday I decided that it was time to bottle my vodka.
This bit was even easier than the first part of the recipe. I simply soaked the original vodka bottle in hot soapy water to remove the label, rinsed it thoroughly and then put the bottle, a pyrex jug and a metal sieve in a medium oven for 5 minutes to sterilise.
PLEASE NOTE: When you remove the equipment from the oven, it will be hot. It will stay hot for some considerable time, so do use oven gloves for the next stage. Don’t be tempted to touch the sieve after a few minutes (like I may have done…) because it will still be hot.
Once you have sterilised your equipment, simply strain the vodka through the sieve into the jug. Then pour the vodka into the bottle and pop the top on. I used the bottle that the vodka had originally come in, but if you have a prettier bottle to hand then you could use that. I’d be tempted to get something like
this bottle from Lakeland for next time but even in the vodka bottle, it just looks so pretty!
And there will definitely be a next time for this recipe. I sampled the vodka a few days before bottling, and it was delicious – very smooth with a deep blackberry flavour. I used a mid-price vodka this time, and I think it was the right decision in terms of the flavour although I may repeat the recipe with a value range vodka to see if the flavour is affected.
Incidentally, the recipe also leaves you with a bowl full of incredibly alcoholic blackberries. Nigella suggests that you fold these into a fool base for a very grown up pudding. But I’m not sure whether my blackberries are even a little bit
too alcoholic for this use! They are currently sitting in my fridge, waiting for the weekend to come so that I can decide whether to risk the hangover that I fear they will bring on.
I’ll let you know if I’m brave enough to try it.
This one is strictly for the adults!…
Back in December, you may remember that I took part in Belleau Kitchen’s Random Recipes – where bloggers are challenged to pick a recipe at random and then follow the recipe, no matter how bizarre it may be. I managed to select Blackberry Vodka from Nigella Lawson’s ‘Kitchen’* for my recipe (completely at random, I hasten to add!) and you can read about how incredibly easy it was to make in this post.
The jar of vodka soaked blackberries have been hidden away at the back of my pantry ever since, only surfacing occasionally for me to give the jar a quick shake. I have to admit that I even forgot about it for a couple of weeks when life got even more hectic than usual.
Yesterday I decided that it was time to bottle my vodka.
This bit was even easier than the first part of the recipe. I simply soaked the original vodka bottle in hot soapy water to remove the label, rinsed it thoroughly and then put the bottle, a pyrex jug and a metal sieve in a medium oven for 5 minutes to sterilise.
PLEASE NOTE: When you remove the equipment from the oven, it will be hot. It will stay hot for some considerable time, so do use oven gloves for the next stage. Don’t be tempted to touch the sieve after a few minutes (like I may have done…) because it will still be hot.
Once you have sterilised your equipment, simply strain the vodka through the sieve into the jug. Then pour the vodka into the bottle and pop the top on. I used the bottle that the vodka had originally come in, but if you have a prettier bottle to hand then you could use that. I’d be tempted to get something like this bottle from Lakeland for next time but even in the vodka bottle, it just looks so pretty!
And there will definitely be a next time for this recipe. I sampled the vodka a few days before bottling, and it was delicious – very smooth with a deep blackberry flavour. I used a mid-price vodka this time, and I think it was the right decision in terms of the flavour although I may repeat the recipe with a value range vodka to see if the flavour is affected.
Incidentally, the recipe also leaves you with a bowl full of incredibly alcoholic blackberries. Nigella suggests that you fold these into a fool base for a very grown up pudding. But I’m not sure whether my blackberries are even a little bit too alcoholic for this use! They are currently sitting in my fridge, waiting for the weekend to come so that I can decide whether to risk the hangover that I fear they will bring on.
I’ll let you know if I’m brave enough to try it.