Happy Fourth of July from Seattlest
Seattlest Pix: 09Jul04
Seattlest Pix: 09Jul05
Seattle Int'l Beer Festival Ends at 7 p.m.
In the chapter on invasive species in David Williams' awesome book The Street-Smart Naturalist he says of blackberries:
Ecologists don't like Himalayan blackberries because the dense thickets block light to other plats, reduce animal habitat, and hinder access to water in riparian zones, another area where blackberries flourish. With their rapid growth they can quickly outcompete natives and turn a diverse field into a monoculture. Himalayan blackberries, however, do have several features that make them less heinous than other invasives. The most obvious is the edible berry. Blackberries also do not grow well in the shade or in undisturbed habitat, which from an ecological standpoint makes them less troublesome than other invasives, in particular the city's worst offender, English ivy, Hedera heliz.
"Less heinous than English ivy"...high praise. Furthermore, Seattlest found a lot to agree with in a friend's recent rant against any urban vine fruit, local pedigree or not: It's dirty, polluted, fed with oily runoff water and choked with empty paper cups and plastic bags--Not necessarily an environment conducive to producing good eats. The phrase "garbage berry" also came up in reference to blackberries in that conversation.
But, you know, blackberries...they're there. That's an understatement, actually. They're everywhere, and a harvest is difficult to resist. We can't get very excited about a Seattle blackberry pie or a compote or anything along those lines, and we can barely bring ourselves to pop them straight, but a nice vodka infusion might be alright. Figuring the Polish cookbooks we have laying around might have something to say about infusing vodka, we cracked a few open and found only recipes involving grain alcohol and fermentations. Not what we're looking for. Nothing against fermentation--we already a fall cider planned--but this is a low patience operation. We'll just wing it and figure vodka+blackberries+a few days=blackberry vodka.
Employing Mrs. Seattlest as cheap labor we picked about ten cups of blackberries from the edges of Northlake Ave in twenty minutes or so. As we worked closer to the Burke-Gilman the pickin's got slimmer and it was obvious that many gatherers had been through before us.
You can buy vodka that's a little cheaper than Smirnoff, and a lot more expensive, but an 80 proof triple distilled 1.75L glass jug seemed to fall in the sweet spot of price, quality and volume. The berries got a thorough washing in the colander, which turned out to be problematic because some of them are very very ripe and tend to lose their structural integrity under the faucet. We figured smashed berries were better than berries covered in parking lot grime, though.
After ripping the little pour spout out of the vodka bottle we dumped the contents into a pitcher--Maybe a big, seal-able jar or something would be the best infusion vessel, but we didn't have anything like that on hand so we had to use the bottle the vodka came in. The berries went into the bottle one at a time, which proved to be a pretty messy operation. Blackberries are pretty stainy, it turns out, and cheap counter tops and hands might get a little discoloration that can't be easily defeated by soap and water.
We'd only put a few cups of the berries into the bottle when it became clear that our haul wouldn't completely fill the bottle, which is what we'd initially hoped for. We ended up filling the bottle a little more than a third of the way with blackberries, but they were packed in there pretty well and after pouring the vodka from the pitcher back into the bottle we found that they'd displaced roughly a third of the vodka. Good enough.
Now we wait. Hopefully we can hold out until the Labor Day weekend before straining and decanting. Hopefully, but maybe not. The vodka has already taken on a much deeper shade of red than seen in the picture above, and the berries have expanded to fill about half the bottle.
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I once got a jar of moonshine from Tennessee that had a half cup of blackberries in it. Really tasted great, and you have the added fun of having the option of forcing berries upon your friends.
As a long-time vodka-loving bartender, may I recommend award-winning vodkas Svedka (Sweden) and Vikingfjord (Made from Norway's most important natural resources, Vikings and Fjords). They are priced competitively with Smirnoff (and are cheaper than Smirnoff in other states, where liquor prices aren't government-mandated) but are much smoother (Svedka is 5-times distilled) and cleaner (better filtering as well). I left Smirnoff and Absolut (all marketing hype) years ago, and never looked back.
The Scandanavians really know their aquavit! WA Liquor stores seem to all carry Svedka and Vikingfjord in .750s for around $12, and most have Svedka 1.75s for about $29. You'll be glad you made the switch.
Also, I think you've just finally convinced me to infuse some myself. I just drank a delicious bottle of Grey Goose Anjou Pear (!) for my bday and I'm thinking I should make some pineapple!
Charles
doublerebel.com
May I recommend Vodka infusion step-by-step for more info on DIY Infused Vodka!
-J @ Chutzpah!
I've been doing this for a couple of years now and have used both blackberries (picked in my alley foraging around Seattle) and blueberries.
I've got a couple of things to add to what you did, based on my experience. First, I use another container for ease of transfer. Old Ball canning jars or really any glass with a wide mouth and a lid works for me.
Second, I have not tried doing it with just fresh berries. I was too impatient and had good success cooking the berries (thinking it would break down the skin faster, releasing the berry goodness) with a small amount of sugar. Then I let the mixture cool, add it to the jars and then add the vodka.
Thirdly, I buy the cheapest vodka I can for this and then I filter it through my Brita water filter. If I do it three to four times (more doesn't seem to help), it takes the biter taste away quite well. I figure you don't need a nice or even good vodka for this, just an adequate base so I go for cheap.
I've found that the longer you let it sit, the better the taste (I've only had the patience for 4 weeks in the fridge though... *grin*). I'm sure there's an outside to that envelope but I haven't found it yet.
Thanks for the post!!
Oh yeah! Almost forgot, strain those berries well and crush them in the strainer so you get the most berry juice possible. I've found a great difference doing this!
Keep back some in the freezer and add them to your cider. They give a great colour and a really lovely fruit note to the flavour.
I've also brewed blackberry wine, which was excellent. The high sugar levels ended up with a drink that was almost port like.
--coldclimate.co.uk