Raspberry Liqueur
1/2-pound raspberries - more or less - two to four pints
1 bottle of vodka - 750 ml - Can be cheap vodka. I have tried it with expensive vodka and cheap vodka - does not make a difference
Orange zest - if you wish to add
1/1/2 cups of sugar
3/4 cup of water
1. Put raspberries into a large clear glass pickling jar. Crush the raspberries slightly. Add orange zest if you desire.
2. Cover the container and let stand at room temperature for 3 to 4 weeks in a darkened room
- at least no direct sunlight.
3. Strain the mixture into a clean container. Crush the raspberries with a potato masher to release all the flavor and any juice they may still have.
4. Combine the sugar and water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat. Boil 1 minute. Remove from heat and let cool.
5. Stir the sugar syrup into the raspberry liquid.
6. Pour the liquid into clean sterilized (boiled with hot water) bottles.
7. Let stand for at least 3 weeks up to 6 months.
Decorate and label the bottle as you wish.
Store your Raspberry Liqueur in the refrigerator so you can keep it a long time.
Variations:
Cranberry - Orange Liqueur - omit raspberries and use 1 pound of cranberries. Use the zest of two oranges
Double Berry Liqueur - Raspberries and Blackberries
Blueberry - I have never tried it with Blueberries, so am not sure how it would turn out. But you can experiment.
This Raspberry Liqueur can be used to make a great dessert. Pour a small amount of liquor over a dish of vanilla ice cream and a few fresh raspberries on top. Stick a nice tasty light cookie on the side. Elegant, delicious and very simple. All my dinner guests enjoyed this dessert.
The Back Story
Ruth Lange, my close dear friend of 51 years, found this recipe. I had a huge raspberry patch in my backyard at 5 Makin Place where i lived for 42 years. My neighbor, Louise Wasilivetch had given us some of her raspberry plants which Nick and I planted in the back area of our property. By the way, Louise lived to be l04 years old. We put up bottles and bottles of Raspberry Liquor. We collected clear bottles of all sizes and shapes from places we visited or other liquor we had enjoyed drinking. We also collected corks of all sizes for these bottles. I purchased some corks online or at Michael's. I gifted these bottles to my family and friends for many years.
I would be happy to demonstrate the process of making Raspberry Liquor at a CGC Meeting again - I did the demonstration once with my partner in crime, Ruth Lange, at the home of Sandra Mazoyer when we used to meet in September for our first meeting of our calendar year at someone's garden and home. I did the demonstration once at the Methodist Church alone. As we did this past CGC meeting, we distributed samples to taste and would then raffle off a bottle of Raspberry Liqueur.
The hardest part of this recipe is harvesting the raspberries. It is significantly much less time intensive if you simply purchase them at a farm stand or grocery store, but they are expensive. Because we had so many raspberries in our garden - an overabundance - I asked my good friend Ruth Lange who was a Home and Careers teacher at Oldfield Middle School for many years, to see if she could come up with a recipe so we could use all the raspberries in a unique way. We also made some raspberry vinegar. My late husband Nick spent hours harvesting raspberries early in the morning, before it became too hot and humid, towards the end of June into July when they ripened. Nick and I also made tons of raspberry freezer jam which is very easy to make. You can google freezer jam.