The Grape experiment

July 13Experiment? What could I do with grapes that has never been done before? That's simple, nothing. But my friend Gina said she wanted to try to use grapes in one of my cordial recipes and it occurred to me that I have yet to try this myself. I then proceeded to dork stamp myself for this silly mistake and ran to the store to pick up grapes. I was in luck, both green and red grapes were on sale so I bought both. I only did 1 green grape sample jar and 2 red grape samples. I had plenty of grapes to do at least 3 jars of each but, i got the munchies while slicing the grapes and in the end only had enough for what I made. My bad. But here is the recipe that I used:

1 pint mason jar of grapes
Vodka

I tried to keep it simple this time. As you notice I did not add any sugar to this. the reason? no room in the jar. lol. But I closed the jar and put them next to all the rest of the ones I did.

I think this will be a 2 part experiment in that in 3 months or so when I go to bottle the alcohol i will press the grapes, put them in the same jar, add sugar, and fill it up wit vodka for a "second pressing". But I will post about that when it happens.

Green Grape day 1

Grapes After about 2 weeks

Raspberry Cordial

July 13
I got myself some raspberries at the store today. We all know what that means... Cordial time! I only had enough to make 2 jars, but that's ok. So here is my sample recipe:

6 ounces raspberries
1 cup sugar
Vodka

I put the raspberries into the pint mason jar and kind of chopped them or crushed them in the jar. I made a bit of a Raspberry mush. Then I added 1 cup of sugar and enough vodka to fill the jar to fill it to the line, closed the lid and shook it up until blended. Now it is sitting in my basement so that I am not tempted by it every time I look at it.

Raspberry day 1

Raspberry about week 3

Blueberry Cordial

July 13I got a good deal on blueberries at the store today and went to work making some test jars of my cordial. I made 4 jars, and each jar had the exact same recipe.

1/2 pint of blueberries
1 cup sugar
Vodka

I cut each blueberry in half and stuck them in a pint mason jar. Then I added the sugar and filled up the jar to the first line with vodka. After I got the lid good and tight, I shook the hell out of it. Then I set them in the basement so that I don't have the urge to open one and taste test it.

Blueberry Day 1

Blueberry about week 3

Blueberry 4 months and bottled

November 13I finally got around to bottling the Blueberry Cordial. It tastes great and I have not even diluted it yet. I think I will, but not with water. I am going to get a hold of some 100% blueberry juice bottled or from concentrate. Why add just water when blueberry juice will also add a bit of flavor. I bottled in a recycled Brandy bottle I recovered from the hotel I work at.

I also am going to poor off about 1/4 of this bottle for medicinal use. Yes I said medicinal use. Blueberry Tincture can be used to treat UTIs and kidney stones and diarrhea . Being a woman I am always at a high risk for UTIs and having something around to help with kidney stones sounds like a good idea to me.

Cherry Cordial

By request of the Queen of Colwod NoVas I have put together a cherry flavored cordial

5 Pounds Fresh Cherries (sliced and De-pitted)
5 Liters Vodka
4 Pounds Granulated Sugar

We will see how it goes.




Update: The bucket that this was mixed in went missing in my move and hasn't been recovered. I did mix up a small version pictured below.

(this is a picture of the small version)

1 Pint jar full of cherries, halved
Vodka

Filled jar full of cherries then filled the rest in with vodka. Easy and already looking a very pretty shade of red.

Strawberry Cordial

10 pounds of strawberries
5 1/2 quarts vodka
5 pounds sugar
3 quarts water

Closed lid, will let it sit for 1 month before checking/stirring.

I let this sit for 3 months. It is great. A dark pink color with strong flavor. I added water and sugar to taste.