Best Kahlua I have ever Made

  Kahlua 2021 - Best I have ever tasted

2 oz Medaglia D'oro instant espresso

2 cups brown sugar

2 cups white sugar

2 cups boiling water

2 vanilla beans

2 cups brandy

1 shot chocolate extract

My simple syrup is thicker because I don't use as much water, but the consistency is amazing.

I boil the water with. the sugar and make sure it's all combined, add the espresso powder, wait for it to cool to room temperature.  Add vanilla beans, brandy and chocolate extract.

Bottle and shake a couple times a day for a week, then let sit for another week.  I bottle with the vanilla beans,  it ends up having amazing flavor and doesn't get bitter at all.

Mango Drinking Vinegar

3/4 cup Mango
3/4 cup Sugar

Mix together, put in refrigerator to get all juices out.

Strawberry Drinking Vinegar

This is a new recipe for me, I found some at Portland's Farmers Market, this is a big thing at Pok Pok, and very expensive to buy at the farmer's market so I decided to try making my own.  I found a lot of recipes, some where you cook the ingredients and the cold process method.  I do plan on trying both but for my first recipe I decided to try the cold process as I already had some strawberries, previously soaked in sugar in the freezer.  All I needed to do was add more sugar, add the vinegar let it sit and see how it turns out.

Ingredients for this batch

2 cups strawberries
2 cups sugar
3 cups vinegar (should probably have been 2 cups, but let's see how it turns out.

berries were frozen with sugar, added 1 more cup of sugar
added vinegar and let stand over night
strained through sieve and bottled
refrigerated

Note: personally at this time there is sediment in the bottles, I plan on filtering more to see how well it turns out.

Update: 5/7/12 filtered product 1st time and tried it with Diet Sierra Mist, Wow!!!  It was fantastic.  I will enjoy having this around.

Lemon/Dill Vinegar

Zest of 1 Lemon
Juice of 1 Lemon
4 - 5 sprigs baby dill
fill .375 ml bottle with apple cider vinegar

Let sit for 2 weeks

Blueberry liqueur

Today I strained the rest of the blueberry liqueur with 2 + cups of blueberry juice/vodka mixture.

I added 1/2 + cup of simple syrup, it came out so beautiful, very clear and the taste is so clean and not too sweet.

This years liqueurs are coming out more beautiful than ever.

Note: not sure if they are better due to better quality products or if I am just better at doing it. But the quality this year is amazing.

Raspberry Liqueur 2011

Today I was able to get 2 cups of yellow raspberry juice with vodka and 4 cups of red raspberry juice with vodka, added simple syrup to each, I am finding that 1/2 cup simple syrup to 2 cups of juice is just about perfect, so I added 1 cup to the 4 cups of raspberry/Vodka infusion.

I have to say this was the most beautiful, and fresh tasting infusion I have made to date. I don't know if the berries were riper than normal, or what, but it is amazing.

I have also found that by letting the juice settle for a day or so and then I pour off the clear into a measuring cup and strain that through the coffee filters, I only have to do that once.

Then I take whats left and strain usually through either cheese cloth or paper towels as there is still a lot of residue. I will let it settle a couple of times and the straining process is so much easier.

Next up: Blueberry Liqueur

Tomato Vodka (Alton Brown Recipe)

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ripe tomatoes
• 1 (750 ml) bottle 80 proof vodka

Directions:

• Cut each of the tomatoes into 8 pieces and put them into a large glass jar.
• Add the vodka, stir to combine, and cover.
• Put in a cool, dark place for at least 5 days and up to 7 days, stirring every day.
• After 7 days, strain through a fine mesh strainer and discard the solids.
• To store, pour tomato vodka back into its original bottle, and keep in a cool, dark place.