It’s Saturday morning, and as the temperature rises and your weekend begins, you want to do something fun. You decide to head over to one of our city’s great farmers’ markets. You peruse the many vendors to see what the market has to offer.
As you explore, you begin to analyze the abundance of produce. Although you know it is all great to eat, you’d like to find a way to incorporate some of this bounty into a cocktail. You see watermelon, strawberries and blackberries, to name just a few. As you leave the market with sacks of fresh produce, you think of all the different fruit and liquor infusions that can be created. The combinations are endless, and entirely up to you. There are many different fruit-flavored liquors on the market, but making them at home provides an extra element of freshness, along with the satisfaction of creating something entirely your own.
Concocting fruit-infused liquors is not a difficult process, but it does take some time. The intensity of fruit flavors depends on how long you let them infuse. Use a quart jar or other type of bottle that can be sealed. For the spirits, I recommend something clear like vodka, rum, gin or tequila. Then use your fruit-infused liquor to make a refreshing summer cocktail. The infusion recipe below can be made with a variety of fruit combinations.
strawberry-watermelon tequila infusion
1 bottle silver or blanco tequila (1800, Avion, Maestro Dobel) or spirit of your choice
2 ½ c. watermelon, cubed
1 ½ c. sliced strawberries
» Add ingredients to quart jar.
» Let sit three to six days in a cool place, shaking periodically each day.
» When fruit flavors are the intensity you like, pour infusion through a fine mesh strainer, refrigerate, and enjoy in a cocktail.
strawberry-watermelon margarita
1 ½ oz. strawberry-watermelon
infused tequila
1 oz. Cointreau
¾ oz. fresh lime juice
Salt
1 lime wheel
1 strawberry
» Rub lime around rim of glass and dip rim in salt.
» Add infused tequila, Cointreau, and lime juice to shaker filled with ice.
» Shake for about 15 seconds and strain into glass over ice.
» Garnish with lime wheel and strawberry.
Justin Wolf is assistant restaurant manager at the Four Seasons Hotel-St. Louis.