Tropical Fruit Liqueur Food

TROPICAL FRUIT LIQUEUR

Steps:

• In a quart jar, add fruit, 1 cup sugar, and vodka. (I use frozen berries as the freezing process breaks down the cell walls, allowing you to get more juice).
• Seal jar tightly, and place in a dry, dark place for about 2 weeks.
• After two weeks, strain the liquid using a double layer of cheese cloth. Gently squeeze the fruit, getting as much juice as possible.
• In a fresh quart jar, add the second cup of sugar, glycerin, water to top and the strained liquid. Seal and store again in a dark place until sugar is dissolved.
• Once the sugar has all dissolved, bottle the resulting liqueur in a fresh bottle and let age for roughly 3 months.

TROPICAL FRUIT DRINK

Steps:

• In a blender, combine the first five ingredients; cover and process until smooth. Add ice cubes; cover and process until blended. Stir in soda. Pour into chilled tall glasses; serve immediately.

HOW TO MAKE HOMEMADE FRUIT LIQUEUR

Steps:

• Start with clean fruit. Depending on what fruit you are using, hull the berries, pit the stone fruit, or trim rough ends from the rhubarb. Do not peel stone fruit, much flavor and color comes from the skins.
• Chop the fruit into bite sized pieces and add to a saucepan, along with the sugar. Add 1/4 cup water, and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. If your fruit is dry you may need to add a bit more water. Cook for about 5 minutes, just enough to soften the fruit.
• Puree the fruit using an immersion blender, a regular blender, or food processor.
• Add the fruit puree to the vodka and give it a stir. Let sit on the counter, covered, for 24 hours.
• Strain through a nut bag, or several layers of cheesecloth, squeezing to get all the liquid out. Discard the solids.
• Keep the liqueur in the refrigerator until needed. Note: these liqueurs need to be refrigerated because of the fresh fruit component, and should be consumed within 2 weeks.