Raspberry vodka recipe
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Liqueurs | 149 comments
Home grown raspberries from our garden waiting to be made into delicious raspberry vodka
Note: Raspberry Vodka is probably the best and easiest of all homemade fruit liqueurs. It and raspberry gin are our all time favourite.
“One for me,” Gilbert popped a raspberry into his mouth, “and one for the bottle.” He pressed a juicy raspberry through the top of an empty vodka bottle.
“What on earth are you doing?”
Marjorie had sent me into the garden to join Gilbert. He was sitting on the terrace beside a large bowl of raspberries. Several bottles of vodka and a funnel beside him.
“Marjorie won’t let me into the kitchen, thinks that I’ll pour sugar into the cabbage.”
It took us just twenty minutes to make four bottles of raspberry vodka.
Always looking for new raspberry liqueur recipes, I asked Gilbert if it was a patent recipe. He nodded sagely and started to write the labels with a large, even hand.
“You better get the name right, before you note down the ingredients.”
Intrigued I got up and stood behind him, pen poised. The labels read, “Fiona’s patent Raspberry Vodka.”
“Is that me?”
He roared with laughter, “Of course it is, you goose.”
Tips and tricks for making the best raspberry vodka – printable recipe below:
- If you grow raspberries or have access to a “Pick your own”, you will make a liqueur that has a far fuller, fresher flavour than the supermarket raspberries that have been rattled around for miles (air and/or road). But even if you can’t find the freshest and best raspberries you will still make a fantastic liqueur (discard all bad ones). Our raspberry liqueurs (gin and vodka) are the two that people remember and natter about. And until a year ago, when our raspberry patch was finally established, we often bought the raspberries for this superb grog.
- Make notes on a label of your fruit/vodka/sugar ratio and stick it onto the bottle(s) so that you have a record When you make a particularly good batch you will need this info. The best production labels are made from decorator’s masking tape as these can be peeled off and passed from bottle to bottle. We also note our responses at the grog matures. It won’t be long before you will get a feel of what works well for your taste (and the notes will come into their own). In an ideal world it would be wise to make more than you need in the first year, so you can compare different vintages. This liqueur does improve over time. This can be difficult, even Gilbert has never managed to keep a vintage beyond three years.
- Keep your fruit vodka away from the light, unless the bottles are dark green or brown, as this will maintain the colour. If you are stuck with clear bottles, wrap them in brown paper to keep out the light or store them in a cool dark place that is dry and airy.
- Every couple of months take a tiny sip. At this time add sugar if it tastes too sharp. If it is too sweet it is difficult to go back.
- See how you can make your own labels
| Raspberry vodka recipe |
- 300g of raspberries
- 350g of white granulated sugar
- 1.5 litres (or more) of medium quality vodka (don’t be tempted to go for the cheapest or thr best)
- Sterilised 2 litre Le Parfait jar or 2-3 (70 cl) washed and sterilised vodka bottles
- Extra vodka bottles. We save a few empty bottles throughout the year as the raspberries and sugar fill about one third of each bottle
- Wash raspberries and discard any bruised/bad fruit. Place raspberries in either a large 2 litre Kilner/Le Parfait jar or divide the raspberries between 2 or 3 (70 cl) saved vodka bottles. If you have to squeeze fat raspberries through the neck it is fine.
- Using a funnel, add the sugar (divide the amounts if using several bottles) and top up with vodka to 2-3cm from the top.
- Shake every day until the sugar is dissolved and then store in a cool, dark place until you can resist it no longer (leave for at least three months, we usually let it mature for a year).
Leave a reply
The recipe sounds intriguing… but there is no mention of sterilising anything… bad bad bad. That is the reason things go mouldy… not because they came from your garden.
Freezing allows the fruit to release its flavour better than fresh… known from winemaking methods.
Glycerine adds a slippery fullness we recognize in commercial liqueurs.
Just saying
Dave
Nice and constructive Dave, do you sterilise your fruit too?! I never sterilise on this recipe as I don’t see the point when I am adding 40-50% proof alcohol and a load of fruit with possibly all sorts of bugs and yeast on it.
The main thing here is to store them in a cool dark place.
On the other hand, when I make wine, cider or beer I do sterilise but it’s not totally necessary for this recipe in my experience as I have never had an issue with mould in the 6 years I have made this consecutively in 8 large demijohns!
“Sterilised 2 litre Le Parfait jar or 2-3 (70 cl) washed and sterilised vodka bottles”
Is the sugar necessary? That just seems to be a heck of a lot of sugar.
I have experimented a lot with your recipe of Vodka and used it for years now with different alcohols. I use organic raspberries from my garden and additions like organic chocolate nibs together with a bit more sugar make a nice liqueur. I also have added porto to the finished raspberry vodka for this.
one of my favourites is a raspberry brandy. The latest experiment, a raspberry Tequila is still in the making and needs a little more time…. it is very promising though.
A question though… have you ever tried to shorten the steeping time by crushing the berries first and then filtering the whole thing through a coffee filter?
philip: No it isn’t. Fiona lives in the UK. If you want to use other measures, there are loads of online converters that you can easily use to do the conversions.
This is the USA. How about using ounces, pints quarts etc in the recipe.
I froze mine and will use them in a boozy ice cream!
I have just strained the liquid and bottled my Raspberry Vodka. Just wondering if any one knows what I could do with the raspberries as it seems a shame to throw away as they still look good enough to eat?
nice on ice cream! or layered with ygurt for a healthy dessert parfait.
Hi Im making plum brandy for the first time and the fruit is floating and has started to discolour. do you have any advice? i didn’t take the stones out, does this make a difference? Im going to make a start on your raspberry vodka recipe this week too!
also do you have a sloe gin recipe? just picked some today.
Thanks Clare
Be careful using hedgerow blackberries – I made blackberry brandy with these a couple of years ago, and it all went mouldy. Never again! I use clean, dry ones from the supermarket.
Used your receipe for raspberry vodka
in July but did not have enough raspberries
Im now ready to decant to bottles but it has not got a strong flavour what can I add at this late stage to improve taste i.e.
raspberry puree?
have you any suggestions
Thanks Shirley Hill