It is beautiful…
We started a Strawberry Rum infusion over the weekend. Today is day 5, and so far the color is gorgeous.
As you can see, the rum has very quickly taken on the beautiful red color of the strawberries, and the strawberries are mysteriously lacking color. I always love when this happens.
Right now the infusion smells like a lovely strawberry jam. The flavor tastes like strawberry, but not nearly as strong of a strawberry flavor as I would like. But I can see how some people would be perfectly happy with an infusion that is strictly rum and berries infusing for five days.
For me… I’m still infusing. I’m not caving this quickly.
How about you?
Boozed + Infused 
June 7, 2012 at 6:53 pm
My Strawberry vodka infusion is going on the end of week two. I also want it to have a stronger strawberry flavor. Good luck with the infusion. Look forward to reading about it,
Sisco
June 7, 2012 at 8:30 pm
Thanks Sisco, I’m hoping that the flavor will continue to get stronger… The strawberries were decent, but not amazing… I may need to get some amazing ones…
June 8, 2012 at 5:04 pm
Alicia, I got something in my email today that is not for me but I think is right up your alley! You know how I love your stuff and I don’t know if you are interested in this thing but if there’s a chance, I wanted to pass it along. If you don’t mind, would you email me at davidson.kelli@gmail.com and let me have your email so I can foward the opportunity (it’s a blog opp) to you?
June 9, 2012 at 10:52 am
I’ve been following this with the intent on starting my own. I just picked all the berries this morning. Do you think either using more berries or possibly macerating them first would bring out more flavor? I wasn’t sure if the sugar for the macerating would change things??
June 9, 2012 at 11:06 am
Hi Meg,
Thanks for following! I think you might be right to start out with a bit more berries. And macerating probably wouldn’t hurt, as long as you don’t use too much sugar. Some people say to leave the sugar until later, but I have done many raspberry infusions – some with the sugar right away and some with the sugar later – all with great results. I usually leave my raspberries for 3 months (yes, THAT long) so my strawberries might just need more time. Also, if you have selected really good, flavorful berries, I think that will be the best for making sure you get the fullest strawberry flavor. I hope that helps! I realize I didn’t quite answer your question. But I would at least say “yes” to using a bit more berries (just not too much – you want to make sure your alcohol % doesn’t drop too low).
Thanks for infusing! Can’t wait to hear how yours goes. Feel free to keep me updated.
June 9, 2012 at 12:49 pm
Ok. I think Im going to try 3 cups normal berries and then add some macerated ones and see how that goes. I’ll use minimal sugar and probably add a vanilla bean or two as well and let that sit overnight. Thanks for the advice! I love making this kind of stuff.
June 11, 2012 at 7:36 am
Hey Alicia,
I tried the infusion this weekend. I started out thinking I’d put 1-1/2 cup strawberries to 1-1/2 cup rum in each of 2 qt jars, because that’s the biggest I had. Then I macerated 1 cup berries with some sugar and was going to divide that between the two jars. But then I was looking at the jar and I thought I could get 2 cups in there, so I threw in another half cup rum, then another half cup of plain berries, and then tried to add the macerated berries. That’s when it all started overflowing. Not that much came out, but I know my ratios are off. It is quite red though from the syrup from the macerated berries. I think this can only be described now as an experiment, and we’ll see what happens! I wasn’t sure when you said not to get my ratio of berries to alcohol off (sometimes I need exact numbers to satisfy my brain), so I’m not sure how over I am. It’s close to 2 cups berries/2 cups rum/1 cup macerated berries. I think I just needed a bigger jar, but I didn’t want to wait. So we’ll see what happens. I may just be making some kind of strawberry extract/syrup combo right now. 🙂
June 11, 2012 at 7:57 pm
Hi Meg, first of all, congrats on starting your infusion, even if it overflowed. What I meant by the alcohol ratio, was that I always try to make sure my overall alcohol percent doesn’t dip down too low. I am not an expert, and cannot tell you of the exact amount of fruit/sugar you should be putting in your alcohol. I have read that you should not add any sugar to a liquor that has less than 18% alcohol. So I always make sure that I can fit at least 2 cups of 80 proof liquor into a quart jar. This will be sure to keep your alcohol percent high enough.
However, I have a recipe from a reputable book that calls for 3.5 cups of strawberries, 3 cups vodka, and 1.5 cups of simple syrup. So the overall alcohol content in that is probably lower than yours. Just be careful and make sure that if it looks or smells funny, don’t drink it. I dont mean to scare you, but you need to make sure you are consuming something that is safe. If you have any concerns, pour out some of what is in there and add more rum.
June 12, 2012 at 6:37 am
Ok, thanks Alicia! I’ll keep a nose on it.
Pingback: Strawberry Mojitos! « Boozed + Infused
Pingback: The Ultimate Summer Drink: Strawberry Basil Lemonade « Boozed + Infused