I was in my kitchen, tying up loose cherry ends -- pitting the sour cherries left over from the sour cherry preserves, along with the sweet cherries I had hauled home from the farmers market to snack on. Both were going on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and then into the freezer for an hour. From there, they'd end up in labeled and dated zip-top bags.
But then I stopped halfway through my pitting and reached for two pint jars from the cabinet.
One, I filled with sour cherries. The other I filled with sweet cherries. Both I filled with vodka.
And that's it.
The jars are stashed in the cabinet. In a week or so I'll check on them. If the vodka is tasty, I'll strain out the fruit and put the jars of vodka in the freezer.
Last year, I made four infused vodkas: blueberry, melon, blackberry, and raspberry. Blackberry was the winner, with blueberry a strong second.
The muskmelon vodka was disappointing. It had a striking melon flavor, but the unpleasant muskiness came too quickly forward. I'm not even sure we finished the bottle.
I don't expect that problem with the cherry vodkas.
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