Homemade Blueberry Liqueur

Teaching, real teaching, is — or ought to be — a messy business. – Harry Crews

Photo: Wiki CC

My laptop desktop is getting messy. I don't know what's wrong with me. 

I used to be horrifically "anal" about keeping it neat and tidy. It used to drive me around the bend. Now... meh, not so much (apparently). 

I’m sure my pestering annoyed many people where I used to work. I was voluntarily their desktop police too.

I was cleaning up and spotted this recipe just hanging around. I had made it about a month ago. Since I haven’t posted a boozeer for a while, why not. I may need a drink later. I’m finishing my taxes today... Lucky thing is they’ll be owing me.

Regardless... this one can’t be simpler. It can also be made year-round using frozen berries. I would suggest using only wild blueberries. The large bush blueberries have no flavour in comparison.

I only had a spoonful’s actually, and my friends can’t tell me. I took a bottle to a weekend “gathering” and it definitely was emptied, but I think their taste buds may have already been a bit strained, if you get my drift.

If booze can be good for you though, this one would be it. It is blueberry jam packed (pardon the pun) with fruity goodness. Blueberries are quite good for you, in fact. 

They have the highest antioxidant content of any fruit. Antioxidants fight free radicals in the body. Blueberries also affect the body’s capacity for storing and burning fat, in good ways.

The blue red colour pigment is caused by anthocyanins that help fight hypertension. Those same chemicals help improve brain function.

Pterostilbene, a compound found in blueberries has been shown to fight colon cancer. Colon cancer is the second highest cancer killer among Canadians. Lung cancer is first.

Be careful with this liqueur. If anything can stain your clothes, furniture, etc., it would be this. It is blueberry juice after all.

But if you want to have an excuse for a tipple that may very well be packed with blueberry’s health benefits, give this one a try. It may just extend your life – if “pickled” is the way you prefer to be...

Homemade Blueberry Liqueur

Prep: 10 min  |  Infuse: 1 week  |  Yield: 3 x 375 ml

375 ml vodka

2 cups frozen wild blueberries, thawed

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

rind of 1/2 lemon

3 whole cloves

1 cup whey, optional (it is a preservative)

Simmer the berries (and collected juice) with the sugar, water, lemon rind and cloves for 5 minutes.

Let cool, then pour into a jar and add the vodka. Stir well.

Let sit in a cool place for 1 week. Strain the mixture through cloth and bottle. If you press the berries to extract as much juice/booze as possible you may want to strain it two more times.

Let sit for another week for optimum flavour, but can be drank/drunk right away.

This liqueur will be at its best for about 4-6 months.

Without the whey this would probably be about 16% alc/vol; with the whey, about 10%. Both are pure conjecture. Drink responsibly... :-)

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