After a particularly overzealous shopping expedition at the farmer's market, I found myself with quite a lot of rhubarb on my hands last week. Having exhausted many of my best recipe ideas, I decided to try my hand at a rhubarb vodka infusion.
Though strawberry and orange seem to be the most often-used complementary flavors for rhubarb, ginger is a little more unexpected and will give it a nice bite. This is one infusion I've never tried before, so I'm quite eager to see how it turns out.
Depending how tart the final product is, I think it would work nicely as a summer martini with champagne.
Rhubarb-Ginger Infused Vodka
1 pound rhubarb, cleaned and chopped into 1-inch segments
1 tsp fresh sliced ginger root
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 - .75 liter bottle of vodka
In a glass jar with a tight-fitting lid, combine rhubarb, ginger, and sugars. Pour vodka over and swirl to combine. Seal the jar, making sure that the lid is airtight.
Leave jar in a cool, dark place for at least two weeks, swirling every couple of days to help the sugars break down. When vodka is infused to desired level, strain the solids through a strainer, pressing on rhubarb to extract as much liquid as possible. After passing through a metal sieve, strain again through coffee filters to catch any remaining solids.
Pour vodka back into the bottle and refrigerate.
