Lemongrass and Lemon-Peel Infused Vodka

Lemongrass vodka: simple infused vodka with a delightfully deep citrus flavor.

Did you know that if you put tasty things into vodka and let it steep for a while, you wind up with vodka that tastes like whatever delicious thing you put in it?

I can’t believe I’ve never done this before. To be honest, I’m a little mad that you guys didn’t tell me about this sooner. Has everyone been drinking infused cocktails for years and hiding it from me? I am shocked and appalled. Send me your favorite combinations, and I will make them, photograph them and put them all over the internet.

This was inspired by our dear friend who just twenty minutes ago was an adorable little baby and is now about to graduate from college. This handsome former-baby is clearly an entrepreneur because he makes lemongrass-infused vodka in his dorm room closet. Kids these days! When I was in college, we thought it was très classy to remove the paper bag from the bottle of Jaegermeister before chugging it. So fancy!

While I’m sure you can never get enough of me whining about being old, let’s move on to the recipe. Really, it’s so simple that I can barely even call it that.

I love lemongrass, and we cook with it in Thai-inspired dishes like sticky chicken thighs. Its light citrus flavor works particularly well in cocktails. It’s actually related to citronella so if you drink enough of this, you get the added benefit of becoming mosquito-resistant. Well, you become mosquito-too-drunk-to-care. I added some lemon peel to my infusion to boost the citrusy flavor a bit.

Use it to make this Lemongrass Collins or any lemongrass cocktail you like.

Note: I love the way the sticks of lemongrass look in this bottle but you need to remove them after two weeks or the flavor will become too strong. If you want to keep it longer, cut lemongrass into 1 inch pieces and, along with the lemon peel, infuse the vodka in a glass jar. Once it’s infused, strain it and pour it back in the bottle. Then you can keep it indefinitely.

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Lemongrass and Lemon-Peel Infused Vodka

Author: Emily Clifton

Ingredients

• 1 750 ml bottle vodka
• 2-3 stalks lemongrass
• 1 organic lemon peel only

Instructions

• Peel the dry outer leaves of the lemongrass stalks and discard, then chop off the bottom and top ends and discard.
• Slice the stalks into inch long pieces and add to infusion jar. (If you don’t need to strain it because you know you’re going to use it quickly, you can slice each stalk in half vertically and insert straight into the bottle. See note above).
• Using a sharp vegetable peeler, peel the skin of the lemon in strips, removing as little of the white pith as possible. Add the lemon peel to the infusion jar.
• Steep infused vodka for at least 24 hours and up to two weeks in a cool, dark place (a closet or a liquor cabinet is perfect).
• Strain lemongrass and lemon peel by pouring mixture through a fine-mesh sieve and return infused vodka to the bottle.

Tried this recipe?Mention @NerdsWithKnives or tag #nerdswithknives!