How to Make Blood Orange Vodka

When the year 2008 ended last week (or at least that's how it feels), this blog was only 2 months old and writing a year-end blog summary at that time would have been weird. Now that the blog is one year and two months old, a bit of reminiscence is kind of fun.

First of all, let me toast you with this blood orange-infused vodka.

I figured since I always have a bottle of vodka around for a dish like Grilled Chicken with Beet-Vodka Sauce and Sriracha and to disinfect jellyfish stings and remove bandages in an ouch-free manner, I might as well spike it up. Blood oranges are in season now through March and it seems appropriate to start off the new year with something fun and pretty.

With all the references to alcohol on this blog, you would think I'm a total booze head. In spite of my fully stocked alcohol cabinet, I rarely, if ever, drink. I do, however, cook and bake with alcohol quite heavily.

Did you know that by replacing maybe 1/3 of the liquid called for in most cake recipes with flavored alcohol, it's possible you could kick up your grandmother's already-perfect-as-it-is yellow cake several notches? Yup. That's the reason I have those half empty bottles* in my pantry; alcohol makes even cakes made from cake mixes taste good.


This blood orange vodka is very easy to make. Just remember one-one-one. Infuse every one cup (8 fluid ounces) of vodka with one blood orange for one week. That's it. If you have five cups (40 fluid ounces) of vodka, then quintuple the number of oranges and so on and so forth. However, regardless of the amount, the infusion period stays at one week. Get a wide-mouthed jar. Slice the oranges into thin rounds and layer them inside the jar. Pour the vodka over the orange slices. Close the lid and keep the jar in a cool, dark place for one week. Then strain the infused vodka through a coffee filter, store it in a jar and refrigerate.