I’m wondering if these are still good to eat and/or drink after 2 months or if I messed up.
This is my second time trying to soak berries in alcohol. First I did raspberries in gin for under a month which turned out nicely I just didn’t add sugar so they tasted like pure alcohol. Now I decided to do blackberries this time adding sugar in hopes to still have some sweetness to them.
I cleaned the jar then added the blackberries, vodka and a good amount of sugar having it dissolve.
After a couple of weeks in the fridge I tried a little shot and a berry and they were pretty good, because I drank some of the alcohol 2 berries were now left only 80% submerged.
After a couple more weeks I noticed those top 2 berries starting to brown and at first I thought it was because of the exposure to air. I kept thinking I should take those 2 out but forgot about them and now once I looked again a couple weeks later it seems the rest have become that same colour.
There’s no bad smell just alcohol and same goes for the taste of the drink. The vodka is nice in colour it’s just the berries that are not. I’m wondering if the berries have gone bad or are they still safe to eat and if the vodka is still good to drink. Thank you!!!
by Difficult-Tutor-7453
4 Comments
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I make cherry cordial (kirschvasser) and cherries do the same thing. The color and flavor that comes up in the vodka has to come from somewhere.
Make sure you shake the jar once a month for three months, and it should be ready to decant. I strain the fruit out, and put it in fresh rum in the refrigerator. They’re perfectly safe for cocktails or baking. They’re just not as pretty.
I’ve made that concoction many times. The fruit won’t be good to eat and needs to be removed before the seeds start giving the drink a bitter taste.
Store the berry vodka in the refrigerator and it will be best tasting until spring.
When you soak fruit like blackberries in alcohol, the color changes because the purple pigments (anthocyanins) dissolve into the alcohol and start to break down. Alcohol also damages the fruit’s cells, which speeds up browning and oxidation. That’s why the berries turn from deep purple to brown while the liquid gets more colorful. Even though the color changes and the texture might not be ideal, the fruit (as long as it was submerged in the liquid is generally still safe to eat.