Chili Agave Infusion

By cindyandmojo

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. agave
• 1/2 c. water
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 1 tsp black peppercorns
• 1 serrano pepper (fresh)-sliced in half
• 1 red or green jalapeno pepper (fresh)-sliced in half
• 5 dried chili peppers, stems removed, left whole
• zest of 1 lemon (large strips if possible)
• 2 c. vodka

Details

Servings 1
Adapted from boozedandinfused.com

Preparation

Step 1

Combine all ingredients except the vodka in a small sauce pan. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat. Let the mixture cool completely, about an hour. Strain the solids out of the syrup mixture, and pour the syrup into a quart jar or other glass container. Add the vodka to the canning jar, seal tightly. Shake to combine. Allow to infuse for 1 week.

If you don’t want your infusion to turn out too spicy, you could remove the seeds from the chilis before simmering in the syrup, or cut back on the number of chilis. If this does turn out too hot for your taste, thin it out with a bit more vodka and agave.

Those of you who have been asking for some “sweet heat”, you will love this liqueur. We have been too greedy to share much of it with others, but my father said this one was his favorite in a recent taste test. He is a lover of all things hot and spicy, so if you are too… you better start infusing!

Sweet Heat Cocktail

Sweet Heat Cocktail « Boozed + Infused

Chili Agave Liqueur « Sweet Heat Chefs

I did this one this weekend, along with starting a chocolate bourbon. In cruising around, I see I’m going to have to start a coconut liqueur to go with my chocolate bourbon. Anyhow, I used honey instead of agave, since I had some local honey, and I was out of lemons, so I added the zest afterwards and am letting that infuse. I’m checking it often to make sure it doesn’t overpower. I have two questions though – first, what is the post about spicy vanilla extract you referred to above, and second, how do you decide when to add a sweetener to your infusions? I’ve got the chocolate raspberry going, which has sugar, but there was no sugar in the chocolate bourbon, which is what made me think of it. I’m considering a strawberry chocolate infusion, which I think might need some sugar since my strawberry liqueur was better with macerated strawberries, and then also a coffee/chocolate infusion too. So just wondering on that one.

http://kellisretrokitchenarts.wordpress.com/2012/08/12/sweet-heat-our-only-holiday-tradition/

As for when to add sweetener, that is a great question. I rarely add any sweetener to my bourbon infusions. Often the bourbon infusions taste great (in my opinion) without any added sugars. It also depends on the ingredients you are infusing and what you want to do with the infusion.

With a lot of fruits that I have never infused before, I often wait to add the sweetener until after the fruit and alcohol have sat for a while. At that time, I may use simple syrup, adding a little bit at a time until it tastes right. Other times I will start out with a small amount of sugar when I begin the infusion and then if it seems like it needs more sweetener later, I can always add more.

For the chocolate bourbon, we enjoyed it without any sweetener, but used it mostly in cocktails. An advantage of not using sweetener in infusions is that they can be more versatile in cocktails, but may not be as ideal for drinking on their own. I made a chocolate brandy as well and in the recipe I posted, I didn’t add any sweetener. But in getting the reaction of a few others, I added some simple syrup to it before gifting a bottle.

So, my advice to you on the chocolate bourbon would be to follow the recipe as is, and then after you have strained everything out of it see if you think it needs to be sweeter. If you do, try adding simple syrup one Tablespoon at a time until it reaches your desired taste.

Thanks Alicia! My choc rasp infusion has been going for awhile and I sampled it this weekend and it was awesome! That spicy vanilla looks pretty cool, although I’m not entirely sure what to make with it. Maybe some kind of custard or pots de creme.

Measure and Stir X Boozed And Infused « Measure & Stir

This looks great! I am going to make this today! This is the best infusion website I have found hands down.

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