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Does anyone have recommendations on using the fruit that has infused vodka? Can you bake with it or reuse it in any other way?

Gayle
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    Are we talking about short soak, or something that's been in there for a month or two? – Joe Sep 09 '19 at 18:38
  • Please define what you mean by soaked, like @Joe asked. Also, Tipsy Bartender on youtube has great uses of fruit. – J Crosby Sep 09 '19 at 19:22
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    one week - cubed pears, cinnamon stick, vanilla bean totally covered with vodka – Gayle Sep 09 '19 at 19:50
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    @Cindy : Can we quit it with the close votes for waste products? The banner up there even says "Exceptions are made for items which are not generally considered to have any culinary use". That option is supposed to be for things like "I have a bunch of (corn), what can I do with it?" (I'm calling out Cindy only because she has the highest rep ... if I could get a message to all 5 who voted to close this, I would) – Joe Sep 10 '19 at 14:02
  • @Gayle : pears with cinnamon and vanilla? Sounds like a great topping for some adult ice cream. (and before I get yelled at for not putting this in an answer ... Chris H already did) – Joe Sep 10 '19 at 14:05
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    @Joe after just one week, the fruit doesn’t really fall into the „not generally considered to have a culinary use“ category. (See https://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/55321/soaking-fruit-in-alcohol for counter-examples - or [Rumtopf](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumtopf)) – Stephie Sep 11 '19 at 18:48
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    @Stephie that starts to come down to your definition of "generally" - in cultures where flavoured alcohol is more of a thing the alcohol-infused fruit, people may well have never come across a use for a tasty waste product (I have seen exactly one Rumtopf in the UK, but flavouring spirits is fairly common) – Chris H Sep 11 '19 at 20:51

2 Answers2

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If it's only been soaked briefly, these options might be for immediate eating even if they'd otherwise keep. They're necessarily fairly general solutions as I don't know what sort of fruit you've got.

  • Drain well and cover in dark chocolate. This works best for pieces that are 1-2 bites; smaller would be nice to eat but fiddly to make. Very good with cherries, damsons or sloes, but if the stones are still in, bite carefully.
  • Serve on top of ice cream, or as part of a sundae. If you're feeling fancy, use some of the vodka, thickened, add a sauce. I've done this with the blackcurrants from making creme de cassis, as well as with commercial cherries in spirits.
  • Drain well and bake into a fruit cake. You probably want to start with a recipe using fresh fruit (as opposed to dried).
  • Mix with apples in a pie/crumble (or even without the apples if you've got a lot).
  • Garnish hot chocolate, or even try blending and stirring in (an idea for an experiment, but a shot of fruit spirits is great in hot chocolate).
Chris H
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  • After the clarification in the comments, most of these would work, picking the spices out. The exception is probably the hot chocolate, but the spices could be used there. – Chris H Sep 09 '19 at 20:54
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    It might also be nice to serve some over bread pudding (with or without ice cream, too) – Joe Sep 10 '19 at 16:58
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Just to add to Chris‘ answer: You can also use fruit that have soaked much longer. A classical „Rumtopf“ fills up with fruit during the Year and the strawberries that come in first are generally much sought after. In my region of Germany (and in many others with different namens) there are „Burenjongs“ and „Burenwichies“ which are raisins (Burenjongs) and apricots (Burenwichies) that where traditionally soaked in spirits (rum usually) when a women knew she was pregnant and then was served after the baptism(sp?) of the child.

jmk
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