Blueberry Thrill

8 Reviews
ADD YOUR REVIEW
Photo: Anna Williams; Styling: Pam Morris
Hands-on Time
11 Mins
Total Time
1 Hour 11 Mins
Yield
8 servings
By J. Kenji Lopez-Alt
June 2011
RECIPE BY Cooking Light

Sweet blueberries infuse spicy gin for summer's most refreshing cocktail sipper. For a fizzy cocktail, pour gin, cardamom syrup, and lemon juice over crushed ice in a glass; top with chilled club soda.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups blueberries
  • 1 1/2 cups dry gin
  • 3/4 cup water
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 3 cardamom pods
  • Crushed ice
  • 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
  • Additional blueberries (optional)

Nutritional Information

  • Calories 159
  • Fat 0.0g
  • Satfat 0.0g
  • Monofat 0.0g
  • Polyfat 0.0g
  • Protein 0.1g
  • Carbohydrate 14.5g
  • Fiber 0.2g
  • Cholesterol 0.0mg
  • Iron 0.0mg
  • Sodium 1mg
  • Calcium 1mg

How to Make It

Step 1

Place 2 cups blueberries in a large, heavy stainless-steel saucepan; mash with a fork or potato masher. Place over medium-high heat, and cook 3 minutes or until berries begin to release juice. Remove from heat; add gin. Cover and let stand at least for 1 hour or up to overnight. Strain mixture through a sieve into a bowl, pressing berries with the back of a spoon to remove as much juice as possible; discard solids.

Step 2

Combine 3/4 cup water, sugar, and cardamom pods in a small saucepan; bring to a boil. Cook 2 minutes or until sugar dissolves. Cool completely; discard cardamom pods.

Step 3

To serve, add the ice to a cocktail shaker to come halfway up sides of container. Add 1/4 cup blueberry-gin, 1 1/2 tablespoons cardamom syrup, and 1 tablespoon lemon juice; shake until chilled. Strain cocktail into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with additional blueberries, if desired. Serve immediately. Repeat procedure with remaining ingredients.

You May Like

Advertisement

Build-a-Meal

Find recipes with ingredients that you have on hand.

+ +

Read More

Advertisement

Ratings & Reviews

jrcinms's Review

jrcinms
July 16, 2012
N/A

Drosera's Review

sjouellette
July 01, 2012
The instructions say you can serve either as a martini or in a low ball glass with ice and club soda. I tried it with the soda first, but the flavor was so smooth and fantastic, I think the martini route is the way to go. I let the blueberries and gin infuse for 24 hours. To streamline I just mixed the syrup and lemon into the blueberry gin in a big mason jar and let guests serve themselves. I used Leopold's gin and it was a great combo. Surprisingly, the herbal qualities of the gin weren't overwhelmed as I'd feared they would be. Yum!

laegnome's Review

Drosera
September 05, 2011
I love the fresh, not-too-sweet flavors of this cocktail. Before I make it again, though, I will need to figure out a way to streamline the process of putting it all together, as it was time consuming and messy to make. Definitely worth another try though!

Jennifer3946's Review

Jennifer3946
July 02, 2011
A friend made this for a picnic and while the flavors were delicious, she neglected to strain it well enough and there were still pieces of blueberry in the drink. I would definitely recommend this drink, just take extra care in straining the drink before serving.

bookgirll66's Review

bookgirll66
June 21, 2011
Made this exactly as directed. I would recommend allowing the gin to steep as long as possble. I think my friend Charlie put it succinctly when he said "the excessive drinkability of this cocktail concerns me." :)

Brie30's Review

laegnome
June 03, 2011
I thought this was a great recipe. The drink doesn't have a strong taste of gin, and is very refreshing. A great summer drink for around the patio! I didn't have cardamom seeds, just powder, so I just used that instead, tasted great.

carolfitz's Review

carolfitz
May 23, 2011
Made to recipe, straining the blueberry mix a few times to make sure the solids were gone. The finished gin was gorgeous & the cardamom syrup aromatic & lovely. The recipe calls for straining & serving in a martini glass but the photo shows over ice chunks in a juice glass. Because the flavors are so intense, we agree that the drink needs to be cut with sparkling water or ice.

sjouellette's Review

Brie30
May 15, 2011
N/A