Yelp San Francisco

I bought three habanero peppers.

I was planning to infuse them in some vodka but then I got confused.  Would they be too spicy for a liter of vodka?  How about half a gallon?  Should I slice them open first?  Remove the seeds?  How about roasting, is it best to roast them first like you do in cooking or would that make them too sweet and smoky?  Should I add some jalapenos or other peppers to balance out the flavor?  And maybe I should go with tequila instead of vodka.

Does anyone have any experience with habanero infusions?  Am I doing the right thing?

Spicy cricket bump.

Unless your drinkers are *used* to habaneros, I would suggest removing all the seeds, slicing them up, and rinsing in water.

I once ate a habanero, seeds and all, man, it was the spiciest and delicious thing EVAR! I'm not to helpful on tips Gil, but I definitely can help with the sipping. :-)

I'm with Alan on removing the seeds. One or two habs should do the trick for a liter. Make mixed drinks with something sweet (OJ, cranberry etc....)

dont forget peppercorns and garlic for ultimate bloody mary vodka!

Okay, based on the google search it's best to slice and seed.  Also, for infusions you can use cheap vodka and put it through a Brita filter.  The taste sounds intriguing - they say it's clean.  The heat hits you hard and quick, and kicks your ass, but it's not unbearable.  Most mention a faintly sweet taste.

They recommend a quick shot with a salty tortilla chip back.

I'll do pineapple infusions too.

i suggest having a bottle of infused vodka like that kicking around the freezer in case you want to make bloody marys some morning, just add v8 + salt = instant hangover helper

I'm working on the same thing right now actually. (Here's a link to my blog from a few days ago mockeel.blogspot.com/200…)

I just took a sip, and after 5 days, four dried spicy peppers, including one habanero,  in a pint of stoli, is zesty but not painful.

Seems to me that three fresh ones in a liter would be fine.

Gil, let's make bloody marys some time.

Ross, I'll pass on the garlic, but I think I will go throw some peppercorns into my bottle

i guess garlic in vodka is sort of an acquired taste (also, a bad idea in parties, not too much making out happens post vodka shots if everyone reeks)

I would go with the tequila OR put some in tequila and some in vodka!  The seeds are the spiciest.  I would cut the peppers open and take the seeds out then slice them and put them back in the bottles.  When you leave the peppers whole it's harder for the alcohol to infuse.

Forgot to add. You should wear gloves when you cut touch the peppers.  Nothing stings worse than habanero seeds!

...and don't rub your eyes, right?

my mouth is watering..

Where do you buy habaneros?

Safeway!  Habaneros are everywhere.  Jalapeno infused tequila is great too!!!  They have habanero powder at Harvest market.

Update - I just tasted some last night and it's really good.  Like people say it's painful like needles on your tongue but strangely tolerable, plus the flavor is sweet and very tasty.

Pineapple infusion came out well too.

I'm thinking of some others - strawberry-boysenberry, kiwi, Italian tuscan melon, vanilla bean, and apple+cinnamon (that's for the bourbon).  If that goes well I might try things like mandarin, mango, and papaya - or branch out to exotic stuff like celery-peppercorn, saffron, and so on.  It's such an easy (and inexpensive) way to make tasty drinks if you're a home bartender without much mixing skills beyond adding soda water.

that bar on 2nd street called Infusion has chili pepper infused vodka. The bloody mary's at zeitgeist were still better though.

I drank habanero infused tequila in PV last year. I am pretty sure I turned into a cartoon and said "AH-OOOH-GAH" while my eyes popped out of my head and I ran in circles. It was too strong, but it sounded like their numbers were way high for a decent infusion- they used nearly a pound of peppers for 1.5 liters. And still knowing that, I drank it. If it didn't make me insane, i likely would have had more. I am addicted to the spicy.

Gil- what exactly did you do? # of peppers, amount of booze.... did you only infuse for 2 days?

There's a bar in downtown San Mateo called Glow that has all kinds of infused vodkas... pear, mango, pineapple.. must have about 5-6 different ones.

Thomas, I think it proves that the least important part of a bloody mary is the kind of vodka you use.

3 peppers, sliced and seeded, in a 750 of vodka.  After two days, perfection.

But...muddling the peppers did the same thing instantly (though it created sediment and it took a few hours for the taste to mature)..  Muddling is an overstatement.  Rub a habanero slice gently on the bottom of a cup, pour vodka in the cup, and it's spicy.

I've infused rum with pineapple before - it was pretty amazing, the rum tasted really strongly of pineapple after just 24 hours and each pineapple chunk was like taking a shot.   I've infused everclear with lime zest and then added simple syrup for a fun liquer... I love infusing booze.  I also made a love potion but the ingredients are a secret. ;)

I've made a bunch and can highly recommend roasted ginger, kumquot, shiso and cucumber/lemon as good infusions.

I was going to do a selection of infused vodkas (in little bottles) for Christmas presents. I never got beyond making a serrano infused vodka for myself. That stuff was crazy hot but very good.

Just plain shiso?  Interesting.