Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Orange vodka, and a welcome to new readers

The Mad Scienticians have returned from Arisia -- which was an absolute blast -- and are heading back to the lab to begin a new experiment. First, however, we'd like to welcome any new readers who have stopped by since meeting us at Arisia. Come on into the laboratory, pull up a science barstool (patent pending) and have a drink! For more information about our process, please visit our initial post.

This week, we are creating an orange vodka infusion, which we hope will pair up nicely with last week's vanilla experiment. This infusion should be complete in three to four days.

First, we washed an orange and cut it into thin slices.



Surprise -- we finally found the airtight canning jars we've been looking for (thanks for the tip, Cocoajava). We loaded the slices into the jar and poured in the filtered vodka.



This looks like a heck of a lot of orange in these jars, which are smaller than the jars we've been using previously. The jar is full nearly to the brim. Hopefully the lack of excess air will further aid the infusion, though I fear that some future experiments may not fit in the jars.



We decided to keep this experiment in the lab fridge, rather than the usual cabinet. The vodka should be ready just in time for the weekend.

4 comments:

yDNA said...

Most of that orange flavor is in the zest; that orange layer on the surface just above the pithy peel.

Anonymous said...

I was just about to comment that also -- the pith (white stuff) adds bitterness to things -- that's why recipes often call for the juice (for anything without heat or for the end of a hot recipe) and zest (colored part of peel, very thin layer- a microplane is best for zesting, i've found), but not the stuff in the middle.

aurienne.livejournal.com (friend of allah_sulu's)

Anonymous said...

You mention that you found the jars but you don't mention where- did you find them in a store, or can you order these online?

Brendan said...

We got the jars at a craft store, Michael's to be exact.