Tequila por Mi Amante
Tequila por Mi Amante, or Tequila for My Beloved; Mexico City, 1937
This is a prepared beverage requiring patience and from three to four weeks.
Tequila, 1 pint
Ripe strawberries, 1 quart, cut in halvesWash and stem the berries, put into an airtight jar or bottle, pour on enough tequila to cover. Shut tightly and stand for at least twenty-one days. Strain . . . This berry process extracts some of the raw taste, adds a rosy dawn touch. Our Mexican drinks it straight always. We opine that handled in the same way as sloe gin, discoveries would be made . . . Other fruit like wild cherries, blackberries, and so on could be tried.
– The Gentleman’s Companion, Charles H. Baker, Jr., 1939
I didn’t really pay attention to measurements — just cut up some ripe berries (finer than 1/2), covered with Cazadores reposado (no particular reason — just what I had on hand), and sealed it up.
Wish me luck.
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Speaking as someone who doesn’t normally care much for Tequila, this infusion is excellent. Not something I reach for often — I still have the same bottle I made last year — but an excellent once-in-a-while treat or for experimentation.
Sounds interesting! I’ll have to think of a way to adapt it to local ingredients as strawberries are very expensive here
I have a similar recipe that call for pineapple.
1 large pineapple
2 oz brown sugar
1-3/4 pints silver tequila
1 vanilla pod
Peel, core and cut the pineapple into chucks. Premix the tequila and sugar until dissolved and split the bean pod in half. Place with pineapple in a 3-1/2 pint jar and store in a dark place for at least a week.
– Stuart Walton, Ultimate Book of Cocktails
i loved that recipe. i first read about it on the gumbo pages via a random google search. i couldn’t really use it on the bar so i barrowed the name for a cocktail on the list because it was so charming…strawberries are gorgious right now i will have to make the real deal.
I think you’ll love it, Paul. This has been a favorite of mine since I first came across it in Baker’s book years ago. The strawberries are perfect now, so now’s the time! Thanks for reminding me to make some for this year.
What a fabulous idea. I’ve tried this sort of thing with rum many times, but tequila goes so well with fruit essences that I’m really interested in trying this. If I start a batch now it’ll be ready to take on the road with us for the fall tour. We manage to pack a reasonable bar into our trailer to encourage friends we only really see at shows to come and spend cocktail hour with us. I’m positive this will be a major hit.
flatiron lounge in nyc has been doing this for their spring menu… the use the infusion in a cocktail called the company b… named after baker & its bitter… strawberry tequila, campari, cointreau, lemon juice… delicious…
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Keep the berries when you are done, freeze them and add one or two to Margaritas.
So, I made it this evening. From reading the original recipe, I’m supposed to refrigerate when done, and after I pour off the strawberries?
I can understand refrigerating it with the strawberries, but do I really have to refrigerate the finished product?
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Jake: No, you don’t have to, but as with many things that are not ‘finished’ it might grow some friends if you don’t use it quickly. Perhaps decanting it into progressively smaller bottles would help (but that seems like a hassle).
(I wonder if dehydrated strawberries would prevent this.)
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Coming late to the party…as usual.
So while it seems like this stuff would last forever (being alcohol based) when I made it I discovered that it starts to oxidize after a few weeks and the drinks you make with it are simply not the same. The suggestion that it be refrigerated might in fact forestall this. I actually think it’s simply better to plan on using it quickly after it’s done.
@Ash Ponders: after the infusion was done, I found the berries were pretty much spent and devoid of real flavor, which had been given up to the tequila.
Michael