How to Make Alcohol Healthy

Big companies might make it sound sophisticated, but making your own alcoholic infusion is quite simple.

All you really need is a blank slate.

Vodka, Korean soju, white tequila or any other liquor with minimal character will do. Gordon's is a cheap vodka meant for cocktails. So it has minimal character of its own. It's a base meant to be built upon.

Once you have a suitable alcohol, you literally just have to throw things in. Whatever suits your fancy.

Once an object is immersed in the alcohol, the process of osmosis begins. The essence is gradually leached out of any food item and into the alcohol.
It is quite fun to watch the color of the liquid change and see the color drain from the items in the brew as they lose even their pigments.

Pomegranate seeds, for instance, will gradually be drained to a dull grey color. Dried fruit tends to swell as alcohol displaces the sugars inside.
Even coffee beans and cinnamon bark yield their essence to the solution.

For many cultures around the world, infusions are used as medicines and digestive tonics.
Infusions are a way of leaching out elusive nutrients that would be destroyed by boiling or baking. This is how a chemical considered by many to be a poison becomes medicine.

One of my favorite infusions is still the first one I tried: a 6 year old ginseng root imersed in soju. It was a liquor that actually made me feel more alert and it instantly solved any problems in my digestive system.

Something easy to do at home: take citrus and/or pomegranate peels and infuse them. The resulting bitter tonic is refreshing when a bit of it is mixed with sparkling or mineral water.

Any infusion with strong elements of fennel, anise, mint, or ginger ends up as a good digestive aid.

One of the big uses of liquor before the days when people could get out of season fruit. If it's a time of year when your favorite fruit is cheap, just buy a bunch so you can infuse it and have long term, affordable access to your favorite flavor.

Or you can take a whole bunch of famously healthy foods and have them all infuse the same bottle of alchol. Voila, you've turned one of the great vices into a healthy habit.

Best of all, infusing alcohol is a creative process and fun hobby. To those who are interested, enjoy!