Herbs & Spices: DIY Cocktail Infusion Kits

I always enjoyed things that were homemade, especially with natural ingredients like herbs and spices.  On a recent trip to the local home store, I was wandering down endless aisles of housewares and stumbled upon some really intriguing cocktail infusion kits.  I was in awe; the kits were very unique!  However, they cost anywhere from $10-25 each depending on the vessel and its contents.  Knowing I could use cleaner ingredients, I thought to myself, these look super easy and fun to make, so off I set to create my own.

These DIY cocktail infusion kits can be a super attractive gift for a coworker, family member, or teacher, or they can even make a terrific hostess gift.  I love that they can be customizable to whomever the intended recipient will be.  Does Gigi love hibiscus?  Hibiscus margarita cocktail infusion kit it is!   Below you will find the steps to creating your own DIY cocktail infusion kits as well as some recipes, but don’t limit yourself to just these.  Having fun with the spices, flowers, herbs, vessels, and ingredients by thinking about the end flavor is key, but a beautiful presentation is also important when giving them as a gift.

Gather Your Essentials

• Air Fryer or An Oven: You will need this to dehydrate your fruit, vegetables, and some herbs. 
• Mandolin Slicer: A mandolin is extremely useful for cutting fruit or vegetables into perfectly even slices—just watch your fingers! 
• Fruit: Choose a wide array of fruits including oranges, grapefruits, limes and apples. You can also purchase dried fruit if this step is too time consuming.
• Spices & Herbs:  Be creative.  Choose cinnamon sticks, cloves, dried rosemary, vanilla beans, star anise, cardamom, butterfly pea flowers, and lavender.  Depending on the flavor you are attempting to create, all of these are great options that add a delicious flavor and look great in the jar.
• Containers: Mason jars make a great vessel, but you can also head to your local thrift store and find some fancy jars at a very reasonable price.  Just make sure the mouth of the vessel is large enough for what you intend to place into it.
• Tags & Twine:  You can use pretty much anything for a tag.  Cardstock works well with a hole punched for ribbon or twine.  You can also use chalkboard labels, tags, or even a template from online.  Creativity is encouraged. 
• Sugar: This ingredient can be omitted if you wish; however, some handmade sugar cubes can add a personal touch and a hint of sweetness if needed.

Step By Step Instructions

1. Heat your oven (or air fryer) to 150 degrees Fahrenheit. 
2. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and use mandolin to slice your desired fruits to approximately 1/8 inch think.  Make more than you think you need, some may burn. 
   I found that rosemary took 30 minutes – 1 hour.  Oranges, limes, apples, and lemons took about 4-5 hours, and grapefruit took the longest at about 5-6 hours.  Check on them occasionally, and when they are completely dry to the touch, they are done.  This truly is the most labor-intensive part of this DIY project, as well as the longest part.  You can omit this and purchase dehydrated fruits if you prefer.
3. Assemble your ingredients based on the recipes you wish to create.  I found getting an assembly line together of herbs, spices, flowers and dehydrated fruit was easiest when making multiple jars.  Have fun mixing them up and being creative.
4. Write your labels and attach them to your jars with ribbon or twine, or you can use stickers as well.  On the label be sure to include the directions with what type of alcohol to fill the vessel with and how long to infuse it for.  Flowers, such as lavender, hibiscus, and butterfly pea flowers, tend to need only 1-2 days to infuse prior to straining.  Whereas apples, star anise, and cardamom will need 3 days.  It is not necessary to refrigerate the jars while the flavors and alcohols are infusing, but you can if you prefer.
5. Enjoy gifting this homemade DIY project or keep a few for yourself.

Now For Some Recipes

Spiced Apple Bourbon– 4 dried apple slices, 1 cinnamon stick, 1 dried orange slice, 10 cloves, 5 whole cardamom, 2 sugar cubes, 2 pieces of crystalized ginger. Mix with bourbon. Let sit for 3 days, strain, and enjoy over ice.

Hibiscus Margarita– ¼ cup hibiscus flowers, 2 lime slices, 2 pieces of crystalized ginger, 2 sugar cubes.  Mix with tequila. Let sit for 2 days, strain and enjoy over ice.

Purple Haze– ¼ cup butterfly pea flowers, 2 lemon slices, 1 grapefruit slice, 2 sugar cubes.  Mix with vodka.  Let sit for 2 days, strain and enjoy over ice.

Chocolate Expresso Martini – ¼ cup cocoa nibs, ¼ cup coffee beans, 2 dried orange slices, 2 homemade brown vanilla sugar cubes, 3 vanilla beans.  Mix with vodka. Let sit for 3 days, strain and enjoy over ice.

Rosemary Fig Old Fashioned–  2 springs of dried rosemary, 5 dried figs, 2 dehydrated orange slices, 2 dehydrated cherries, 1 cinnamon stick, 2 sugar cubes.  Mix with whiskey. Let sit for 3 days, strain and enjoy over ice.

I hope you enjoy making (and drinking) these as much as I did! See my other blog, Herbal Mixology 101, for more cocktail recipes with fresh herbs.