Adventures in Vodka: Crop Organic Tomato Vodka

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Originally uploaded by nikoretro

Yes, yes, I've been slacking and haven't written much for a while. Be it laziness, drunkenness, busyness or the three combined, writing just hasn't been in the cards lately. But I have come to the keyboard today to attempt to redeem myself by introducing the blog world to Crop Organic Tomato Vodka.

Harvest Earth has created a line of certified organic vodkas that are silky smooth and and brilliantly flavored. Vegetable flavored vodkas are on the cutting edge of cocktail culture and these guys are at the top of the curve.

Crop Vodkas are made with USDA certified organically grown corn, distilled and bottled in Minnesota. It is distilled many times to remove impurities and does not require charcoal filtering. The result is good ol' American made artisanal vodka with a vegetarian flair.

Tomato or Cucumber flavored vodka may not sound appealing to you, but to a skilled "bar chef" it sounds like a garden full of possibilities. I was brainstorming about Caprese and gazpacho cocktails soon after tasting these vegan libations.

The tomato flavored vodka smells like tomato soup and tastes like a fresh tomato just snapped off the vine. The cucumber vodka is irresistibly clean and cool and once again, tastes just like the Cucurbitaceae it's made from.

There are many drink recipes on the Crop Vodka website, but here are a few of my own:

Crop Tomato & Tonic (pictured above)
Fill a pint glass with ice
Add 1-1 1/2 oz Crop Organic Tomato Vodka
Fill with tonic, stir and garnish with grape tomatoes

Crop Gazpacho Martini
Peel, seed and freeze enough cucumber and tomato slices to fit in a sandwich size freezer bag.
In a blender add:
4 ice cubs
a bagful of frozen cucumbers and tomatoes
1 1/2 oz Crop Organic Tomato Vodka
1 1/2 oz Crop Organic Cucumber Vodka
juice from 1/2 lemon
2 fresh basil leaves
a little fresh ground pepper
Blend until smooth
fill 2 martini glasses and garnish with a cucumber wheel

I have more recipes milling in the ol noggin but I need to do some more experimenting before I can confidently post more recipes. Do some experimenting of your own and leave your recipes for these veggie voddy's in my comments.

Za Vas!