This sounded like a really good idea at first. And honestly, I stand by the fact that it was a really good idea. I love the flavor of jalapeños but I can’t handle the spice for anything. As soon as I eat something spicy (or even just hot soup or tea or the wrong combination of spices will do it to me) I get the hiccups almost immediately. It’s really annoying. So in my head this tequila was going to have all the flavor of the jalapeños with just a little bit of spice and would be perfect for a jazzed-up margarita.

Generally speaking, if I’m going to make something at home and from scratch, I like to have an idea where the fruits and vegetables that I’m using are coming from. So while in Columbia, exploring South Carolina’s first urban farm, City Roots, I decided to pick up some jalapeños to take home and experiment. I purchased some cheap tequila - after all there’s no point in buying the expensive stuff if you’re going to flavor it - and was ready to go. 

I was feeling pretty confident after the Blackberry Cordial and Dill Pickle Vodka and was sure this would go off without a hitch. Plan A:  chop up the jalapeños, put them in a jar, pour tequila over the top, and let it all sit for a while. Not that hard. There was no Plan B. The cordial I had made sat for months in my pantry and the dill pickle vodka had taken a few weeks at least. 

So I executed Plan A. After about 24-48 hours I decided to try the concoction to see how it was coming along and hopefully get an idea of how long it was going to take to get to that point where the flavor was infused without there being too much spice. Welllllllllll, we were long past that point already. The jalapeños had done their job and I felt like a fire breathing dragon after just a taste. Unluckily for me, I got distracted and it was still another day before I ended up straining out the jalapeños finally. 

Final conclusion:  24 hours of infusion would have been plenty.

It turned out so spicy that to make a margarita I have to use 1 oz of the jalapeño tequila and 1 oz of regular tequila and even then its better in a frozen strawberry margarita where at least theres the cold and sweetness of the strawberries to balance out the spice! Despite my absolute weenie-ness, it really is yummy and I’ve already made many margaritas with it. Maybe I’ll try it without the seeds next time…

Jalapeño Tequila

Directions:

1. Put 1-2 Cups of chopped jalapeños in a half gallon ball jar. (Remove seeds if desired.)
2. Fill with tequila.
3. Let sit until desired flavor is reached, 1-3 days. I recommend sampling every 24 hours.
4. Strain out jalapeños and reserve tequila. 

Jalapeño Margarita

Ingredients:

    -1 oz Jalepeno Tequila

    -1 oz Tequila

    -1 oz Triple Sec

    -1 lime (juice of)

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients and shake over ice
2. If desired run lime around rim of serving glass and garnish with salt.
3. Serve over ice in salt-rimmed glass.

Frozen Strawberry Jalapeño Margarita

Ingredients:

    -1 ozJalapeño Tequila

    -1 oz Tequila

    -1 oz Triple Sec

    -1 lime (juice of)

    -1 cup frozen strawberries

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth.
2. If desired run lime around rim of serving glass and garnish with salt.
3. Serve in salt-rimmed glass.