Fresh | Rosemary-infused vodka a hit for hot summer days

Warm weather is here, and mostly what I want to do is kick back on the back porch with a book and something to drink. So this month, we're going to make a couple of beverages - one adult and one for anyone to enjoy. And both simple. Because who wants to spend all that prime sitting around time standing up in the kitchen?

First, I thought I'd share this pretty simple lemonade update, where you add rosemary. It's still got all the tart sweetness of the quintessential summer drink, but a little something extra to make it seem exotic.

Gather up the supplies for basic lemonade (in this case, based on the Joy of Cooking version). For every cup of water you'll need 1 1/2 tbsp. of fresh lemon juice and 3-4 tbsp. sugar. Also, get some fresh rosemary sprigs. I made about 4-5 cups of lemonade and used two big sprigs of rosemary. Start by putting 4 C water in a pan, the add 12 tbsp. sugar and the rosemary and bring everything to a boil.

Heating up the water helps the sugar dissolve and also creates a sort of tea from the rosemary, infusing the water with the herbal flavor without having to have a lot of chopped up bits floating around. I then added a couple handfuls of ice, and, realizing I'd just added another cup of water, added some more sugar and finally dumped the appropriate amount of lemon juice in.

Pretty simple. Just keep tasting until you like it!

There's a cheater's version of this I've made too. Get the canned lemonade, boil the amount of water the directions call for with your rosemary and mix. It still feels fancy. Serve it with a lemon and rosemary garnish and it's even fancier!

Now, the adult drink I wanted to try for this column was infusing vodka with rosemary.

For some reason, infusing things with other things seems to be all the rage right now. Even standing at the liquor store picking out a bottle to experiment with, I saw there were many more flavors on the shelves than the last time I was there: tea, blood orange, cherry, you name it. It turns out, infusing booze is easy. Just take what you want to infuse (vodka) and stick it in a jar with whatever you want (rosemary) and leave it for a few days.

Which is exactly what I did. This is only the beginning. I'm thinking I will work my way through the herbs (thyme vodka?) and maybe try a couple fruits (thyme peach vodka?) and who knows, maybe even adventure into vegetables (cucumber gin? Hot pepper tequila?).

Good thing the summer is just beginning.

* Fresh is a photo/food column by Yakima Herald-Republic photographer Sara Gettys.