The New : Vodka, Up, Hold the Olive

Shaken, not stirred, may have been James Bond’s idea of the ultimate vodka martini. One wonders what he would have thought of this year’s newest food trend: flavoring vodka with ingredients such as citrus peel, peppercorns, fresh mint, kumquats, woodland strawberries and exotic herbs such as cardamon and buffalo grass.

Many restaurant bars are now flavoring vodkas with jalapenos and limes for Cajun martinis. L’Express in Universal City has been offering these for three or four months, says manager Annette Marshall. If you want to duplicate one at home, just put five or six jalapenos and one lime in a bottle of Smirnoff and let sit for three or four days.

But by now a lot of people have tried Cajun martinis. A holiday drink that will impress your friends even more is vodka spiced with fresh herbs. Herbalist and food writer Carole Saville, who grows 102 kinds of herbs in her garden overlooking Studio City, makes her own flavored vodkas in fancy imported olive oil bottles. The small bottles are convenient because flavored vodkas don’t last forever, even when kept in the freezer.

Flavored vodkas are popular in Eastern Europe, where herbs help disguise off tastes resulting from crude early distillation and filtering methods. Saville recommends, though, that you use the best vodka you can afford. The expense will be offset by the small servings she suggests. “I shop in antique stores for little mismatched glasses,” she said. “That way it’s not as serious and nobody gets drunk.”