Drinking The World

I've been working for several months experimenting with various botanicals for bitters and to use in making gin. Right now I am working on some bitters recipes that are unique, with a Colonial and Native American medicinal twist. So far I have around 115 botanicals that I've made into tinctures and infusions, with around 40 more that I haven't gotten around to yet, and a future list of another 50 or so which I have to track down. My botanical lab is now stocked with the following essences that are the basis for my "Library" of flavors and aromas.

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I like using ginger syrup in cocktails and sauces when cooking. Here's how I make mine.

Buy ten pounds of the freshest, youngest, firmest ginger that you can find in an Asian produce shop. In NYC's Flushing Chinatown I can get the best ginger for $0.99 a pound.

Cut the ginger into 1" chunks and run through a juicing machine. I use the Breville "Juice Fountain." You will end up with apx. a gallon/4 liters of fresh ginger juice.

Make a simple syrup with the juice by adding equal parts of sugar. In this case a gallon is 16 cups, so in a large pot mix the juice and 16 cups of cane sugar. This is apx. 7.25 lbs. or 3.3 kilos.

Stir gently and bring to a boil and immediately turn off heat. Carefully ladle hot syrup into sterilized canning jars to a half inch from the top. Put on the lids finger tight. Process in a boiling water bath for ten minutes. The syrup will keep for at least a year or two in the sealed jars. Once open store in the fridge where it will keep for several months. This will make around 5.5 quarts of ginger syrup.

I always liked Gin and Schweppes Bitter Lemon on hot days growing up. The tart and slightly bitter mixer really kept you cool and refreshed. Here is a recipe I came up with for my own version. It's very similar, but even more refreshing.

1 liter H2O
Juice and zest of three limes
Juice and zest of two lemons
1/2 lime rind
1/2 lemon rind
8 gm fresh ginger root
4 gm crushed (not powdered) Cinchona bark
20 gm citric acid
1 gm salt
400 gm sugar (apx 2 cups)

Bring all ingredients except sugar to a boil and simmer 30 minutes. Carefully filter through a coffeee filter while hot. Should give apx 1/2 liter liquid. Put in jar and add sugar. Shake until dissolved. use syrup with seltzer water to taste. Add gin.

This is the simplest recipe, and without the extra spice it is very similar to commercial tonic, but with more oomph and unique flavor. I like this one best when you want the character of the gin to shine through.

32 oz H2O
8 whole, crushed, Key Limes weighing 145 grams, 5 oz (You can use the juice and zest of of two regular limes, but don't include the whole lime like you would with the Key Limes.)
1/4 cup / 50 grams Citric Acid (sometimes called Sour salt)
1/2 tsp / 4 grams kosher Salt
1/4 cup / 22 grams chopped Cinchona Bark (Quinine bark)

2 cups cane sugar

I put all the ingredients except the sugar in a sauce pan and brought it to boil, then simmered 40 minutes. I filtered the liquid hot through double coffee filters. This made apx 16 oz liquid. I then added cane sugar to the hot liquid in jar, which topped off to just under 32 oz. I shook it to melt the sugar.

Use at the same strength as the previous recipes, or to taste.

The other day I was playing with a recipe for home made tonic syrup. Last night I was in the mood for a batch that was a bit more herbal and spicy. So I came up with the following recipe. It's almost the same as the first, but with just a bit more of almost everything.

Batch Two
32 oz H2O
7 whole, crushed, Key Limes weighing 120 grams, just over 4 oz, juice and rinds separated.
1/2 tsp / 2 gram powdered Star Anise
3 tsp / 6 grams ground Sumac Berries
1/2 tsp Vietnamese Cassia
1/2 tsp Ceylon Cinnamon
1/4 tsp clove
1/4 cup / 50 grams Citric Acid (sometimes called Sour salt)
1 tsp / 8 grams kosher Salt
1/4 cup / 22 grams chopped Cinchona Bark (Quinine bark)

2.5 cups cane sugar

I put all the ingredients except the Key Lime rinds and the sugar in a sauce pan and brought it to boil, then simmered 20 minutes. Then I added the limes rinds and simmered 20 more minutes. I filtered the liquid hot through double coffee filters, twice. This made apx 16 oz liquid. I then added cane sugar to the hot liquid in jar, which topped off to just under 32 oz. I shook it to melt the sugar.

For several years I have heard about making your own tonic syrup to make tonic water for an old fashioned spin on the Gin & Tonic. Years ago I was sent prototypes of Q Tonic before it came on the market, and I was the first writer in the US to be sent samples of Fever-Tree tonic and their whole line, to review. But today I finally got around to trying to make it myself for the first time. I've had all the ingredients, but just never got around to it until now.

This first batch of tonic syrup came out pretty good, but not great. It is recognizably tonic water and better than any store bought I have ever had. But I think that eventually I will come up with several different home made tonic water recipes that will be sublime. For the drink I diluted it 1 part syrup to 2 parts club soda. I shook the .75 oz syrup and 1.5 oz gin on ice and strained into an old fashioned glass, then I gently added 2 oz club soda, a few ice cubes, and stirred. I tried it with several types of gin, but liked it best made with Bols Genever.

I don't have my soda siphon up here in Maine, and will have to bring it back next week when I am in NYC. That way I can make up a quart of tonic water at a time and carbonate it.

Recipe after the jump

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