Do You Make Cocktails with Fresh Herbs and Herb Syrups? by Rev. Carol A. Ingle (Raven)

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

Do You Make Cocktails with Fresh Herbs and Herb Syrups?

 

If you have great drink recipes for cocktails with fresh herbs, please share them.

 

 

Herbal Summer Cocktails

 

Eugenio Italian Cocktail

 

Makes 1 drink

This Italian cocktail is named after an art history professor, Eugene Marseglia, who we lived with in Italy many years ago. It was his favorite aperitivo and he had one just about every evening; he always ate roasted peanuts as an accompaniment. Although it seemed bitter to me at first, I grew to enjoy it.

• 1 sprig or about 6 leaves lemon verbena
• Ice
• 2 ounces sweet red vermouth (Cinzano or Martini & Rossi)
• Lemon verbena leaf garnish
• About 2 ounces sparkling water or seltzer
• Slice of lemon or twist

1. Muddle lemon verbena in the bottom of an 8-ounce glass. Add ice to fill about halfway. Add vermouth. Rub verbena leaf around rim of glass.
2. Pour in sparkling water, stir and garnish with lemon slice. Eugenio used the twist, I like to squeeze in the slice and float it. Serve immediately, preferably with peanuts.

*****************************************************

Balmy Sunset Cocktail

 

Makes 2 tall or 4 smaller drinks

 

Carolyn Dille and I created this drink for Gourmet magazine back in 1980. My kids like this one a lot — just leave out the rum for a fruity summer drink.

• 4 or 5 lemon balm sprigs
• 1½ cups unsweetened pineapple juice
• 1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
• ¾ cup dark rum
• 1½  teaspoons grenadine
• Few dashes of Angostura bitters, optional
• Ice cubes or crushed ice
• Lemon balm leaves
• Splash sparkling water or seltzer, optional

1. Muddle lemon balm in the bottom of a pitcher. Add juices, rum and grenadine and stir well. Add bitters, if desired.
2. Steep punch in the refrigerator until ready to serve; sometimes I make it in the morning to serve that evening.
3. To serve, remove lemon balm sprigs. Rub rims of 4 chilled cocktail glasses, or 2 chilled tall glasses, with a lemon balm leaf. Serve punch on the rocks or over crushed ice. Garnish with lemon balm leaves, and add a splash of sparkling water if desired. Serve cold with a straw.

*******************************************

Minty Frozen Daiquiri

 

Makes 2 drinks

 

This drink is both tart and tangy, yet refreshing and cooling. Use peppermint (Mentha ¥piperita), or if you grow or can find it, Madalene Hill’s red-stemmed doublemint (Mentha ¥gracilis ‘Madalene Hill’).

• 2 limes
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 5 large peppermint sprigs
• 1¼ cups water
• About 2 cups crushed ice
• 3 ounces Mount Gay Special Reserve or other light rum
• 1 tablespoon clear Créme de Menthe
• 2 small mint sprigs

1. Squeeze juice of 2 limes into a small pitcher and dissolve sugar into juice. Muddle mint sprigs in pitcher and add water. Adjust to taste with more lime juice or sugar, if necessary.
2. Put ice into blender, add rum and Créme de Menthe, and strain in lime mixture, squeezing excess liquid from mint leaves. Blend until smooth and pour into two well-chilled party glasses. Garnish with mint sprigs and serve immediately.

*******************************************

Sweet Mint Mojitos

 

Makes 4 tall drinks

These are a version of mojitos — but sweeter. They are different from the mojitos that you get in a bar, because they have a mint syrup and limeade rather than mint, sugar, lime juice and rum. The traditional mint to use is spearmint (Mentha spicata) — but any mint will do.

Use any kind of rum that you like — however the lemon-flavored Bacardi Citron is quite perfect here. Make the mint syrup ahead to have on hand.

• 1 cup mint syrup 
• 3 cups limeade
• 1 cup rum
• 2 limes, squeezed
• 8 to 10 drops Angostura bitters
• Sparkling water or seltzer
• Ice cubes
• Mint sprigs
• Lime wedges

1. Combine mint syrup, limeade, rum and lime juice in a pitcher and stir. Add about 8 drops of bitters to start; I quite like them so sometimes I use more than average. Taste and adjust with a bit more lime, bitters or rum — keeping in mind you’ll add a splash of bubbly and garnish.
2. To serve, fill four tall, well-chilled glasses halfway with ice and jam a few sprigs of mint into each glass. Pour the mojos into each glass, leaving room for a top-off of sparkling water. Squeeze a wedge of lime into each glass, stir and serve with a straw. Leave out the rum for a refreshing summertime beverage.

********************************************

Herbal Ice Cubes

 

Makes about 1 quart of infusion; fills 2 or 3 ice cube trays

You can use herbal ice cubes to flavor all sorts of beverages. Experiment and come up with your own combinations.

• 1 quart water
• Generous 2 cups packed fresh herb leaves or flowers

1. Bring water to a boil in a nonreactive saucepan. Add herbs and cover. Remove from heat and let steep for about 30 minutes, or until infusion is room temperature.
2. Strain herbs and pour infusion into ice cube trays and freeze until hard. Once frozen, store cubes in zip-close freezer bags.