Cocktail Lab, Summer 2011

Every season has inspired me to make new vodka flavors.  Summertime has it's bonus of fresh herbs straight from my garden.  As I weed, water and muse over my plot I start to imagine the frothy cocktails being shaken up from these freshly macerated liquors.  Once I have a few flavors to play with I gather up some possible mixers to go along.  Lemons, limes, tonic and club soda are a must as well as a long lingering look at the juice selection at my food coop and local grocery store.

Once I have everything assembled I invite my fellow cocktail lovers over for another round of Cocktail Lab.  On hand were Lori Firpo, Diane Fargo and Rebecca Winzenried.   Food is required lest we lose our senses in drink.  This round had lots of fresh vegetables and dip plus some delicious shrimp dumplings from Chinatown.

After feeling like I'd used all of the best ideas for flavors in last summers extravaganza I stumbled upon some overlooked plants in my community garden.  Red shiso was one such plant.  I'd only ever had it in sushi before but sampled some while weeding one day and was pleasantly surprised.  It's in the mint family but has a dinstinctively anise like flavor.  I used the leaves of an approximately ten inch stem chopped up in once cup of vodka and let it sit for about a day.  The resulting liquid is a gorgeous pink color.

Another overlooked herb I infused was Sweet Annie.  This plant has been popping up all over the garden since I joined eleven years ago.  Up until last summer no one was able to identify it until one member made it her mission.  It's an artemesia, a relative of wormwood, and sometimes referred to as Sweet Wormwood.  It's aroma is described as camphorous and there is definitely that note but there is so much more going on.  It's sweet and lightly floral quality makes it an intoxicating beverage.

My recent foray into tincturing and creating extracts has me sampling the many types of tea available.  I'd heard about tea infused vodka before but it never appealed to me until I inhaled the sweet aroma of some organic peach flavored black tea extract that I recently made.  Now I'm busy reading up on tea and collecting a few varieties.  I steeped some organic Assam for our little soire.

The last vodka I conjured up is made of basmati rice.  I love the sweet perfumed fragrance of basmati rice and after the success of the honey oat vodka from last winter I had a feeling it would be a hit.

Thus assembled and fed we began to conjure up some ideas.  I'd been thinking about shiso vodka and that fresh garden cucumber in the fridge all day.  It took several rounds for us to hit on a recipe for something we're calling The Shihito, a delightfully refreshing libation with muddled cucumber and yuzu.

We started a recipe for a tea and lemonade cocktail with a muddled mint leaf and honey absolute.  I want to work on the tea vodka to perfect that one.  Ideas are brewing for the basmati rice vodka (saffron?) and a few other things, one inspired by spumoni.  Stay tuned.

The Shihito

I jigger shiso vodka

4 thin cucumber slices

1 mint leaf

1/2 teaspoon sugar

pinch of salt

2 drops of yuzu essence

splash of club soda

In the bottom of a glass muddle the cucumber and mint with the sugar and salt.  Add the shiso vodka and yuzu essence.  Fill the glass with ice and top with a splash of seltzer.  Relax and enjoy the flavors of summer.

Shiso

A few years ago someone in my community garden planted shiso, both the green and red variety.  It happily naturalized itself and now self sows and comes up everywhere.  I never paid it much attention and generally weeded it out of my vegetable plot.  At the end of the season last year a few of us ordered sushi one evening and someone had the brilliant idea to wrap each piece in shiso before we ate it.  I was surprised by it's anise-like flavor, somewhere between mint and fennel.  Since then I've been waiting to experiment with this new addition to my palette.

 Shiso, otherwise known as perilla (Perilla frutescens) is originally from Japan but has naturalized widely in the US and Canada.  I'm so far only familiar with the red shiso, which is used to dye umeboshi plums and paste.  It's rich in vitamins and minerals and has strong anti-inflammatory properties.

Use shiso like basil, adding it to cooking just at the end.  It pairs beautifully with tuna and is used in Japanese, Vietnamese and Korean cooking.  It's also a wonderful addition to a fruit salad.  For more ideas on how to cook with shiso check out this great article in the L.A.Times.

Of course I had to wonder what shiso vodka would be like so over the holiday weekend I whipped up a batch.  The red leaves lend a lovely pink color to the fragrant and refreshing liquid making it perfect for summer drinking.  I see it with muddled fresh cucumber.  Cocktail forthcoming!

Tinctures, Extracts and Infusions

Linden tincture filtering.

This season has me wanting to capture as much of it's flavors and fragrances as I possibly can.  After my recent trip to California to learn more about natural perfumery I've been hungry to gather new fragrant ingredients.  I thought I might tincture a few things to add to my perfume organ.

Linden blossoms drying.

I started with trying to capture the incredible, brief and elusive fragrance of linden.  Where I live in Brooklyn there are many linden trees and there is a two week period at the end of June that is phenominaly fragrant.  I recently bought a bottle of linden CO2 from Aftelier and have been playing around with it.  It's a beautiful note, very honeyed and sweet but a bit difficult to work with since it's so easy to lose the quintessential quality of it.  I wondered how a tincture would be so I picked some blossoms and left them to dry for a day or two before I submerged them in 190 proof vodka.  After a few days I strained it out and replaced the blossoms.  It's now on it's third infusion.  I shake it daily and dab a bit on my wrist.  At first it's grassy and more like hay but dries down more like the scented June air.

Chocolate mint extract filtering.

In my community garden plot I have a patch of chocolate mint that's out of this world.  I've used it in the past to make tea and was pleased but not as fanatical about it is as I've been since last summer when I made some chocolate mint vodka out of it.  The chocolate really comes through when it's macerated.  I've been conjuring cocktails (along with the rest of the civilized world) the past couple of years but I don't even mix this with anything else.  It's so good just on it's own.  I wondered if I could make an extract of it to flavor other things, like seltzer or ice cream.  I chopped up a bunch very fine and put it in a jar and covered it with 190 proof alcohol.  It very quickly turned bright green.  I shook it daily and yesterday strained off the emerald green liquid and used it to make chocolate mint seltzer.  It's delicious but I'm not satisfied so I picked more mint last night and have added it to the extract - a double maceration.

Jasmine blossoms macerating.

Now my interest is piqued and I've been exploring some other materials to tincture.  Dried jasmine blossoms have yielded a surprising result, more like cigarette burning than the indolic and intoxicating fragrance I expected.  I've also been playing around with tea.  I had some peach flavored black tea in the house and started with that.  It's made the most exquisite elixir, I want to slather myself in it.  A recent trip to the tea store and I now have Lapsang Souchong, Jasmine and Russian Caravan soaking.

              Basically all you do is make sure you have clean jars and good strong vodka (190 proof is best).  Fresh plant material is best dried a day or two so that there is less water involved in your creation.  Chop herbs finely and put in the jar and pour in just enough alcohol to cover.  Make sure that everything is submerged in alcohol or you run the risk of spoilage and ruining your experiment.  Shake the jars daily.  You can double the maceration if you're so inclined.  As always keep good notes so if you create something heavenly you can create it again. Good luck!

Cocktail Alchemy - A Workshop

"Alchemy is the art of transmutation, of taking the rough and raw and rendering it more precious" writes Pam Grossman, curator of the group art show, Alchemically Yours.  To celebrate the closing of the show at the Observatory Room in Brooklyn I'll be hosting a Cocktail Workshop featuring some alchemically transmuted elixirs.  Simple vodka will be transformed by a little herbal magic and then successfully rendered into delicious (and possibly even nutritious) cocktails.  Chocolate mint, angelica and lemon verbena vodka (among others) will be available to sample as well as the cocktails they inspire.  The Sprite, The Kashmere and The Black Dog are a few of the libations that will be passed around to tickle your palette.

Cocktail Dilutions

I'll be using essential oils and absolutes from my natural perfumer's collection to add a unique accent to the drinks.  The oils have been diluted so that only one drop is necessary to give the cocktails an original and uncommon flavor. Some of the flavors include jasmine, yuzu, blood orange, black pepper and petitgrain.  Floral Waters such as Chamomile Water also make an an unexpected appearance.

The show is running until June 12th at the Observatory Room, 543 Union (at Nevins).

The Healing Benefits of Mustard

The healing effects of Mustard have been appreciated by many cultures for centuries. The ancient Greeks and Romans, Europeans, and Native Americans have all used mustard for medicinal purposes. It is known for it's detoxification and purification abilities, increasing circulation, oxygenation and the elimination of toxins.  Mustard baths are recommended for treating headaches, colds and cough.  The effects of rheumatic pains and neuralgias are also decreased through regular use.

Lately the aches and pains of life (traveling, gardening and working out) are taking their toll and I've started to search for a remedy.  I came across some literature about the healing benefits of mustard baths and decided to try it out.





I combined mustard with sodium bicarbonate to neutralize acid and restore pH balance. The essential oils of wintergreen, thyme, eucalyptus and rosemary are added to reduce muscle soreness.  The effect of my first bath amazed me.  First I got my house in order so that I could go straight to bed as was suggested.  I prepared my bath and sunk into the yellow fragrant water and let go of the details of the day.  As I soaked I felt my body let go of the tension and I finally relaxed.  I always do a little ritual meditation when I pull the plug on the spent bathwater, imagining my tension and woes being drawn off of me and circling the drain.  Afterward I showered off the residual mustard and made my way to bed.

I am now a true believer in the power of this ancient herb.  I slept soundly straight through the night and woke up refreshed and definitely less tense.  I was inspired to share my conversion with my clients so formulated and packaged my own Mustard Bath for Herbal Alchemy Apothecary, in a packet good for one bath or a jar with two or three.

Natural Perfume Workshop with Mandy Aftel

Mandy's scent organ

I recently attended a most informative, creative and sensual workshop in the art of natural perfume in the home studio of Mandy Aftel, the premier natural perfumer and author the the natural perfumers bible, Essence and Alchemy.  Over the years I've taken several perfume and aromatherapy workshops but the difference here is, aside from all of the practical information (of which there was plenty), it was also akin to taking an art class.  Indeed, Mandy has elevated natural perfume from hippie fragrance to an art form and my appreciation of her as an artist grew throughout the weekend.  Her teaching method was simple and straight from art school:  a morning lecture explaining concepts and exploring materials and techniques followed by a blending session where we each made our own perfume.  We were then critiqued and spent some time adjusting our formulas and critiqued again.  Her critiques were accurate but delivered gently and inevitably we all made better perfumes the second time around.

I came away with a better understanding of the shape and texture of a perfume and with a nose tuned in to the subtle differences in aromas, better able to distinguish between a good quality oil from it's lesser counterpart.  Indeed, my sense of smell is heightened overall.  As I walk down the streets of my Brooklyn neighborhood in Spring I can pick up subtle scents wafting in the breeze.  I came across a vase of fresh peonies the other day and could distinctly pick up the variance in the scent of each blossom.

I also had the opportunity to smell things I had only read about and things I have searched for to no avail.  One such oil is Flouve, a sweet, herbaceous tobacco-like oil that is so rich and complex that one keeps finding notes in it.  Another is Oud, a rare and precious oil from the Agarwood tree, one of the most expensive perfume ingredients around at about $1000 to $1400 an ounce.  Mandy collects antique oils as well which she hunts the globe for.  Antique patchouli oil is rich and complex and bears little resemblance to the ubiquitous hippie aroma.

The workshop was a wonderful, creative and expansive experience which I'll be drawing from to create new fragrances for Herbal Alchemy.  I'm so grateful for the opportunity to study with Mandy and to get to know a little better this warm, generous and dedicated teacher and perfumer.

A selection of top notes from the perfume organ.

Berkeley in Bloom

  

I'm just back in town from a wonderful weekend in Berkeley, CA where I attended a natural perfume workshop with the extremely talented Mandy Aftel.  The whole fragrance experience began for me on the first day of my trip spent wandering the streets of North Berkeley.  Everywhere I turned I was astonished by fragrant blooms.  Thick brackets of jasmine hung thickly all over the neighborhood, and roses the size of cabbages wafted their aromas on the breeze.
  

Berkeley Rose Garden

I discovered the Berkeley Rose Garden, perched high on a hill with an incredible view of the Bay and Golden Gate Bridge.  It was a literal amphitheater of roses.  I was very fortunate to visit the area during peak rose season.  Every rose smell differently and it was a wonderful way to prepare my nose for my upcoming workshop in perfumery.