Recipes: Drinks and Cocktails with Herbs

Gin and Tonic with Spring Herbs


  • 1 part gin
       (We recommend 'The Botanist' packed with foraged herbs)
  • 2 parts tonic water
  • Granny Smith or other crisp apple
  • A large sprig of sage
  • 5 or 6 black peppercorns – lightly crushed

Method:

  • Add plenty of ice to your chosen glass along with the peppercorns and sage. Crush the sage lightly between your fingers first to release the essential oils.
  • Pour over the gin and the tonic and garnish with a slice of crisp apple for extra flavour.
  • Enjoy after your hard work in the garden.

If you have time here is a quick snack to enjoy with your drink.


Preserved lemons & Sparkling Preserved Lemonade


Preserved lemons & Sparkling Preserved Lemonade

We have recently been making a fresh batch of preserved lemons with added herbal flavours. They are an essential ingredient to Moroccan cuisine but add a savory umani flavour with a mellow citrus undertone to so many more dishes.

Preserved lemons are a luxury to buy but really easy to make.

Essentially fresh lemons are preserved in lots of salt with added herbs, which gives them a salty, slightly tart, pickled flavour, with all of the flesh, pith and peel softened and edible.

You will need a suitable sterilised jar with a wide screw lid (or a preserving jar with a seal) that will just hold the number of lemons you plan to preserve.

Cut each lemon nearly into quarters top to bottom to within 2cm of the base, leaving it attached at the bottom end. As you transfer each lemon into the jar stuff the centre with a tablespoon of salt. Push them in really tightly and seal up and leave initially for a week.

After this time open up the jar and press the lemons down hard to squeeze them together. The salt will have drawn out loads of juice, add sprigs of thyme and rosemary and a little more lemon juice to just cover the fruit if needed.

Top up the jar with 1cm of olive oil to make the lemons air tight and put the jar away in a cool dark place for at least 4 weeks.


Your preserved lemons can be added to all manner of dishes:

  • Vinaigrette dressings for salad
  • To pep up a lemon cake
  • Add umami to a soup
  • Stews and pasta sauces
  • The ultra concentrated brine left over is great used sparingly in cocktails, dressings and sauces

For a refreshing treat make some Sparkling Preserved Lemonade:

  • Mix together 4 tbsp finely chopped preserved lemons to 4 tbsp fresh lemon juice and 2 tbsp chopped mint.
  • Divide the mixture between 4 glasses filled with ice and top up with tonic water.
  • Garnish with a lemon slice, a curl of cucumber and a big sprig of mint.

Coriander Margaritos


Coriander Margaritos

Coriander isn't one of the traditional cocktail ingredients but its bright, zesty flavour makes a great combination in our Coriander Margaritos – a cross between a mojito and a margarita!

For each glass:

  • 1 heaped tbsp torn coriander leaves
  • ½ a lime cut into quarters
  • 1 heaped tsp brown sugar or more to taste
  • 50 ml Tequila
  • Sparkling or soda water

To serve:

  • In a tall glass, muddle together the coriander, lime and sugar until the juices are released.
  • Stir in the tequila then 3/4 fill the glass with ice.
  • Top up with sparkling water and enjoy!

Lemon and Lime cooler


Lemon and Lime cooler

Mint is a classic ingredient for summer drinks. Our Lemon and Lime cooler is delicious and quick to make. A large jugful is plenty for several people.

  • 2 lemons and 2 limes – each quartered
  • Leaves from a large bunch of mint
  • 170g white sugar
  • 1 litre ice cold water
  • Gin or vodka (if required)
  • Citrus slices and mint leaves to garnish
  • Add the quartered fruit with the sugar and mint leaves to a blender or smoothie maker.
  • Add just enough water to cover and blend to a whitish pulp.
  • Pour the contents through a fine sieve into your serving jug and press down lightly with a spoon.
  • Rinse out the blender with the remaining water and pour through the pulp in the sieve.
  • Press down once more, and the lemon and limeade in the jug is ready to serve.
  • Serve with ice and a garnish of mint leaves.

Your guests may add gin or vodka if they wish but either way it tastes great.


Salt rimmed chihuahua cocktail

Salt rimmed chihuahua cocktail

(serves 1)

  • Coarsely ground sea salt
  • 1 tbsp lime juice
  • 15 ml orange liqueur (Cointreau, Triple Sec or similar)
  • 30 ml golden Tequila
  • 3 sprigs of Sweet Pear mint
  • 125 ml Apple and Pear juice (available in most supermarkets)
  • 4 icecubes

Lightly moisten the rim of a glass with a touch of the lime juice and then dip the glass into the salt to get a good crusting. If you have time leave to dry for a few minutes.

Put the orange liqueur and tequila into a cocktail shaker with the mint and crush a little with a muddler to extract the sweet minty flavour. (A jam jar and the end of a wooden spoon makes a very adequate, if not very stylish, substitute if you don't own a cocktail shaker!)

Add the lime and the fruit juices along with the ice cubes and shake for 1 minute until the cocktail is well chilled.

Strain into the salty glass and garnish with a mint sprig. You can sip though the salty rim or through a straw as you prefer.


Tropical lemon grass and lime rum punch

Makes 4 servings

  • 75 g sugar
  • 2 lemon grass. stalks — chopped
  • A small handful of lemon grass foliage — roughly chopped
  • The juice from 3 limes
  • 200 ml golden rum
  • Soda water and lime wedges to serve

Put the sugar, lemon grass stalks and foliage in a small pan with 200 ml water. Warm gently and stir until the sugar dissolves. Leave to cool and infuse for at least two hours in the fridge, or it can be left overnight.

When you are ready to serve, strain the lemon grass syrup into a large jug and add the lime juice and rum. Top up with an equal volume of chilled soda water.

Add 3 or 4 ice cubes and a couple of lime wedges to each glass — give the lime a gentle squeeze as you drop it in. Top up with the punch from the jug.

You can decorate with extra lemon grass stalks if you have them or a few feathery fronds of lemon grass foliage.


White Strawberry Sangria with a touch of pink!

Serves 4 – 6

  • 2 sliced lemons
  • 1 thinly sliced eating apple
  • 150 g white strawberries — sliced in half lengthways
  • 750 ml of dry white wine — Sauvignon Blanc is good
  • 200 ml white rum
  • 2 tbs sugar

To serve:

  • Sparkling lemonade — chilled
  • A handful of redcurrants — or you can use raspberries if unavailable

Put all of the sliced fruit and sugar into a large bowl and pour over the wine and rum.

Stir gently to dissolve the sugar then cover and chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours for the flavours to mingle, or longer if you can wait!

The sangria looks lovely in large bowl shaped wine glasses, but tastes great however you serve it.

Divide the redcurrants between the glasses and strain over the chilled wine mixture. With a spoon remove the strawberries left in the bowl and add to sangria glasses, leaving the apple and lemon slices behind.

Top up each glass with ice cubes and lemonade to taste — or the sangria tastes equally good neat but remember it has quite a kick from the rum!

For a special occasion, try substituting a bottle of white port for the white wine, you may need a little less sugar in this case, depending on the sweetness of the port.


Basil and Orange Mojito

Basil and Orange Mojito

3 – 4 glasses

Try our unusual Basil and Orange Mojito — a refreshing cocktail — summer in a glass just right for a warm summer's evening.

  • 12 large sweet basil leaves
  • (you can use greek basil — 6 long sprigs)
  • 125 ml simple syrup — see tips below
  • 250 ml fresh orange juice
  • 250 ml golden rum
  • Zest and juice of a large lemon
  • 250 soda water

To serve:

  • Crushed ice, orange slices and basil leaves

Put the basil leaves, lemon zest and sugar syrup into a jug and using a cocktail muddler or the end of
a rolling pin. Bash the basil, zest and syrup together until the leaves are well bruised.

Add the orange juice and rum and put into the fridge for an hour to chill — if you can bear to wait!

Add the soda water and pour into glasses half full of crushed ice.
Garnish with a basil sprig and an orange slice and enjoy in your summer garden!

Tips: Simple syrup is used a lot to sweeten cocktails.
Dissolve a 250 ml measure of sugar in 250 ml water over a low heat. Cool and keep in the fridge until needed


Detox for the New Year

Giant Italian Parsley
  • Make a quick start start on a detox — as you head for the shower put a slice of lemon and a couple of sprigs of mint in a tall glass, add hot but not boiling water and leave to infuse as you shower.
  • A detox in a glass as you get ready for work — try Moroccan mint or one of the fruity varieties such as lime or grapefruit. You can have these growing in pots on the window ledge at this time of year.
  • If you have a little more time try a detox smoothie with your smoothie maker or blender. Add a large handful of parsley, and the same of spinach leaves. Drop in a sliced banana, a sliced cored pear and a finely chopped cored apple. Cover with chilled water to at least 5cm above the fruit and whizz up to start your day.

Giant Italian Parsley is vigorous with lots of foliage


Mint, ginger and apple smoothie

Mint, ginger and apple smoothie

Apples make a great breakfast smoothie, the addition of ginger
and mint will really give you a boost, making a refreshing start
to the day.

Enough for 2

Core the apples and chop coarsely, no need to peel, red skinned
apples leave pretty red flecks in your smoothie.

Put half of the applesinto the blender or smoothie maker and whizz until smooth.
You may need a little extra apple juice, it depends on how juicy your apples are.

Add the peeled sliced ginger, mint and lime juice and blend again.

Finally add the remaining apple pieces and whizz until smooth.

Serve garnished with a sprig of mint or some apple slices


Raspberry and Lavender Lemonade

This will make about 1.5 litres and keep in the fridge for several days, if you are able to keep it that long!

  • 500 g raspberries
  • 150 g caster sugar
  • 35 g fresh lavender heads, or half of this if they are dried.
  • juice of 5 lemons, or for a change a mix of lemons and limes.
  • still or sparking water to dilute

Blitz the raspberries in a food processor and then stir in the fruit juices and the sugar. Leave the mixture aside for at least 30 minutes, or prepare in advance and keep in the fridge.

Meanwhile strip the lavender florets from them stems and rinse. Then put into a small saucepan with 400 ml water. Bring to the boil, simmer for 1 minute and then leave aside to infuse for 30 minutes.

Sieve the raspberries into a large bowl, discarding the pips left in the sieve. Strain the lavender infusion onto the raspberry puree, and stir to mix. Pour the concentrate into a pretty clear jug with plenty of ice cubes and top up with a litre of still or sparkling water to taste.


Horseradish Infused Vodka

Our research shows that this is actually a quite ancient recipe not a modern quirk!

Pour the first 2 to 3 cm from a bottle of vodka.

Peel a 5 - 6 cm piece of horseradish root and cut into about 6 slices, each about 1 cm thick. Slip the horseradish into the vodka bottle, you may need to cut it a bit more to get it into the top of the bottle. Screw the bottle tightly closed and shake every few days.

Leave to infuse for at least a week and up to a month depending on the depth of flavour required.

Decant off the vodka, you can use it as soon as you like but the flavour will improve and mellow with time. Use in Bloody Marys and vodka cocktails, and keep a bottle in the freezer for ice-cold 'shots'.


Ginger Mint Lemonade

  • 120 ml chopped ginger mint leaves - tightly packed in the measuring jug
  • 2 tbs chopped fresh ginger
  • 75 ml honey
  • 2 - 3 lemons - depending on size
  • 450 ml boiling water
  • ice cubes, mint leaves and lemon slices as garnish

Place the mint, ginger and honey in a bowl and pour over the boiling water. Remove the zest from two of the lemons and add to the bowl. Cover and leave for 30 minutes to extract the flavours.

Strain into a 1 litre measuring jug, press the contents of the sieve with the back of a spoon to extract all of the flavour. Add 75 ml of lemon juice and make up to 900 ml with cold water.

Chill, garnish and serve!


Ginger Mint Mojito

  • 5 or 6 ginger mint sprigs
  • 1 tbs lime juice
  • ice cubes
  • 1 or 2 measures of rum — to taste!
  • ginger ale
  • ginger mint sprigs and slices of fresh ginger for garnish

Strip the mint leaves from the stalks and put into the bottom of a tall glass. Add the lime juice and muddle the ingredients together with a blunt utensil. I use the fat rounded plastic end of one of our forks, this releases the mint juices into the mix with the lime juice. Half fill the glass with ice cubes, pour over the rum and top up with ginger ale.

A quick stir, garnish with a ginger mint sprig and fresh ginger, and serve!

For an extra ginger kick, pound a thin slice of ginger along with the mint in your glass.


Sweet Cecily Vodka Schnapps

  • Take approximately 300 ml of sweet cecily leaves stripped from the stems (measured by packing the foliage tightly into a measuring jug) and put into a wide necked jar.
  • Add 500 ml of vodka and leave for 3 days or longer according to taste, shaking gently daily.
  • Strain off the aromatic green liqueur and serve chilled as an aperitif or after dinner drink.
  • The green seeds can also be used to flavour the vodka, add a handful of the roughly chopped seeds to 500 ml of vodka and again infuse for 3 days or until you are satisfied with the depth of flavour.

Chamomile Tea

The sweetly scented chamomile flower heads are the part of the herb used to make a delicately flavoured herb tea. This is the most important of all herb teas, made famous in Beatrix Potter's 'Tale of Peter Rabbit'. The flower heads can be harvested and dried, and will retain their flavour for up to a year.

Traditional recipes call for 1 oz (25 g) of flower heads to be steeped in boiling water for 3 or 4 minutes in a covered jug – to prevent the escape of the aromatic steam. The resulting tea can be sweetened to taste with honey or sugar if desired.


Moroccan Mint Tea

  • 2 tsp china tea
  • 6 tsp Moroccan mint – chopped
  • 900 ml boiling water.

Spoon the tea and mint into a large warmed teapot. Pour on boiling water and leave to infuse for 5 minutes.

Strain into glasses or delicate cups and sweeten to taste, serve garnished with a whole mint leaf.

The tea maybe strained and chilled, and stored in the fridge, to serve as iced mint tea. In this case sweeten to taste whilst still hot.


Celebration pineapple and lemon punch

Serves 12 people.

This punch needs a bit of forward planning but is well worth the extra effort!

  • 250 ml gin
  • 150 ml cherry or orange liqueur
  • 1 pineapple or 2 drained tins of slices in natural juice (not syrup)
  • 6 cloves
  • 30 lemon mint leaves (or more if they are a bit small)
  • 1 bottle of chilled champagne or dry sparkling wine (depending on your budget)

To garnish:

  • Thin lemon slices and lemon mint sprigs, with flowers if in season

48 hours before your party pour the gin and chosen liqueur into your punch bowl. Peel, core and thinly slice the pineapple, then cut into neat thin triangles. Not too big or they won't fit into the glass! Bruise the mint leaves gently in a pestle and mortar and add these to the punch bowl along with the cloves. Stir and cover the bowl and leave until your guests are arriving.

Remove the cloves and mint leaves, add your champagne, and the lemon and mint garnish. Serve with a ladle into punch glasses or tumblers and wait for the compliments!


Parsley Herb Tea

Fresh leaves make the best tea. Use about ¼ cup of bright green chopped parsley leaves and fill up with boiling water. Leave to steep for 10 minutes and then strain and sweeten to taste.

Some people find the taste of this tea too astringent, if so then try halving the amount of leaves or reduce the steeping time if this is the case.


Mulled Cider

Try our recipe for mulled cider, it makes a inviting change from mulled wine.

Great to welcome guests with to a Christmas party.

Mulled Cider
  • ½ pint of dry cider
  • 4 sprigs of rosemary
  • 1 small cinnamon stick
  • 3 tsp brown sugar
  • 3 tbs dark or golden rum

Method:

  • Bruise the rosemary in the cider in a large pestle and mortar (or improvise with the end of a rolling pin and a plastic basin).
  • Stir in the sugar and the cinnamon and leave to infuse for 15 minutes.
  • Strain the cider off and heat until it is very hot. Traditionally this should be done with a red hot poker, but a microwave or a saucepan will do very well as a substitute.

Whilst researching mulled cider we came across a very interesting and also seasonal concept: You might also like to try 'Fire Cider'.


Fire cider

Fire cider

Fire cider is based on cider vinegar and sweetened with honey to give sweet and sour, hot and spicy flavour. Not a cider as such, but a blend based on cider vinegar and honey with added ingredients of onion and garlic, ginger, horseradish and chillies.

We have added parsley and citrus for extra vitamin C, with rosemary, thyme and cloves for their antibacterial properties and of course their great taste.

The resultant brew is great to have during the winter months – and it has a huge variety of uses:

  • 3 tsp mixed with orange juice can be taken every 3 hours to ward off a cold, or you can take a dose every day as a preventative.
  • Alternatively dilute with hot water and extra honey as a tea
  • Use a little in place of vinegar in salad dressings or drizzle over vegetable side dishes
  • Add a splash to soups, stews and marinades
  • Be daring and add a dash to strong flavoured cocktails!

This makes 350 – 400ml:

  • 2 tbsp finely chopped onion
  • 5 large garlic cloves chopped
  • 2 tbsp finely chopped ginger
  • 2 tbsp finely chopped fresh horseradish
  • 2 hot chillies – cut in half lengthways
  • 100ml orange juice
  • ½ lemon thinly sliced
  • 3 tbsp chopped parsley
  • 1 tbsp chopped rosemary leaves
  • 1 tbsp chopped thyme leaves
  • 5 cloves
  • 1 tsp black peppercorns, crushed
  • 300 ml cider vinegar
  • 2 tbsp honey or more to taste
  • Put all the ingredients in a small saucepan and warm gently until just hand hot.
  • Then cover and leave to infuse in a cool place for 24 – 48 hours depending how strong you would like the flavour and heat to be.
  • Strain it through a sieve lined with a double layer of kitchen paper.
  • Bottle the fire cider and keep in a cool dark place.

Enjoy experimenting!


Cucumber and Lemon Thyme Martini

Flavoured vodkas are one of the most popular drinks at the moment. This recipe uses lemon vodka but it is every bit as successful made with ordinary vodka – just add a tiny bit more lemon juice.

  • 5 cm (2 in) cucumber
  • the leaves from 4 sprigs of lemon variegated thyme
  • a dash of vanilla essence
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • gomme syrup or 1 tsp caster sugar
  • 50 ml vodka – lemon vodka if possible but by no means essential
  • ice cubes
  • a cucumber twist and a sprig of the thyme to garnish

Those of you with cocktail set will be well away whilst the rest of us can manage very well with a pestle and a clean jar with a lid! All of the ingredients are variable, you may for instance prefer to add extra sugar for a sweeter cocktail

Chop the cucumber roughly and put into a small bowl with all the ingredients except the vodka and the ice. Bash and press it with the pestle until the cucumber is well bruised but not totally pulped and all the sugar
(if you are using it) is dissolved in the resulting juice.

If you have a cocktail set this can all be done inside the shaker with the end of the bar spoon.

Add the vodka and 4 ice cubes to the cocktail shaker.
If you are managing without a shaker then transfer the crushed ingredients to the jar and add the vodka and ice, rinsing out the crushing bowl with a little of the vodka to make sure that you transfer over all of the flavours.

Shake for a minute to chill thoroughly then strain into a glass, garnish, relax and enjoy.


Apple and Lavender Cocktail

  • 100 ml Gin, vodka or white rum
  • juice of a large lime
  • 50 ml apple juice
  • 1 tbls caster sugar
  • 2 small handfuls of lavender flowers
  • ice-cubes

Bruise the lavender lightly with a rolling pin to release the essential oils. Combine all the ingredients in a cocktail shaker and shake for a full minute.

Strain into 2 chilled glasses and decorate with a couple of sprigs of lavender.

Lets hope for some sunny evenings to sit outside and enjoy it!


Classic Mint Julep

Make a sugar syrup by dissolving equal quantities of sugar and water in a small saucepan. 1 cup of each is ideal.

Once the sugar is dissolved, simmer the syrup gently for 10 minutes then allow to cool.

Tear up several eau de cologne mint leaves and put into a tall chilled glass. Add a little sugar syrup and a measure of whisky, stir well and top up with lots of ice.

Relax on a balmy warm evening with one of these and feel your stresses melt away.


Fennel tea

A fresh aniseed taste which is slightly sweet which is very refreshing.

Use seeds from plants which you have in your garden for culinary use or dried seeds from a spice pot.

Crush one tablespoon per person in a pestle and mortar, just enough to release the flavour.
Pour over freshly boiled water and leave to steep for 5 minutes, before straining and drinking.

As well as being a refreshing drink fennel tea is said to help sore throats and also relieve digestive problems. In winter add a slice of fresh ginger, lightly bruised, to the fennel seeds for a warming drink.


Mint and strawberry lemonade

For the syrup which you can make the day before:

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 tbs lemon zest
  • 20 strawberry mint leaves - roughly chopped
  • Warm the sugar and water stirring until it just dissolves to make a syrup.
  • Add the mint leaves and zest and remove quickly from the heat.
  • Cool and pour into a jar or covered jug and leave to infuse overnight in the fridge.
  • Strain before using, this syrup will keep for several days in the fridge.

For the lemonade:

  • 500g strawberries
  • 4 large lemons
  • 3 cups chilled sparkling water
  • Purée the strawberries and sieve out the seeds.
  • Squeeze the lemons and add the juice to the strawberry purée.
  • Put the fruit juice into a tall glass jug and stir in the mint syrup you prepared earlier.
  • Top up with the sparkling water bit by bit to get the strength of flavour you prefer.
  • Serve over ice with extra mint sprigs to garnish.