Tag: cocktails

Categories
plant wonder collective Recipes

Basil Peach Ginger Smash

Whether your preference is a cocktail or a mocktail, the combination of basil, peach, and ginger makes a refreshing summer sip! I made my version muddling fresh peaches and basil with cane sugar, adding a splash of honey whiskey, and mixing in a squeeze of lime juice and peach juice before topping with my favorite ginger ale. But you could put your own spin on this drink in so many ways!

Here is the recipe I used:

Ingredients:

  • 3 peaches, pitted and sliced
  • 3-4 sprigs fresh basil
  • 2 tsp cane sugar
  • Splash lime juice
  • 4 oz peach juice / nectar
  • 3 oz whiskey or vodka
  • Ginger ale to top
  • Ice

Directions:

In a mason jar or cocktail shaker, use the handle of a wooden spoon to muddle slices from 2 of the peaches and the sugar. Add most of the basil (reserving some for garnish) and muddle a bit more, but more gently.

Add your liquor of choice, a splash of lime juice, and the peach juice and ice, replace lid or top of shaker tightly, and shake well for several minutes.

Prepare two glasses with ice and slices of the remaining peach. Strain the liquid into both glasses evenly, and top with ginger ale. Garnish with basil.

Notes:

  • Alternatively, you could make this a non-smash cocktail by making a basil simple syrup instead.
  • Instead of ginger ale, mix with white wine or Prosecco.
  • To make it a mocktail, replace the alcohol with kombucha, soda water, lemonade, or even black tea! Anyone can enjoy the basil-peach smash element of this drink!
Categories
Herbs and Herbalism Recipes

Pine Needle Tincture

A tincture is a simple and powerful way to experience an herb’s benefits and energies. I’ve brewed up a batch of pine needle tincture to enjoy the taste and effects this winter season!

Pine has so many benefits to body and mind. Medicinally, it can help aid the immune system with its high vitamin C content and antimicrobial qualities, it can help with pain and inflammation, and it can offer relief to colds and coughs. Energetically, pine is said to encourage peace, harmony, wisdom, intuition, grounding, and courage.

Here is the simple recipe for making your own pine tincture!

Materials

To make a pine tincture, fill a clean glass jar about ¾ full with dried pine needles (make sure you’ve sourced from a safe-to-consume species!) and top with high-proof alcohol such as vodka, filling to about an inch over the plant material. Stir with a wooden spoon or chopstick, and cap tightly with a bpa-free plastic lid. Store in a cool, dark place and shake daily for about 4-6 weeks. Strain and rebottle in a clean jar / dropper jars.

This can be taken medicinally by drops or dropperful in water or under the tongue…but it can also be enjoyed by the dropperful as an addition to tea or juice—or even used as fancy bitters in cocktails and mocktails! (I am envisioning it as a very cool wintry addition to an Irish whisky with gin & lime!) You can also mix a bit with a carrier oil and use it externally for minor pains and inflammation.

For educational purposes only. Not intended for medical advice. Always consult your physician.

*This post contains affiliate links, which means if you choose to buy something from a link that I share, I will make a small percentage of the sale *at no extra cost to you*.

Categories
Recipes wheel of the year

Mabon Spiced Apple Cider

Mabon is almost here! Otherwise known as the Autumn Equinox, this sabbat marks the official beginning of fall, the second harvest festival, one of the two points in the year when day and night are equal, the height of preparations for the dark part of the year, and a day of thanksgiving and gratitude.

Depending on the year, my birthday falls right before or sometimes on Mabon (9/21), so it always feels *extra* special to me. I can always be counted on to make a bit of a fuss to celebrate the equinox! I suppose I may love fall so much because I’m a Mabon baby, but I think this most cozy, crisp, and magical time of the year would be my favorite regardless of my birthday.

My favorite flavor of autumn is…no, not pumpkin spice…but apple! And spiced apple, which is nearly the same as pumpkin spice, but with a different vehicle. I love pumpkin, don’t get me wrong—but apple will always be the flavor of September to me. So I am brewing up a simple and delicious batch of spiced apple cider for my family to enjoy this Mabon weekend.

In this recipe, apples are combined with vitamin C rich oranges and beneficial, warming, digestion-promoting, immune-boosting spices. This drink offers a cozy, warming, festive sip with many benefits!

Here is the recipe:

Materials—

½ to 1 gallon of fresh apple cider

2-3 apples, sliced

1-2 oranges, sliced

1 small to medium knob of fresh ginger, sliced, or 2 tsp dried ginger

2-3 cinnamon sticks

1-2 tsp whole cloves

1 tsp whole allspice

1-2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

2-3 star anise

Method—

To make a hot spiced cider, fill a large stock pot or slow cooker with the fresh apple cider, sliced apples and oranges, sliced ginger if using fresh, and cinnamon sticks. Place the rest of the spices in a cheesecloth bag or large eco friendly paper tea bag and add to the pot. Heat over low heat, stirring occasionally, and serve warm. 

If the autumn equinox is still quite warm where you live, you can make this as a cold drink instead! Place all the ingredients in a pitcher in the refrigerator overnight. Try mixing it with sparkling apple cider, ginger beer, ginger ale, or Prosecco for a fizzy twist!

What are you doing to mark Mabon / the autumn solstice this year?

For educational purposes only. Not intended for medical advice. Always consult your physician.

*This post contains affiliate links, which means if you choose to buy something from a link that I share, I will make a small percentage of the sale *at no extra cost to you*.

Categories
Botanical Anthology Recipes

Strawberry Lavender Julep by Kristine Clay

This is an excerpt from the Summer edition of Botanical Anthology. A plant lover’s dream, it is a seasonal, plant centered quarterly publication bringing you over 45 articles from 46 contributors to incorporate herbs in your apothecary, kitchen, summer foraging and gardening, crafts, and celebrations.

This herbal magazine, featuring remedies and recipes with medicinal plants for budding herbalists, can be purchased as a digital version here and as a printed version here.

Photo by Kristine Clay

If you enjoy the classic herbal cocktail, the mint julep, then this fruity, floral rendition is sure to become a fast favorite.

Infused whiskey lends stunning color and bursts with fresh strawberry flavor, while lavender rounds out the beverage with pleasant herbaceous notes that hint of mint. Lavender can ease stress and anxiety, helping you to unwind as you sip.

Serve this boozy beverage at your next get together or enjoy with friends on a warm summer evening. 

Strawberry Whiskey Materials

2 c strawberries, fresh, sliced 

Whiskey

16 oz jar

Strawberry Whiskey Method 

Place strawberries in a jar. 

Pour whiskey over top, filling the jar.

Cap tightly with a lid and shake well. Let the strawberries steep in whiskey for at least 1-2 weeks, shaking daily or as often as you remember. 

You can use the whiskey after about a week, but giving it a full 2 weeks to infuse will allow the flavor to really develop.

Note

If you won’t be using the whiskey right away, there’s no need to strain out the infusing strawberries after 2 weeks. Longer steep times allow the flavor to deepen, and can make for a very tasty liquor.

Photo by Kristine Clay

Lavender Simple Syrup Materials

¼ c lavender, dried

½ c sugar

¼ c lime juice

¼ c water

Lavender Simple Syrup Method

Add the ingredients to a small saucepan.

Bring the liquid to a rapid boil then reduce the heat and simmer lightly for about 10 minutes. 

Remove from heat and let the syrup cool. 

Strain out the lavender pieces and bottle the syrup. 

Store leftover syrup in the refrigerator.

Photo by Kristine Clay

Strawberry Lavender Julep Materials

1 ½ f. oz strawberry whiskey

½ fl oz lavender simple syrup

Ice cubes

Fresh lavender sprigs 

Club soda or sparkling water, optional 

Strawberry Lavender Julep Method

Pour whiskey and simple syrup into a glass and stir. 

Add ice. 

If desired, top with a splash of club soda or sparkling water. 

Garnish with a sprig or two of fresh lavender.

Note

This recipe makes one cocktail.

Article written by Kristine Clay. Kristine is a mother, herbalist, & writer who lives on an off-grid homestead in the Ecuadorian Andes. She enjoys crafting botanical concoctions, baking, and hiking with her partner in the eco-sanctuary they steward. You can read her musings about herbs, nourishing foods, & holistic mothering on her blog: mamalibelula.com and find out more about Andean plants, regenerative land management, & raising rabbits at: SierrayCielo.org.

Categories
Herbs and Herbalism plant wonder collective

October: Elderberry Month

I can’t believe October is already more than halfway through! Life has certainly been busy over here in the Herbology Faerie’s apothecary. My children have been home for their two week fall break, my husband took a trip for work, there have been visitors and visits, sickness, and it’s just been a bit of chaos around here. But I have still been connecting with the plant world, so I am here to share a bit about that!

This month has been elderberry month at the Plant Wonder Collective! I have so enjoyed working with lovely elderberry this October. I have not yet had the time to write up a monograph post for elderberry this month, but I will try to do that before October is done. Meanwhile, here is a link to the Plant Wonder Collective’s elderberry monograph post!

Elderberry Monograph

I have concocted a couple of fun elderberry potions this month which I have shared on Instagram. I’ll share them here, too, to make them easier to find. First up: an elderberry hot toddy!

Elderberry Hot Toddy

Next, I shared the beginnings of my elderberry infused gin this week. It is still infusing, but I will be straining it soon and sharing a cocktail or two made with this lovely liquor. Here is the initial post about its creation!

Elderberry Gin

And one last post to share: here is some elderberry wisdom from The Illustrated Herbiary by Maia Toll. Elderberry reminds us to embrace the cycles and seasons of life and our place within them.

I hope October is treating you well, friends! Perhaps you’ll find some inspiration here to connect with elderberry in your own ways this month, or in the months to come!

Categories
Herbs and Herbalism plant wonder collective Recipes

Lemon Balm Simple Syrup Mocktails & Cocktails

Happy Tuesday! Whether you’re here from my Instagram post or you found this blog post first, welcome to the lemon balm party!

Lemon balm is a subtle but sweet and tasty herb for making simple syrup. I decided to brew some up and then experiment with using it to create some tasty mocktails and cocktails.

I used fresh lemon balm to make a small batch of simple syrup with my usual recipe: dissolve ½ cup of sugar in ½ cup of water on the stovetop over medium heat, add in about 1 cup of the herb, remove from heat and steep for 30 minutes, strain, and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks. 

Then came the fun part! Of course, you can use the syrup in any kind of tea (black, green, herbal) for a bit of sweetness and the calming, soothing effects of lemon balm. But I decided to take a few diy concoctions for a spin! My favorite combination was ginger ale, a splash of apple cider (apple juice works too), and about a tablespoon of lemon balm simple syrup. If you find your lemon balm syrup’s flavor turned out too subtle, though, you can always just combine it with seltzer or ginger ale so it can be the star of the show. 

There are plenty more ways to combine lemon balm simple syrup in other mocktails and cocktails, too. Here are some of my favorite combinations!

Follow along for more Lemon Balm wonder throughout the day and join us this month through our hashtags and at @plantwondercollective on Instagram!

#plantwondercollective

#pwclemonbalm

Meet the participants!

@plantwondercollective

@florasfeastbotanicals

@wineberryadventurescouts

@herbalfae

@mamalibelula

@theherbologyfaerie

@herbal_pirate

@katwb444

Plant Wonder Collective: Connecting you to nature through food, drink, play, garden, medicine, magic and art.