Personally I can't stand a Bloody Mary, but it's probably one of Nicki's favorite drinks. After perusing a new book - Shrubs: An old fashioned drink for modern times by Michael Dietsch, I decided to give one of the hearty shrubs a try: Sungold tomatoes and basil. We don't have Sungold tomatoes, but Michael suggested that any sort of cherry tomato should do the trick as well as they're generally sweeter than other tomato varieties.
The recipe is very simple (as are most shrubs really):
Add the halved tomatoes with the sugar in a non-reactive bowl (I used a glass container) and place in the fridge for 2 days. At the same time, add the basil leaves to the cider vinegar and store them in a dark, cool place (the basement was fine). To crush the basil leaves, simply place some leaves on one hand and then smack them with the other, while looking smug. Okay, I'm sure you can the latter part.
After 2 days, combine everything in a new jar and shake or mix well. It's going in the fridge for another week after which I'll strain out all the solids and the shrub will be kept in the fridge. To be honest I have no idea what this will taste like, but hopefully we'll like it (or at least Nicki will). So far we've only had experience with fruity shrubs and those all came out extremely delicious! The kids love them too as we can make sodas with them (there's no alcohol in this at all).
The recipe is very simple (as are most shrubs really):
- About 1 lbs of tomatoes halved;
- 15-20 basil leaves, crushed
- 1/2 cup turbinado sugar
- 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
Add the halved tomatoes with the sugar in a non-reactive bowl (I used a glass container) and place in the fridge for 2 days. At the same time, add the basil leaves to the cider vinegar and store them in a dark, cool place (the basement was fine). To crush the basil leaves, simply place some leaves on one hand and then smack them with the other, while looking smug. Okay, I'm sure you can the latter part.
After 2 days, combine everything in a new jar and shake or mix well. It's going in the fridge for another week after which I'll strain out all the solids and the shrub will be kept in the fridge. To be honest I have no idea what this will taste like, but hopefully we'll like it (or at least Nicki will). So far we've only had experience with fruity shrubs and those all came out extremely delicious! The kids love them too as we can make sodas with them (there's no alcohol in this at all).
We were running very low on grenadine and feeling productive I decided to make some more. The recipe is very easy and it's again something that can be used in both cocktails and sodas to the enjoyment of all! Sure, you can buy a bottle of grenadine, but most of those are chock full of preservatives, additives and other random garbage that we really don't need.
Here's the recipe:
Heat the pomegranate juice in a pan until it starts steaming and you see some bubbles. Ensure it doesn't boil! Take off the heat and add the sugar, mixing it well until the sugar's fully dissolved. Add the lemon juice and orange blossom water and let it cool down to room temperature. Pour the mixture in a bottle and refrigerate up to 1 month. There you have it, grenadine!
Finally, we're 1 week since I've started my rice wine experiment and it's evolving nicely. More and more liquid is gathering at the bottom. What's interesting is that the Vietnamese jar seems to be pretty clear, while the Chinese jar looks a little more cloudy. The latter is what I've expected from the start. We'll see how this will affect the flavors after about 3 weeks.
It's also apparent that the Chinese experiment has more liquid and the rice has lowered substantially compared to the other jar (they were initially the same - give or take a dozen grains of rice of course).
Here's the recipe:
- 1 cup of pomegranate juice (we got ours from Costco and it's pure juice, no additives)
- 1 cup of sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon lemon juice
- 2-3 drops of orange blossom water
Heat the pomegranate juice in a pan until it starts steaming and you see some bubbles. Ensure it doesn't boil! Take off the heat and add the sugar, mixing it well until the sugar's fully dissolved. Add the lemon juice and orange blossom water and let it cool down to room temperature. Pour the mixture in a bottle and refrigerate up to 1 month. There you have it, grenadine!
Finally, we're 1 week since I've started my rice wine experiment and it's evolving nicely. More and more liquid is gathering at the bottom. What's interesting is that the Vietnamese jar seems to be pretty clear, while the Chinese jar looks a little more cloudy. The latter is what I've expected from the start. We'll see how this will affect the flavors after about 3 weeks.
It's also apparent that the Chinese experiment has more liquid and the rice has lowered substantially compared to the other jar (they were initially the same - give or take a dozen grains of rice of course).