Category — Drinks

A few weeks ago I posted a recipe for horchata. I thought about how I can modify this sweet, spiced, rice milk drink and wanted to play around with the rice component. Here I made a rice milk from both white rice and wild rice. Wild rice is actually not rice, but rather a water-dwelling grass native to Minnesota. In this horchata, wild rice adds a nice bitterness to the sweet rice milk and makes this a truly American version of the Latin drink. To make it, simply substitute 1/4 c. white rice for wild rice in the original recipe.

Photo byJustin Kern.

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Contrary to popular belief, cucumbers are not vegetables but rather fruits. Cucumbers belong to the squash family and are in the same genus as the common muskmelon. Their fragrant sweetness is notoriously good with gin. Many gin connoisseurs add a slice of cucumber to their gin to compliment the subtle juniper flavor. In America cucumbers have, for the most part, been demoted to a salad topping, but let’s try something a little different.

Since it’s such a close relative of the muskmelon, I decided to make a sweet cocktail from the humble cucumber, which is where our second character comes in: Hibiscus. What we call hibiscus includes a group of over 200 species of plants in the Malvaceae family of flowers native to warm regions such as Mexico. The flower of the plant itself is dark red. It’s flavor is best described as a combination of a lemon and a rose. Just a couple dried flowers steeped in warm water results in a deep crimson tea with a pleasantly tart flavor.

This is a refreshing cucumber and hibiscus cocktail. It’s a combination of sweet hibiscus tea and a lightly carbonated cucumber and gin soda. The hibiscus tea is simply sweetened with honey and the cucumber and gin soda is made from cucumber juice and gin steeped with a few juniper berries to accentuate the gin. The cucumber mixture is charged in a siphon and poured over the hibiscus tea. The effervescent bitterness of the cucumber and gin immediately refreshes and gives way to the sweet and tart hibiscus tea.

Photo by Justin Kern.

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Late spring and early summer brings tart rhubarb to supermarkets and farmers’ markets around the country. How about making something other than pie with it? Few things pair better than rhubarb and ginger and here I’ve combined the two in a refreshing carbonated drink: Rhubarb ginger ale. The recipe is very easy. Juice your rhubarb by passing it through a juicer or pulsing in a food processor and squeezing through a damp towel. Dilute slightly with water and add fresh, grated ginger and sugar to taste. Finally add a pinch of salt and strain through a fine mesh strainer to remove any ginger fibers. Pour into an iSi siphon and charge with C02 for at least one hour. After an hour release the C02, pour over ice, and enjoy.

Photo by Justin Kern.

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The flavor of vanilla is hard to describe. It’s dark, robust, fruity, and absolutely unique. Vanilla beans owe their flavor to a very long and labor intensive fermenting process and a special flavor compound called vanillin. The “vanilla” flavor most Americans know is actually not vanilla but vanillin extracts derived from guaiacol or lignin, which are wood pulp byproducts of the paper processing industry. Doesn’t sound very tasty to me. Real vanilla beans are the fruit of the vanilla genus of orchid native to mexico. Bitter, green tasting, and nearly inedible when picked, the green vanilla beans are meticulously picked and laid carefully on woolen cloth to bake under the hot sun. At night, workers roll up the sacks and the beans begin their fermenting process. This process is repeated day by day and, once dark, the beans are dried for several months where chemical reactions finish creating the dark and robust vanilla flavor. The entire process can take up to a year. It certainly justifies the hefty price tag on whole vanilla beans and forces you to savor and admire the incredible flavor unique to whole beans.

To use a fresh vanilla bean carefully split it in half lenthwise using a sharp paring knife. This will expose the dense and dark filling of seeds. Using the back of the knife, scrape the seeds from the pod and use them to flavor your vanilla ice cream (and to add those nice black flecks).

Of course you’re then left with the question of what to do with the bean’s hull. It’s probably not very nice to chew on but you paid top dollar for that tiny bean. There are two common practices which are equally delicious. The first is to make vanilla sugar. To do this simply pour some sugar into an air tight container, a mason jar for example, and bury the bean in the sugar. Allow the bean’s flavor to permeate the sugar and add more beans as you use them. Vanilla sugar is great used to sweeten your coffee or tea or used in your favorite baked good.

The other option is to start your own vanilla extract. True vanilla extract is grain alcohol that has been steeped with vanilla bean scraps. As it turns out, the vanillin is extremely soluble in alcohol and the result is an intense vanilla liquid. For this application I used Vodka. Simple place your used vanilla beans into a bottle of vodka and allow to steep for a few weeks or up to a year. For this picture I used a whole vanilla bean but I’ve been chopping up the beans I’ve added since to extract the flavors more quickly. Instead of waiting a year, use the extract as needed and add more vanilla and vodka as the weeks pass. The vodka will turn a dark brown and smell richly of vanilla. The best part about this extract is that you can use it to flavor your cookies and you’re cocktails without feeling the unpleasant burn of grain alcohol.

Whether you make vanilla sugar or extract, please don’t throw away those beans!

Photo by Justin Kern.

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This refreshing spiced drink is a mexican classic called Horchata. Jacquie and I have been experimenting making Horchata and this one is made from fresh rice milk flavored with cinnamon, clove, star anise, vanilla, and almonds. Those heavy spices become bright and refreshing when served ice cold. The vanilla and almonds add depth of flavor to the already delicious rice milk. Here’s a basic recipe for horchata.

Horchata:

• 6 c. water
• 3 cinnamon sticks
• 2 star anise pods
• 5 cloves
• 1 c. long grain rice
• 1 vanilla bean
• 1/2 c. blanched almonds, toasted
• Sweetened condensed milk to taste
• Salt to taste

Begin by bringing the water to a boil with the cinnamon sticks, star anise, and cloves. Once boiling, remove from heat, cover, and allow the water and spices to steep for 30 minutes. Place the rice in a large container, bring the water back to a boil, remove the spices and pour over the rice. Cover the container and allow the rice and flavored water to steep for at least 3 hours at room temperature or overnight in the refrigerator.

After soaking, blend the rice and water together on high for 1 minute. Pour through a fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth and discard the solid particles. What you now have is flavored rice milk. Blend the rice milk once more with the vanilla bean, toasted almonds and strain one more. Sweeten with sweetened condensed milk and season with a pinch of salt. Pour over ice and enjoy.

Photo by Justin Kern.

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