And drinkers find it more difficult to distinguish alcoholic strength when exposed to music, leading to increases in alcohol consumption, the University of Portsmouth research concludes.

The news offers a new opportunity to bartenders to manipulate customers’ drinking experiences through the strategic use of music, but further highlights issues for drivers, the bar industry and local authorities.

The findings build on earlier research which has found there is a correlation between speed of drinking and the quantity of consumption when louder and faster music is being played, while other work has also shown that manipulating volume affects perceptions of freshness in certain foods.

Flower essences originated with Paracelsus, the parent of modern alchemy, who collected dew from plants to treat his patients.  They were later developed by Edward Bach, a doctor interested in homeopathy (which also uses ideas from alchemy).  This method for making essences describes using the Sun, but you can also use the full Moon (and even tweak it by choosing the Moon when it’s in a particular sign) or pure starlight (after the Moon has set).  Needless to say, you can also use a particular aspect of the Moon’s phase to develop an essence that speaks to particular level of consciousness, type of emotion, aspect of the spirit, or type of magick.  This describes making an essence of flowers, but you can use the same technique to make an essence of leaves, whole herbs, roots, crystals, etc.

Get a clear glass bowl that has no markings.  Since you have to cover the entire surface of the water with flowers, get a smallish bowl.  You’ll also need some sort of filter (an unbleached coffee filter works well).  A funnel is useful for pouring the resulting essence into a small brown bottle (there is lots of discussion which color bottles preserve best–some people insist on using only brown, others recommend using violet or black).  You’ll need another clean glass container to filter the essence into.  The water you use should not be from the faucet but spring water, rain water, or dew.  The bottle you pour the essence into should be at least 30 ml.

When you decide what you want to make an essence of, ask the plant if you have permission to use it.  You can do this by using your intuition (sit in front of the plant and let it talk to you) or by using a pendulum.  On a sunny morning, fill the bowl half full of water.  Pick enough flowers to cover the surface, being careful to keep them as whole as possible; some people believe that it is best not to touch the flowers but to cut them so they fall directly into the water.  Leave the bowl in full sunlight for three hours.  Make sure shadows don’t fall on it in that time, and that children and animals don’t mess with it.  Remove the flowers carefully (you can use your hand or a leaf of the plant you are making an essence of) and filter the water into the clean container.  Fill the brown bottle half full with vodka, brandy, Everclear, 151 rum, or wine (wine won’t last as long but has its own energy).  Top up with the essence.  This is the mother essence. Label with the flower and the date.  Store in a cool, dark place away from electrical and other energy sources, and it will keep indefinitely.

You can make stock bottles by putting one to seven drops of the mother essence into a bottle filled with either alcohol or a 50/50 mix of alcohol and water.  If you are sensitive to alcohol, you can use glycerine or vinegar.  In turn, use essence from the stock bottle to make a medicine bottle, adding 2-7 drops of the stock essence to a bottle of alcohol or alcohol/water mix.  You can put them in plain water if they are going to be used relatively quickly.  With essences, the greater the dilution, the greater the power

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Shidare zakura no Shiozuke

It’s official. Spring is in the air, as evident by the burgeoning blooms on cherry blossom trees I saw on my way to work. While talking to K, I discovered that the Japanese pickle the blooms and the leaves for food, as an accent for drinks and desserts, and even drunk as a savory tea called sakurayu. How does pickled sakura taste like? Very much like Japanese preserved plums or Ume, me thinks. Hence, it is not surprising that the 2 get paired rather frequently in culinary matrimonial bliss.    Piqued by the thought of making my own batch, I enlisted help in searching for a recipe. The problem is, the recipe does not specify what variety of sakura tree the blooms should be used from. We saw a variety by our workplace called Somei Yoshino, which has light pink flowers with 5 petals. (and proceeded to pluck away) Here’s what we have in a small cup for the curing:

Second Round of Blossom picking at the Esplanade, Boston.

Light source was a street lamp!

(Harvested April 6, 2010)

To make the sakura no shiozuke, you need:

• 100 g sakura blossoms with stems
• sea salt-1 Tbs for dehydration, 4 Tbs for storage
• 4 Tbs plum vinegar (which is essentially gently-fermented brine from salting Japanese plums or Ume.)

Step 1: Wash the flowers carefully and remove the waxy (red) bits by the stems. Drain well and blot with a kitchen towel.

Step 2: Scatter sea salt on top of your flowers. Shake, but do not mix or the petals could separate from the stems. Cover with clear kitchen wrap and place a heavy jar on top of the blooms to force liquid out while soaking them in a brine. (If you have a Japanese pickling press, all the better) Leave overnight or for 1 day.

Step 3: Squeeze the flowers out of excess fluid and place in a jar or bowl. Add the plum vinegar and allow to gently ferment for 3 days.

Step 4: Line a baking tray with kitchen towel. Arrange the flowers and allow to dry in a shaded area. (~3 days)
In this case, my error was in picking fully-open blooms. After the pickling and pressing, the petals fell out, exposing pistils and stamens. Bald (hage) flowers are not pretty. I ended up plucking the petals off, then rolling them into tiny boules before drying them. It is my vision that these boules of petals would unfurl into the steaming hot tea. We’ll see if that happens. *Update: they did!

Step 5: Place the blooms in a small jar and add sea salt for storage. Voila! Your very own salt-cured Somei Yoshino Cherry blossoms!

(Shirotae, Harvested April 7, 2010)

For more sakura varieties, K and I went night sakura-picking by the Esplanade at the Charles River after our wine and cheese party at work. While lovers were whispering sweet-nothings to each other in the dark, the both of us took constant flash photography and suspiciously hovered around the sakura trees picking at the buds. I then tried this recipe with Shirotae Cherry and a darker pink species called Shidare-zakura (Weeping Cherry).
(Shidare, Harvested April 6, 2010)

Of the three, Shirotae was white, Somei Yoshino was pale pink, and Shidare was the darkest pink (and most similar to the recipe). However, in terms of aroma, Shirotae was most aromatic, followed by Somei Yoshino. Shidare smelt the least alluring of the 3 varieties I picked. Trade-off between color and aroma! Well at least I have 3 different flowers to mix and match.

(Finished Shidare Zakura no Shiozuke!)

(Sakurayu)
*Update: Once the curing process was complete, I plopped a couple off Shidare flowers into hot water and behold.. they did open up a little. I was a little disappointed that their pink color was leached into the tea and that the tea wasn’t reminiscent of the sweet plum smell from the salting. In fact, it smells like cut grass, which really isn’t very appetizing, taste-wise. Use hot green tea to mask the zing, perhaps? I will try them in onigiri (rice balls) and update later on their taste.
(Yamazakura, harvested April 16 with Ws in the pouring rain, just outside Berryline in Cambridge)

Four Winds Growers is a family owned and operated citrus nursery in California. In the late 1940s, our founder developed the world’s first Dwarf Citrus trees. Today, theyoffer more than 60 varieties of fine Citrus trees online. These include a selection of rare and unusual Citrus varieties, some of which are not yet available at retail nurseries in California.
Evergreen Dwarf Citrus produce fragrant flowers, followed by full-sized citrus fruit, making them a welcome addition to your garden and table. Carefully hand-grafted, our trees are well suited to growing in containers or as houseplants. They can also be planted in the ground in suitable climates. One of thier most popular varieties is the Dwarf Meyer Lemon, which is also well suited for indoor growing. Other favorites are Kaffir Lime, Bearss Lime, Mexican (Key) Lime and Sweet Lime.

Although Italy certainly produces the lion’s share of amari, you’ll also find delectable offerings from Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Hungary, and the United States. There is no one correct way to serve amari–they are great served neat, at room temperature, chilled, or on the rocks. Each can be served in a tall drink, with sparkling mineral water and a wedge of lemon, lime, or even orange as a garnish. A maraschino cherry on top provides a finishing touch.

APEROL

(22 proof) was developed in Veneto, Italy, by Silvio Barbieri in 1919. Made from an infusion of more than 30 aromatic herbs, spices, and roots– including bitter orange, gentian, and rhubarb– Aperol has a luminous, distinctive deep orange color and is made from grain-neutral distilled spirits with natural orange flavors.

CAMPARI

(48 proof) was first developed shortly after 1862 by Gaspare Campari, a master drink maker by the age of 14 and a native of Castelnuovo southwest of Milan, Italy. This ruby-red, bitter beverage is a mixture of more than 68 aromatic extractions from herbs, roots, plants, and fruits. Campari has a bouquet and taste of bitter orange, cherry, ginger, lemon, licorice, orange zest, and strawberry, with a bittersweet aftertaste.

CIOCIARO

(60 proof) is a dark brown, bittersweet mixture of carefully selected herbs and spices that was conceived in 1873 by Italy’s Paolucci family.

CYNAR

(34 proof) is a zesty, bittersweet apéritif made from artichoke leaves and herbs, conceived in 1950 by Angelo Dalle Molle. The late A. Charles Castelli, said the organic acid cynarin in Cynar “makes what follows taste softer, taste better.” The brown digestive has a bouquet and taste of almonds, herbs, honey, and walnuts and is bittersweet, with a hint of orange in the aftertaste.

FERNET-BRANCA

(80 proof) is a dark brown, extremely bitter tincture introduced in 1845 by Bernardino Branca in Milan, Italy. Fernet contains more than 40 herbs and spices (among them, cardamom, chamomile, cinchona bark, gentian, myrrh, rhubarb, saffron, and sage) in a base of grape alcohol, and it is aged for one year in oak barrels.

RAMAZZOTTI AMARO

(60 proof) was created in 1815 in Ausano Ramazzotti’s small shop in Milan. The naturally bitter apéritif is produced from 33 medical herbs and roots, including gentian, cinchona bark, rhubarb, cinnamon, oregano, sweet orange from Sicily, bitter orange from Curaçao, and other ingredients from around the world.

JÄGERMEISTER

(70 proof) is a dark red, bitter liquor made from 56 botanicals, fruits, and herbs–including aniseed, citrus peel, ginger, ginseng, juniper berries, licorice, poppy seeds, and saffron–that are steeped in alcohol and aged for one year. The name is German for “the hunter,” and the bottle’s label depicts a picture of a noble stag.

MONTENEGRO

(46 proof) has a delicate bouquet and flavor of bitter orange, coriander, cucumber, orange peel, pekoe tea, red cherries, and tangerine. Its initially sweet taste quickly turns mildly bitter.

VELOCE

70 proof) is a pale yellow, bitter liqueur made from such selected herbs as absinthe, licorice, and rhubarb for power and the fruits peach and apricots for elegance. A touch of barrelaged nebbiolo grape spirit rounds out the finished product.

One very important thing that you need to remember is that not every flower is edible.

In fact, sampling some flowers can make you very, very sick.

You also should NEVER use pesticides or other chemicals on any part of any plant that produces blossoms you plan to eat.

Never harvest flowers growing by the roadside.

Identify the flower exactly and eat only edible flowers, and edible parts of those flowers.

Edible Flower Chart

Crystallized/Candy Edible Flowers:

Candied flowers and petals can be used in a variety of imaginative ways – to decorate cakes large and small – all kinds of sweet things, such as ice cream, sherbet, crèmes and fruit salads, cocktails.

Ingredients:

1 egg white or powdered egg whites

Superfine granulated sugar (either purchased or made in a blender or food processor – just blend regular sugar until extra-fine)

Thin paintbrush

Violets, pansies, Johnny-jump-ups, rose petals, lilac, borage, pea, pinks, scented geraniums, etc.

Wire rack covered with wax paper

Directions:

Carefully clean and completely dry the flowers or petals.

Beat the egg white in the small bowl until slightly foamy, if necessary add a few drops of water to make the white easy to spread.

Paint each flower individually with beaten egg white using the small paintbrush. When thoroughly coated with egg white, sprinkle with superfine sugar.

Place the coated flowers or petals on wax paper on a wire rack. Let dry at room temperature (this could take 12 to 36 hours). To test for dryness, check the base of the bloom and the heart of the flower to make sure they have no moisture. Flowers are completely dry when stiff and brittle to the touch. NOTE: To hasten drying, you may place the candied flowers in an oven with a pilot light overnight, or in an oven set at 150 degrees to 200 degrees F with the door ajar for a few hours.

Store the flowers in layers, separated by tissue paper, in an airtight container at room temperature until ready to use.

Making Blossom Ice Cubes:

Gently rinse your pesticide-free flower blossoms.

Boil water for 2 minutes for all the air trapped in the water to escape. Remove from heat and let the water cool until room temperature. NOTE: This will ensure that the ice cubes are crystal clear.

Place each blossom at the base of each individual compartment within an ice tray. Fill each compartment half full with the cooled boiled water and freeze.

After the water is frozen solid, fill each ice cube compartment the rest of the way to the top with the remaining boiled water. Freeze until ready to use.

via Edible Flowers, How to choose Edible Flowers, Edible Flower Chart, List of Edible Flowers, Incredible Edible Flowers.

A couple of suggestions that will make your simple syrup better include adding ¼ cup of corn syrup to the mixture. This will help prevent crystallization of the sugar, since it is a super saturated solution. The other suggestion is to add one or two ounces of vodka or neutral grain spirit to the simple syrup after it has been bottled. This will help prevent mold or bacteria from growing.

If you want to try something different, you can try adding a portion of fructose (available at your local health food store) to your simple syrup recipe. Fructose is a fruit sugar and is the most common sugar found in fruits like peaches, pears, berries, etc.

I prefer simple syrup is one that makes 1 teaspoon of simple syrup equal 1 teaspoon of sugar. That way I know how much sugar is going into each drink, and if a recipe calls for sugar, I can pour the exact amount. The rough ratio for this solution is four parts sugar to three parts water.

Also try infusions, add a sprig of Rosemary or a couple slices of  Habanero !!

don’t forget keep it tart !!!

For the professional, there is a sour mix recipe that follows that can help with efficiency and still taste great.

This recipe also looks at “texture” in the cocktail. This is accomplished by adding some natural sugars (maltodextrin) that increase the viscosity (body) of the sour mix. Also, egg white (optional) is used to give the sour mix the ability to foam. The maltodextrin will provide some foaming capability if you skip the egg white. The zest from the lime gives the sour mix some extra flavour because the oils in the peel are incorporated into the mix. The lime peel also provides some natural green colour for the sour mix. The citric acid helps keep the costs reasonable, and the sour mix consistent. Fruit can be notoriously inconsistent. The corn syrup is to help prevent any re-crystallization of the sugar.

Sour Mix Recipe
1½ Cup (360 ml) Sugar
¼ Cup (60 ml) Corn Syrup
¼ Cup(120 ml) Maltodextrin
4 oz (120 ml) Fresh Lemon Juice
4 oz (120 ml) Fresh Lime Juice
2 tbsp (30 ml) Lime Zest
2 tsp (8 grams) Dehydrated Egg White (Optional)
1 tbls (12 grams) Citric Acid
2 Cups (480 ml) Water

Instructions: Mix water, sugar, glucose, maltodextrin and zest in a pot and gently heat until all the sugars have dissolved. Turn off the heat and add the remaining ingredients, stirring until dissolved. Strain the mix into a 1 litre bottle.

If you want to create separate Lime Sour Mix and Lemon Sour Mix, just follow the same recipe and use only lemon or lime. I rarely use lemon sour, so I will generally just squeeze fresh lemons with simple syrup to make the lemon sour.

1/2 oz Simple syrup
1 oz FRESH lime juice
2 oz White rum
Shake, strain, pour
Chilled coupe glass
Garnish with a lime wheel

The original yet simple blend of rum, fresh lime juice and sugar was reputedly invented around 1905 by an American mining engineer named Jennings Cox, who was working at an iron mine in the town of Daiquiri near Santiago on the southeast coast of Cuba. Legend has it that Cox came up with the idea when he ran out of gin while entertaining guests. (It’s just as likely that this combo was already being drunk in Cuba before Cox arrived, since limes, sugar cane and rum are three things the island produces in abundance).

Originally the drink was served in a tall glass packed with cracked ice. A teaspoon of sugar was poured over the ice and the juice of one or two limes was squeezed over the sugar. Two or three ounces of rum completed the mixture. The glass was then frosted by stirring with a long-handled spoon. Later the Daiquirí evolved to be mixed in a shaker with the same ingredients but with shaved ice. After a thorough shaking, it was poured into a chilled flute glass.

Consumption of the drink remained localised until 1909, when subsequently introduced it to the Army and Navy Club in Washington, D.C., and drinkers of the daiquirí increased over the space of a few decades. The drink became extra popular in the 1940s where rum-based drinks (once frowned upon as being the domain of sailors and down-and-outs), became fashionable, and the Daiquirí saw a tremendous rise in popularity in the US.

The basic recipe for a Daiquirí is also similar to the grog British sailors drank aboard ship from the 1740s onwards. By 1795 the Royal Navy daily grog ration contained rum, water, ¾ ounce of lemon or lime juice, and 2 ounces of sugar. This was a common drink across the Caribbean, and as soon as ice became available this was included instead of the water. Jennings Cox’s story is certainly a popular one and maybe he was responsible for the naming of the drink, but as far as creating it he was about 150 years late.