Ever since Miss Mojito started testing tonics and investigating the possibility of homemade tonic water, she’s experienced a growing interest in the make-your-own-ingredient movement. Expert mixologists are well known for creating their own syrups, cordials and the like, but more and more the trend is for at-home-cocktail-imbibers to adapt these techniques for their own kitchens.
In a May 19 article on San Francisco-based blog Yumsugar.com, the poster recalls her experience at a “House-Made Ingredients How-To” class, where instructors Jeff Holinger and Neyah White taught attendees about the value of experimenting with everyday kitchen items—pickle juice, for example—with a waste-not, want-not mentality. The end results are liquors with new and exciting flavors.
And in Michelle Maynard’s May 19 New York Times article, “Ginger Ale Without the Can,” Ms. Maynard has convinced me to try my hand at a homemade version of the soda to integrate into my home bar. A homemade ginger ale and bourbon sounds like it would literally burst with freshness.
Wikihow even provides an easy, 10-step method for creating your own cordials. With summer upon us, I’m thinking that a cordial made from strawberries or raspberries might be the ultimate refreshment. I’d love to try a dollop in a flute of champagne.
And the prospect of homemade, pomegranate-flavored grenadine is truly exciting. The process of boiling and reducing a mixture of sugar and pomegranate juice couldn’t be more simple, although I might try replacing the two cups of sugar with agave nectar or Stevia natural sweetener. That’s the beauty of homemade ingredients, after all: you can adapt the recipes to suit your needs.
Miss Mojito is eager to know: do you have any home ingredient experiments to share?
Posted by Miss Mojito.
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