The Herbarium
1.5 oz Hendrick’s Gin .5 oz St-Germain elderflower liqueur 3-4 chunks lemon cucumber or regular cucumber 2-3 sprigs basil ¼ lemon Club soda Borage blossom or basil leaf for garnish Squeeze lemon into cocktail shaker and combine all ingredients except the club soda. Muddle cucumber and basil, then add ice, shake, and strain into a tall, skinny Collins glass filled with ice. Top with club soda and add garnish. Like...
Read MoreBorage
People say that borage leaves taste like cucumber, but if that’s the flavor you’re after, why not just eat a cucumber? Use the leaves if you want—some people pick small, young leaves for salads or cook them with other greens—but it’s the flowers I’m interested in. The dazzling bright blue color isn’t found in many flowers, particularly edibles, and the fact that they hold their color when frozen means that you can do a very elegant little ice cube trick with them: Fill ice cube trays halfway, freeze, and then set a flower on each half-cube of ice. Refill with water and...
Read MoreGrow Your Own: The Old Tom Gin Collection
My cocktail-loving friends at Log House Plants have put together a collection of plants based around the flavors in gin. They’re a wholesale nursery, so they’re growing the plants for sale at retail garden centers and gourmet grocery stores on the West Coast. Look for them in your local indie garden center/grocery store, or order them online from the Territorial Seed Company, who has joined in this effort and put together a great collection of cocktail-friendly plants and seeds. Here’s what’s in our Old Tom Gin Garden collection: Cucumber Mexican Sour...
Read MoreDrink Your Flowers
Not every flower belongs in a cocktail glass. But these do. They’re easy to grow and totally worthwhile. Check it out: Borage. People say that borage leaves taste like cucumber, but if that’s the flavor you’re after, why not just eat a cucumber? Use the leaves if you want—some people pick small, young leaves for salads or cook them with other greens—but it’s the flowers I’m interested in. The dazzling bright blue color isn’t found in many flowers, particularly edibles, and the fact that they hold their color when frozen means that you can do a very elegant little ice...
Read MoreBooks by Amy Stewart
The Drunken Botanist
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