Herbs for Summer Beverages: Teas, Shrubs & Mocktails

Cool off with refreshing, herb-infused drinks!

Summer heat calls for drinks that truly refresh. Why settle for boring store-bought options when you can craft your own beautiful, herb-infused beverages? From iced teas and tangy shrubs to sophisticated mocktails, herbs bring bright flavors and gentle wellness benefits to your summer sipping.

Iced Herbal Teas to Soothe and Refresh

• Brew strong herbal tea with mint, lemon balm, hibiscus, or chamomile. Chill and serve over ice with fresh citrus slices. Check out our Summer Tea Blends.
• Add a touch of honey or herbal simple syrup for gentle sweetness.
• Tip: Try cold-infusing overnight in the fridge for mellow flavor.
  
  
  
• Making Simple Syrup

o    1  cup sugar

o    1  cup water

o    1 cup loosely packed fresh herb leaves, savory or sweet you can use any herb or edible flower

Place sugar and water in a small pan over medium heat until sugar is fully dissolved, about 2 minutes. Add the herbs. Allow to steep until the liquid reaches room temperature (15-30 minutes) and strain and discard herbs. Place syrup in a glass container or squeeze bottle if you have it.  Cover and chill for a couple hours. Leftovers can be stored in the fridge for up to a month.  

Herbal Shrubs for Tart Complexity

• Make a shrub (drinking vinegar) with herbs, fruit, sugar, and vinegar.
• Basil-strawberry, rosemary-peach, or thyme-blueberry are classic summer combos.
• Mix 1–2 tablespoons of shrub concentrate with sparkling water for a sophisticated non-alcoholic cocktail.
  
  
  
• Roasted Raspberry-Thyme Shrub
• 2 cups raspberries
• 1 cup sugar
• 8 thyme sprigs (or 2 tsp dried)
• 1 cup apple cider vinegar

Place raspberries in a 9 x 13-inch baking dish and toss with sugar, 6 thyme sprigs. Cover and refrigerate for at least 8 hours or overnight, until raspberries release their juice.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Bring the pan to room temperature.  Roast the raspberries and their juice for about 25 minutes until the berries start to float.  Remove the pan from the oven and mash the berries lightly with a spoon.  Strain the juice through a fine mesh sieve over a measuring cup.  Pour vinegar over the berries in sieve and press to remove any last juice.  Pour liquid into a pint jar, add remaining thyme and cap with a plastic lid, shake and refrigerate 1 day to 1 week before using.  (Will keep up to 1 year in the refrigerator.)

TO USE: Combine 1 ounce of Shrub with 4 ounces of seltzer or sparkling water.

This recipe is from The Complete Guide to Pickling by Julie Laing (Rockridge Press:2020)

Elegant Mocktails with Garden-Fresh Flavor

• Muddle fresh herbs (like basil, mint, or lavender) with citrus or berries.
• Add simple syrup, club soda, or tonic for a refreshing fizz.
• Example: Faux Gin and Tonic with your own herbal gin blend and tonic water garnished with cucumber and lemon.

Thyme without Gin Mocktail

• Thyme Simple Syrup
• fresh lemon juice
• Substitute gin
• Garnish: thyme sprigs

To make as a single cocktail – 1 part thyme simple syrup, 2 parts fresh lemon juice, 1 part zero proof Gin or regular gin, add to a large rocks glass with ice and about 3 ounces of sparkling water – part as ¾ ounce jigger makes a 6-ounce cocktail.

Closing

Summer herbs are more than just pretty—they’re the secret to memorable drinks that cool and delight. Experiment with your garden bounty and toast to a season of herbal refreshment!

Chicago Cocktail - Happy Hour

This weekend I am speaking at the PBS Wisconsin Gardening and Green Living Expo and one of my presentations is on Edible Flowers, so if you are stopping in from there, here are two edible Flower Mocktails to try!

I love to create Cocktails and Mocktails.  They use herbs in some of the greatest ways.  One of the coolest things to do is to use a ticture method (alcohol as an extraction method to obtain the best of the herb propeties) to create bitters that can be used to flavor and cut the sweet of cocktails.

We shared a recipe for herb citrus bitters previously, so check out this post.

This is a cocktail I found in a book called Danny's Bar Book -- Chicago Cocktail.  I like to play with this one in winter, becasue it uses curacao which is a blue liqure. I created a mocktail version of curacao last winter.  It takes a few weeks, but the flavor is citrus and wonderful and is fun to make drinks with, like the Jack Frost and other winter drinks, even though it is normally seen as a tropical drink additive.

Simulated Blue Curacao

Blue curaçao is a liqueur that’s made with laraha, an orange-like citrus fruit that grows on Curaçao (an island in the Caribbean). This liqueur is used as an ingredient in many alcoholic and non-alcoholic cocktails and drinks. Making non-alcoholic blue curaçao at home is relatively simple, but the process does take about three weeks. The juice and the vinegar replace the vodka and brandy used in the original recipe.

You will need:

1 ¼ cups white grape juice

¼ cup apple cider vinegar

¼ cup peach syrup or peach nectar

¼ cup apricot syrup or more grape juice

3 navel oranges (or 6 clementines)

1 T bitter orange peel, dried

4 whole cloves

2 cups sugar

1 ½ cups water

Blue food coloring

Peel the oranges, skin only, absolutely no pith at all. Combine juice and syrups with peel in a quart jar. Allow to steep in a cool dark place for three weeks, shaking or stirring once a week.  On the last day add the cloves and allow to steep 24 hours.  Then create a simple syrup with the water and sugar in a saucepan.  Allow the simple syrup to cool to room temp and while waiting strain the peels and cloves from the steeped liquid.  Combine the cooled simple syrup and the steeped liquid in a bowl and add blue food coloring in 5 drop intervals until you reach the desired shade.  Allow to rest at room temperature for 24 hours before you serve.  Will keep up to 2 months in the refrigerator.

Finally the Cocktail!

Chicago Cocktail

2 oz. Brandy (or red grape juice)

1 dash citrus (or other) bitters

1/4 teaspoon blue Curacao

"Frost the edge of a rocks glass with lemon juice dipped in powdered sugar.  The add ingredients to glass with cracked ice and stir to chill.  Garnish with a slice of lemon and sip to enjoy the chill of a Chicago Winter.

FYI- follow us on Instagram as we share a mocktail or cocktail every Friday at 5 PM Central time for an herbal happy hour!

Hey it is Margarita Day! Weekend Recipe Early

In keeping with my Mocktails research... I love to do programs on Mocktails and Cocktails using herbs and just set a few this week! (check out the Programs page)

I am working on blender drinks for a new version for 2023 and have been creating faux margaritas as a result.  Since it is National Margarita Day, here is one of my favorites.  You will have to let me know what you think.  Is it program worthy?

Mock Citrus Margarita

• 1 6-ounce can, frozen limeade concentrate
• 3/4 cup orange juice
• 2/3 cup unsweetened grapefruit juice infused with lemon balm
• 25 to 30 ice cubes (about 4 cups)
• Course sugar or salt and lime slices

To infuse the grapefruit juice, add 1 cup juice and 1 cup lemon balm (fresh or dried) to a jar and let steep overnight in the refrigerator.  To make the mocktail, combine frozen limeade concentrate, orange juice and 3/4 cups of infused grapefruit juice in a blender container.  Cover and blend till smooth.  With the motor running, add ice cubes, a few at a time through the hole in the lid blending until slushy.

Rub the rims of 8 rocks glasses or 4 margarita glasses with lime and invert in a dish of sugar or salt. Shake off the excess.  Pour the margaritas into the glasses and serve with a lime slice.  Will make 4 8-ounce servings or 8 4-ounce servings.

Breakfast Sangria - Weekend Recipe

For Dry January I took a typical Sangria recipe and made it into the perfect alcohol-free item to serve at a brunch.  It goes well with breakfast food and sandwiches.

This is light, bright and perfect for the morning.  It is a good make ahead beverage for entertaining. The sprigs of herbs can be removed before serving so as not to clutter the beverage.

Breakfast Sangria (makes 4 to 6 servings)

• 1 pink grapefruit
• 1 navel orange
• 2 limes
• 2 sprigs lemon balm or 1/8 cup Lemon verbena leaves.
• 3 to 4 sprigs lemon thyme
• 1 cup orange juice
• 1 750 ml bottle of TOST (a sparkling alcohol alternative made with white tea, cranberry and ginger)
• 12 to 24 ounces plain or grapefruit flavored sparkling water.

Slice the citrus fruit into half moons.  Mix with the orange juice in a pitcher that holds at least 2 quarts.   Add herb sprigs, fresh is best, but dry is fine depending on season. Mix in the Tost and cover the pitcher tightly with plastic wrap.  Chill overnight or at least 8 hours before serving.

When ready to serve, remove the herbs, top off the pitcher with sparkling water and serve with lime or orange wedges.

 

 

Dry January Treats - Winter Mocktail Punch

I love Mocktails.  I do a program on making mocktails and I enjoy them in my entertaining. The key to a good Mocktail is creating a rich selection of flavors that will give you the richness of alcohol without the alcohol.

The key for this Mocktail Punch is to make your own grenadine.  Generally grenadine is just a colored sugar water when you buy the store bought stuff.  Some companies will make it with lemon juice and the original pomegranate juice (which is how it got the name, as grenade is pomegranate in French.). But a homemade grenadine can have so much more depth of flavor as you use pomegranate juice and lemon balm.

To do that you need: 

1 cup Pomegranate juice

1 cup sugar/honey

1 cup fresh or 1/2 cup dried lemon balm

dash of lemon juice

Warm the pomegranate juice in a saucepan and add 1 cup sugar or honey and stir until dissolved.  Then add the lemon balm stir until combined.  Remove from heat add a squeeze of  lemon juice and allow to cool to room temperature before straining out the lemon balm. Bottle and use within 2 weeks and keep refrigerated.

Winter Mocktail Punch

2 cups apple cider

1 cup sprite or 7up

2 Tbls handmade pom-grenadine

Combine apple cider and pom-grenadine with ice in a shaker and shake 30 seconds to chill.  Then add chilled Sprite or 7UP.  Top off with a few skewered cranberries or sliced apples.

Make it a bit more fun by stirring in a couple spoonfuls of raspberry syrup to make it more like a wintertime party punch.

Mocktail and Cocktail Punch for the New Year Holiday!

I have to say I am always more ambitious than my time actually allows, but I must admit I was not expecting to be as busy as I have been this fall.  I should have had a clue when when people where Christmas shopping from in in July.

I have been teaching online and that takes more preparation and concentration that one might realize exhausting my ability to write a post.  I have never been one to pre-program most of my posts so those that are pre-programed were kinda the only ones that happened recently.

As a result the recipe theme ended in October.  Since November and December were not my most creative theme ideas anyway, I just dropped them from the schedule and will start a new set of recipe ideas come January for 2021.

Instead I thought I would share a few punch recipes with you.  If you are entertaining during the holidays, these are a fun way to share flavors.  If not, making a punch and keeping in the refrigerator is a great way to extend the holiday fun when, like us, the number celebrating is rather small.  You can also share these recipes with family and all share the same beverage while Facetiming or Zooming.

Merry Mocktail

4 cups cranberry juice

1 bottle sparkling apple cider

1 liter ginger ale

¼ cup fresh lemon juice

Orange slices studded with cloves

Put some ice in a punch bowl or pitcher. Combine all the liquid ingredients together and give them a stir. Float a few orange slices in the punch and add a few fresh cranberries. Or stud the orange slices with cloves and keep on the side to use as garnish for people to add to their glasses. Add 12 ounces of vodka to the recipe for a cocktail.

Mocking Fall Apple Punch

4 parts Sparkling Apple Cider

1 part Mulled White Grape Juice

½ part Lime Juice

Apple slices studded with cloves and kept in lemon juice until used as a garnish and apple mint sprigs.

Put some ice in a punch bowl or pitcher. Put all the liquid ingredients together, and give them a stir. Float a few apple slices in the punch and add a few sprigs of apple mint. Or stud the apple slices and place in lemon juice on the side as garnish for people to add to their glasses. Substitute hard cider  and/or mulled white wine for a cocktail.

This Bourbon Punch is a variation on the HARRY ELLIS COMMEMORATIVE Knockout PUNCH, but I was never able to definitively determine which Harry Ellis the drink was designed to commemorate, so if you have details, please share.

Sneaky Bourbon Punch

Bourbon is a smooth alcohol, and anything made with it can sneak up on you, so enjoy this punch when you know you will not be driving.

• 8 cinnamon sticks
• 1 750ml bottle of bourbon
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 4 oz. ginger beer
• 4 oz. lemon juice
• 4 oz. unsweetened cranberry juice
• 6 oz. Madeira Wine
• 24 oz. sparkling or soda water
• Fresh nutmeg

GARNISHES

• Mint leaves
• fresh cranberries

PREPARATION

Let cinnamon sticks sit overnight in bourbon. Strain. Stir sugar into the juices and ginger beer until completely dissolved. Pour juice/sugar blend, Madeira, and cinnamon-infused bourbon into a punch bowl and stir. Top with sparkling water and stir again. Grate a healthy amount of nutmeg—about a quarter of the whole—on top.

To serve, pour a 3 oz. ladleful over ice in a punch cup. Garnish with a cranberry and a mint leaf. Don’t dilute the punch with ice, always have the ice in the glass!

 

RECIPE THEME

Each month a theme is chosen and a number of recipes on that theme from my massive archive will be shared.  This year we have 12 new topics, different from the topics of last year.  

To find the recipes of last year, check out this recipe link or search the blog with the topic Recipe2018, or Recipe2019 

You can search the monthly theme by looking for the theme keyword in the search box and it will pull up the recipes on that theme as posted, so look at the bottom of the recipe in each posting for the KEYWORD in the () to search for each  month.  All recipes this year will be tagged Recipe2020 so you can find them all.

The themes are:

Feb 2020 - Footbal Tailgate Favorites (AppFeb)

March 2020 - Kabobs (KabobMar)

April 2020 - Brunch (BrunchApr) more in 2021 also

May 2020 - Non-Traditional Pizza (PizzaMay)

June 2020 - Stir Fry Dishes (StirJun)

July 2020 - Salads with no lettuce (SaladJul)

August 2020 - Pickled things (PickleAug)

September 2020 - Quiche (QuicheSep)

October 2020 - Squash Soups (SquashOct)

Hurricane with Herbed simple syrup - Final Cocktail for the Year

Happy New Year!

Today I want to wrap up the month of cocktail / mocktail recipes by speaking about the making of simple syrup.  A simple syrup is the key to many cocktails and with herbs as a base you can create an unlimited combination of flavors to make an equally numerous series of drinks both alcoholic and non-alcoholic.

Once you learn how easy it is, you'll discover just how essential it is to keep simple syrup in stock in your bar and kitchen. It's found in many mixed drink recipes, including the mojito, daiquiri, and hurricane. You can also use it to sweeten your coffee, tea, and homemade lemonades and sodas.

Just add a Tablespoon to 8 ounces of seltzer water or club soda and you have your own flavored drinks.  You can also add to still water for a refreshing beverage.  Below I share how to make the syrup and a hurricane which is a fun citrus drink to brighten the long winter days.

Traditional Herbed Simple Syrup

      1 cup water

      1 cup sugar (white, turbinado, raw demerara sugar, your choice)

      1 cup fresh (only half if using dry) herbs

Directions:

1.         Bring the water to a boil in a small saucepan.

2.         Add sugar and stir until it has dissolved completely.

3.         Reduce the heat, add the herbs and cover the pan.

4.         Remove the pan from the heat. Allow it to cool and steep for at least 1 hour until room temperature.

5.         Strain out the herbs, pour the syrup into a bottle, and refrigerate. The syrup will be good for up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator.

NOTES:

·       Because of the short shelf life, I place my syrup in plastic squirt bottles and freeze it.  When you want a cocktail it only takes about 15 to 20 minutes for the frozen syrup to thaw.

·     Don't expect the syrup at either ratio to be as thick as maple syrup or honey. Instead, it will be thin and very easy to pour—more of a consistency similar to a liqueur.

·     Do not allow the syrup to boil for too long or the syrup will be too thick once it cools.

·     To prolong the shelf life, add a little vodka. Usually between a tablespoon and an ounce is enough, depending on how large the batch of syrup is. 

Using your Simple Syrup to Make a Cocktail

The hurricane is an iconic tropical cocktail that you should know and will never forget. It is a fun rum-filled drink that includes the captivating pairing of passion fruit and orange juices. While it looks and tastes rather complex, it is quite easy to make.

This cocktail became popular at Pat O'Brien's bar in 1940s New Orleans. It's said that O'Brien created

the heavily rummed drink as a means to get rid of the large stock of rum his Southern distributors forced him to buy.

The story says that it debuted during the 1939 World's Fair in New York City and was named after the hurricane lamp-shaped glasses that the first drinks were served in. This style continues to be known as a hurricane glass.

Tropical Hurricane with Herbed Simple Syrup

2 ounces light rum 

2 ounces dark rum

2 ounces passion fruit juice

1 ounce orange juice

1/2 lime

1 tablespoon simple syrup made with herbs – lavender, mint or lemon balm are all good choices

1 tablespoon grenadine (see below to make your own!)

Garnish: maraschino cherry and orange slice

Directions:

1.                  In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, squeeze the juice from half a lime.

2.                  Add the other ingredients.

3.                  Shake well, until the outside of the shaker tin becomes frosty.

4.                  Strain into a hurricane glass and garnish with a lemon slice.

Other Simple syrup flavors you can create

·         Sour mix (aka bar mix or sweet and sour) is also used in the bar, often for tropical cocktails. You make a plain or herb flavored simple syrup and add 1 cup of the syrup to 2 cups of citrus juices and you have a homemade sour mix.  It is great with lemon and lime juice, but also with tangerine and orange.

·         Cinnamon simple syrup is an excellent sweetener for coffee as well as classic and modern cocktails. Cinnamon is warming and is perfect for use in winter. The cinnamon can be combined with other flavors like apple, cherry, thyme, and vanilla. Make yours by combining 1 cup water, 1 cup sugar and 2 cinnamon sticks and follow the typical directions.

·         Ginger simple syrup made with 1 cup of sugar added to ¾ cup water and 1 cup of sliced peeled ginger offers a subtle spice that is very versatile. Because ginger is a root, you will need to bring the syrup to a light boil then reduce the heat and allow to simmer over heat for 15 minutes to truly gather the unique flavor of the ginger.  It can be added to tea or mixed into cocktails where you might use ginger ale or ginger beer and it's a good substitute for a ginger liqueur. Ginger can be combined with other flavors; vanilla or habanero are just two very fun possibilities.

·         Use 3 Tablespoons of dried lavender flowers with 1 cup water and 2 cups sugar and use the above instructions to make a lavender simple syrup which are a great an easy way to add flavor to cocktails. These are used all the time in modern drink recipes and the basic recipe works for nearly any herb, including basil, parsley, and rosemary.

·         Chile peppers in simple syrup give the sweetener a nice heat that's an excellent way to spice up your cocktails. Any pepper will work, so you can customize the spiciness to suit your needs.  Use two peppers with 2 cups of raw sugar and 1 cup of water.

·         The most popular flavored syrup in the bar is grenadine. That's right, the key ingredient to a Shirley Temple and tequila sunrise is little more than a pomegranate-flavored simple syrup and it is easy to make grenadine from scratch.

·         One uses pomegranate juice instead of water adds the sugar and flavors it with lemon balm leaves to craft your own grenadine.  If you have some orange water, you can splash a few dollops of that in to enhance the flavor.

·         Split a vanilla bean in half and pour warmed sugar/water mixture and allow to steep 8 to 10 hours to create this amazing simple syrup. It is a fantastic sweetener for almost any beverage. You can build on the sweet flavor with a little ginger.

Mint and Lemon Grass Cooler - Weekend Recipe

Today’s cocktail uses a technique called Muddling.  Muddling is when you place the fresh herbs in a tall glass with some sugar and press with a muddler (a wood or ceramic rod) several times.  You are not pulverizing the herbs, just breaking the leaf enough to release the flavor into the sugar so that when the alcohol and other ingredients are added the flavors will meld and create a robust flavor.  This cocktail uses a shaker to marry all the flavors before you pour into a glass and add soda.

Mint and Lemon Grass Cooler
2 tablespoons chopped mint
1 tablespoon chopped lemongrass (from bottom of stalk)
2 slices lemon, quartered, plus 1 for garnish (optional)
1 teaspoon sugar
Ice
1 ounce anise liquor (such as Ricard or Pernod)
Soda water
Top of lemongrass stalk, for garnish (optional)

Directions:
Muddle together mint, lemongrass, lemon slices, and sugar. Add to a shaker with ice and liquor and shake well.  Strain as you pour into a tall glass filled with ice and top with soda water. Garnish with remaining lemon slice and lemongrass, if desired.

RECIPE THEME

Each month a theme is chosen and a number of recipes on that theme from my massive archive will be shared.  This year we have 12 new topics, different from the topics of last year.  To find the recipes of last year, check out this recipe link or search the blog with the topic Recipe2018. 

You can search the monthly theme by looking for the theme keyword in the search box and it will pull up the recipes on that theme as posted, so look at the bottom of the recipe in each posting for the KEYWORD in the () to search for each  month.  All recipes this year will be tagged Recipe2019 so you can find them all.

The themes are:

Jan 2019 – Chicken and Dumplings (CDumpsJan)

Feb 2019 - Pasta Dishes (PastaFeb)

March 2019 - Edible Flowers (FlowerMar)

April 2019 - Seafood Recipes (SeafoodApr)

May 2019 - Cajun And Creole (C&CMay)

June 2019 - Vegetarian Dishes (VegJun)

July 2019 - Zucchini Recipes (ZucJul)

August 2019 - National Mustard Day – mustard recipes (MustardAug)

September 2019 - Quiche (QuicheSep)

October 2019 - Crock Pot meals (CrockOct)

November 2019 - Pies (PieNov)

December 2019 - Mocktails (MockDec)