I'll Drink To That!
Whether you’re looking for a drink to quench your thirst, feed your hunger, nourish your body or just get that party started, the new titles below will provide palate-enticing suggestions for creating a mix of satisfying sips and swallows.
Shrubs
By Michael Dietsch
Countryman Press, 2014
Shrubs, popular thirst-quenching Victorian- and Colonial-era drinks combining fruit, sugars and vinegar, are enjoying a renaissance. Made with seasonal produce and fresh herbs and spices, shrubs can be mixed in cocktails, sauces, marinades, salad dressings or enjoyed on their own. Dietsch, a writer and blogger at ADashOfBitters.com, serves up nearly 50 easy-to-prepare recipes for sharp, tangy and refreshing infusions. Stir up a Cranberry Sauce Shrub, use Red Currant Shrub in a Vermouth Cassis, mix Apple Cinnamon Shrub with seltzer or develop your own shrub-based cocktail using the book’s straightforward directions and step-by-step photographs.
DIY Nut Milks, Nut Butters and More: From Almonds to Walnuts
By Melissa King
The Experiment, 2014
Nut milks have fewer calories and more nutrients than dairy milks and taste great. Blogger Melissa King of MyWholeFoodLife.com has produced a primer for making nut milks and butters, together with recipes for mixing them up in whole-food snacks and desserts. Ingredients are few and instructions simple for making drinks like Homemade Coconut, Hazelnut and Strawberry Brazil Nut Milks, which can also be used to create other dishes. Straightforward recipes use simple ingredients found in your pantry. Every dish is gluten-free and vegan, and most are grain-free, too.
Juice: Recipes for Juicing, Cleansing and Living Well
By Carly de Castro, Hedi Gores and Hayden Slater
Ten Speed Press, 2014
Los Angeles–based Pressed Juicery founders explain how juicing and juice cleansing make for healthy living. You’ll need only a blender or juicer to try out the book’s 75 recipes for the shop’s most popular drinks. Find instructions for using greens (juices based on green leafy vegetables), roots (from filling root vegetables like beets and carrots), citrus (light immune boosters), fruits, aloe and chlorophyll water and other ingredients to create sweet and savory organic juices, creamy nut milks, rich smoothies, flavored waters and delicious blends like Chocolate Almond Milk, Berry Basil Bliss or Apple Lemon Ginger to soothe that winter cold.
Forgotten Drinks of Colonial New England: From Flips & Rattle-Skulls to Switchel & Spruce Beer
By Corin Hirsch
The History Press, 2014
Beers, ales, wines, cider and spirits were the drinks of choice in Colonial New England for adults and even for many children. Alcoholic drinks were a carryover from life in England and a product of the New World’s abundant ingredients like apples, sugar and molasses, wild berries and hops. The drinking culture sustained the taverns and inns that became meeting places where unrest and the Revolution brewed. In this enjoyable and informative read that the author describes as “a romp through colonial drinks, their origins and how they’re made and blended,” New England food and drinks writer Corin Hirsch explores some of the favorite potations of early Americans and provides modern-day recipes.
Kombucha Revolution: 75 Recipes for Homemade Brews, Fixers, Elixirs and Mixers
By Stephen Lee and Ken Koopman
Ten Speed Press, 2014
Kombucha is a fizzy, fermented tea-based beverage with probiotics, vitamins and enzymes, usually flavored with fruit or vegetable juices. Author Stephen Lee, cofounder of Tazo and Stash Teas and Kombucha Wonder Drink, offers tips for brewing the perfect batch of kombucha and caring for your SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast), the starter culture for the drink. Lee shares his favorite recipes, like Lavender-Green Tea Kombucha, together with suggestions from other brewers, bartenders and chefs for infusing your brew with fruits, herbs and spices, and incorporating it into juices, smoothies, sauces, snacks, sweets and cocktails.
Drink the Harvest
By Nan K. Chase and DeNeice C. Guest
Storey Publishing, 2014
Many fruits, vegetables and herbs can be concocted into delicious beverages that are healthier and more economical than their store-bought counterparts. Drink the Harvest shows you how to create juices, ciders, wines, meads, teas and syrups to drink now or put up for later in the year. From strawberry juice to pear cider, dandelion wine to spiced apple mead, citrus peel tea to kombucha, the book offers instruction for growing a beverage garden and harvesting ingredients for maximum flavor and quantity.
Nourishing Broth: An Old Fashioned Remedy for the Modern World
By Sally Fallon Morrell and Kaayla T. Daniel
Grand Central Life & Style, 2014
Fallon, the founder of the Weston A. Price Foundation and author of Nourishing Traditions, together with Kaayla Daniels, presents a comprehensive guidebook on the science and benefits of homemade bone broth. The authors explore the many ways bone broth can promote healing, treat a variety of ailments and promote general good health. Find cooking techniques and nearly 150 pages of recipes for making and using various broths, from simple chicken broth to rich clear consommé and Russian fish stock. A book that should be on the shelf of every home cook!
The Blender Girl
By Tess Masters
Ten Speed Press, 2014
A slow-cooked meal is wonderful, but sometimes a quick meal mixed up in a blender is even better, especially when it’s nutrient-dense. The debut cookbook from blogger TheBlenderGirl.com features 100 gluten-free, vegan recipes for drinks and meals easily whipped up in a blender. Many recipes are raw and nut-, soy-, corn- and sugar-free and use natural sweeteners. Besides smoothies, soups and spreads you’ll find recipes for appetizers, salads and main dishes with a blended component, like Fresh Spring Rolls with Orange-Almond Sauce. Read about the benefits of soaking, sprouting and dehydrating; healthful food combinations; and the benefits of eating raw, probiotic-rich and alkaline ingredients.
