The Wildcrafted Cocktail
Make Your Own Foraged Syrups, Bitters, Infusions, and Garnishes
Before I make a pickle brine, I try to imagine what the finished product will taste like. You’ve heard the expression “the mind’s eye”? When I’m inventing recipes, I use my “mind’s palate.” All brines have certain things in common (such as water and vinegar), but your spices will change depending on what it is you’re pickling. The brine for these daylily buds is one of my favorites. It’s a little spicy, a little sweet, and a lot delicious.
Ingredients
SERVINGS: 1 Serving(s)
For cocktail
- 2½ ounces gin
- ½ ounce dry vermouth
- ¼ ounce picked daylily brine (or more to taste)
- Quick Pickled Daylily Buds for garnish
FOR QUICK PICKLED DAYLILY BUDS
- 3 cups daylily buds
- 1½ cups water
- 1½ cups white wine vinegar
- ½ cup sugar
- 1½ tablespoons kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon dried wild ginger rhizome
- ½ teaspoon whole, dried spicebush berries
- ½ teaspoon whole, dried pequin chiles
- 1 large Pennsylvania bay leaf (if you have California bay leaves, use half a leaf; the flavor is much stronger)
Preparation
FOR COCKTAIL
Add gin, vermouth, and the brine in a shaker with ice and stir for 30 seconds. Strain into a chilled glass of choice and top with quick pickled daylily buds for garnish.
FOR QUICK PICKLED DAYLILY BUDS
Makes 3 half-pint jars
Combine all the brine ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and let the brine simmer for 2 to 3 minutes, whisking to dissolve the sugar and salt. Pour the hot brine over the daylily buds and let steep for several hours. You can eat your quick pickles right away, but the flavor will develop with time, and they’ll be even tastier after sitting in the brine for a few days.
Store, covered, in the refrigerator, where they’ll keep for several weeks.
NOTES: PICKING DAYLILIES
It’s not unusual to find great expanses of daylilies (Hemerocallis fulva) in fields near abandoned homesteads or along country roads. Daylilies produce lots of flowers and they also tend to grow in large clumps. You should be able to harvest several cups of buds and still leave plenty behind to look beautiful in bloom. For pickling, choose buds that are about 2 inches long and fully green, or with just a flush of orange.
About this recipe
RECIPE EXCERPTED FROM THE WILDCRAFTED COCKTAIL © BY ELLEN ZACHOS. USED WITH PERMISSION FROM STOREY PUBLISHING.
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