The Drunken Botanist: The Plants that Create the World's Great Drinks

by Amy Stewart

  ANISE HYSSOP

  Agastache foeniculum

  lamiaceae (mint family)

  In spite of its name and its anise flavor, this native North American mintlike herb does not actually contain significant quantities of anethole. Its flavor comes mostly from estragole, another flavor compound also found in tarragon, basil, anise, star anise, and other herbs. While it can be used by distillers, it is more likely to be used as a mixer. Its name is somewhat misleading, as it is neither an anise nor a hyssop, both plants also used for their licorice flavor.

  FENNEL

  Foeniculum vulgare

  apiaceae (carrot family)

  This tall, striking perennial herb with fine, lacy foliage and bright yellow flowers is used in a variety of cuisines throughout the Mediterranean, North Africa, and Asia. The bulb, leaves, and stalks are all edible, but it is the fruit—often called a seed, although the seeds are actually found inside the tiny oblong fruits—that is used to flavor absinthe, pastis, and other liqueurs.

  A cultivar called Florence fennel (Foeniculum vulgare var. azoricum) is grown more for its bulb, but it also produces seeds with higher levels of anethole and limonene, giving it a sweet, lemony flavor. Another variety, sweet fennel (F. vulgare var. dulce), also has higher levels of these flavors and is used for essential oil production and distillation. The dulce variety has the added advantage of having very low levels of eucalyptol, which would give an unpleasant medicinal, camphor flavor to spirits. Fennel pollen is also high in these oils, although difficult to collect in any significant quantity.

  THE PERFECT PASTIS

  1 plane ticket to Paris

  1 summer afternoon

  1 sidewalk café

  Upon arrival in Paris, locate a café that appears to be frequented by actual Parisians. Secure a seat and order un pastis, s’il vous plaît. If it is served neat with a jug of cold water, you are expected to mix it yourself, drizzling the water in until you have achieved a satisfactory ratio—usually 3 to 5 parts water to 1 part pastis.

  HYSSOP

  Hyssopus officinalis

  lamiaceae (mint family)

  This blue-or pink-flowered mint, also called herb hyssop, is native to the Mediterranean and is an ingredient in absinthe, herbal liqueurs, and natural cough medicines. In spite of its popularity in licorice-flavored liqueurs, chemical analysis shows that it actually has more camphor-and pine-flavored components. Extracts can cause seizures in large quantities but are considered safe in the kinds of low doses used in spirits.

  LICORICE

  Glycyrrhiza glabra

  fabaceae (bean family)

  This small, southern European perennial is actually a type of bean, but unlike most beans, it reaches only two or three feet tall and doesn’t form a vine. The root is the part of the plant harvested for its flavor. In addition to anethole, it contains high levels of the natural sweetener glycyrrhizin, which can cause high blood pressure and other dangerous conditions in large quantities. Licorice is used in cigarettes to mask harsh flavors and retain moisture, and in candies and liqueurs.

  A WORLD of LICORICE-FLAVORED DRINKS

  Absinthe

  France

  Aguardiente

  Colombia

  Anesone

  Italy

  Anis

  Spain, Mexico

  Anis escarchado

  Portugal

  Anisette

  France, Italy, Spain, Portugal

  Arak

  Lebanon, Middle East

  Herbsaint

  United States

  Mistra

  Greece

  Ouzo

  Greece, Cypress

  Pastis

  France

  Patxaran

  Spain

  Raki

  Turkey, Balkan states

  Sambuca

  Italy

  STAR ANISE

  Illicium verum

  schisandraceae (star-vine family)

  Star anise is the fruit of a small Chinese evergreen tree related to the magnolia. The star-shaped fruits, which are harvested while unripe and allowed to dry in the sun, form five to ten points, each containing a single seed. The oils are concentrated not in the seeds themselves but in the star-shaped shell, called a pericarp. The oil is easier and less expensive to extract from star anise than it is from anise, so star anise is more widely used in pastis and herbal liqueurs. In recent years, however, as much as 90 percent of the world’s harvest of star anise has been purchased by the pharmaceutical industry to make Tamiflu, a drug used to combat flu pandemics.

  The trees grow in China, Vietnam, and Japan. Japanese star anise (Illicium anisatum), a close relative, is severely toxic and has poisoned people who picked it by mistake, so it would be unwise to harvest this one in the wild.

  SWEET CICELY

  Myrrhis odorata

  apiaceae (carrot family)

  Cicely leaves and stems contain enough anethole to make them a useful licorice-flavored ingredient in aquavit and other spirits. Like other members of the carrot family, it is a feathery-leaved perennial with white umbel-shaped flowers. Although it is sometimes called British myrrh, it is not to be confused with the tree called myrrh from which a powerful resin is extracted.

  SAZERAC

  This classic New Orleans cocktail is the perfect gateway drink for anyone unaccustomed to licorice-flavored cocktails.

  1 sugar cube

  2 to 3 dashes Peychaud’s bitters

  1½ ounces Sazerac rye or another rye whiskey

  ¼ ounce Herbsaint, absinthe, or pastis

  Lemon peel

  This drink requires a somewhat showy technique, but it’s worth learning: Fill an Old-Fashioned glass with ice to get it cold. In a second Old-Fashioned glass, muddle the sugar cube and bitters, and then add the rye. Pick up the first glass, toss the ice into the sink, then swirl the Herbsaint around the glass and toss it out as well. Pour the rye mixture into the Herbsaint-coated glass and garnish with lemon peel.

  MAIDENHAIR FERN

  Adiantum capillus-veneris

  pteridaceae (fern family)

  With its delicate fan-shaped leaves and dramatic black stems, the maidenhair fern has been a prized conservatory plant since Victorian times. A cosmopolitan species native to North and South America, Europe, and parts of Asia and Africa, this fern has been around long enough to find its way into traditional medicines. One such product, capillaire, made the transition from medicinal tonic to cocktail ingredient.

  Seventeenth-century herbalist Nicholas Culpeper recommended capillaire syrup to treat coughs, jaundice, and kidney problems. Over time, the fern became less important as an ingredient, and the term capillaire came to refer simply to a syrup of sugar, water, egg whites, and orange flower water. Today the syrup is making a comeback in re-creations of vintage cocktails and punches like the classic Jerry Thomas’ Regent’s Punch.

  While maidenhair ferns are widely regarded as nontoxic and are included on the FDA’s list of approved food additives, many other species of ferns are poisonous and can cause severe gastrointestinal problems. Some species of ferns, including bracken ferns, also contain carcinogens. In addition, maidenhair ferns are known for their remarkable ability to take up toxins such as arsenic from the soil and therefore should not be gathered in the wild where the soil condition is unknown. For all these reasons, homemade capillaire should be undertaken with care.

  CAPILLAIRE SYRUP

  Several stems of fresh maidenhair fern

  2 cups water

  1 ounce orange flower water

  1½ cups sugar

  Bring the water to a boil, and pour it on the fern. Let stand for 30 minutes. Strain and add the orange flower water and sugar. Reheat, if necessary, to dissolve the sugar. It will keep for a few weeks in the refrigerator and longer in the freezer.

  This syrup could be used in any recipe that calls for simple syrup, but a historically accurate experiment could be conducted with the following recipe from Jerry Thomas’ fa
mous 1862 manual, The Bar-Tender’s Guide:

  JERRY THOMAS’ REGENT’S PUNCH

  1½ pints strong green tea

  1½ pints lemon juice

  1½ pints capillaire syrup

  1 pint rum

  1 pint brandy

  1 pint arrack (see note)

  1 pint curaçao

  1 bottle Champagne

  Slice of pineapple

  Combine all the ingredients in a punch bowl. The lemon juice can be a bit overwhelming in this original recipe; try scaling it back and using sweeter Meyer lemons instead. It is also improved by topping off each glass with a little extra Champagne. serves 30

  Note: Arrack is a broad term for spirits made by distilling the sugary sap of coconut or palm. It’s not easy to find, but Batavia Arrack, made from sugarcane and red rice, is widely distributed. While the flavor may be quite different, Batavia Arrack is nonetheless a fine ingredient for this and other punches.

  Variation: Substitute “ounce” for “pint” in the above recipe to make cocktails for two. Use about 4 ounces of Champagne.

  MEADOWSWEET

  Filipendula ulmaria

  rosaceae (rose family)

  This weedy, swamp-loving perennial forms a dense carpet of leaves topped by two-to-three-foot tall spikes of creamy white flowers. It is native to Europe and parts of Asia, where it has been an ingredient in medicinal tonics since at least medieval times. In fact, the plant contains high levels of salicylic acid, which made it an important ingredient in early aspirin formulations.

  As a flavoring agent, meadowsweet gives off a lovely light mixture of wintergreen and almond flavors. Archeological evidence shows that it has been used with other herbs to flavor beer since about 3000 BC; more recently, it has been an ingredient in gins, vermouths, and liqueurs.

  NUTMEG AND MACE

  Myristica fragrans

  myristicaceae (nutmeg family)

  The Dutch had a devious strategy for seizing control of the world’s nutmeg supply. They realized that the Banda Islands in Indonesia were run by local chieftains who had a long history of competing with one another to sell spices to Arab traders. The Dutch offered each chieftain a treaty guaranteeing protection against hostile competing tribes in exchange for a monopoly on their goods—primarily nutmeg. When the treaties proved difficult to enforce, the Dutch massacred most of the islanders and enslaved the rest. Soon the islands were converted to nutmeg plantations entirely under Dutch control.

  They held on to their monopoly through the eighteenth century, even going so far as to burn a warehouse filled with nutmeg in 1760 to hold down supply and boost prices. By the early 1800s, French and British traders managed to smuggle saplings off the islands and establish plantations in French Guiana and India, where most nutmeg is produced today.

  The tree that was the object of such intense scheming and warfare is a graceful evergreen that reaches over forty feet in height and produces a fruit that looks like an apricot. The pit—the seed inside that fruit—is what we know as nutmeg. Surrounding that seed is a lacy red covering called an aril. In the spice trade, it’s known as mace.

  Mace has a stronger, more bitter flavor and is lighter in color, but it is more expensive: only one pound of mace can be extracted from a hundred pounds of nutmeg. The aromatic compounds dissipate so quickly that it should be ground fresh.

  Nutmeg is a key ingredient in spicy liqueurs; it is especially evident in Benedictine. It is delicious grated fresh into autumn cocktails made with apple brandy or rum.

  ORRIS

  Iris pallida

  iridaceae (iris family)

  The pharmacy and perfumery of Santa Maria Novella, established by Dominican friars in Florence in 1221, gained notoriety for its use of the rhizomes of iris. They were not the first—Greek and Roman writings mention it—but their perfumes, cordials, and powders contained liberal doses of this rare and precious substance.

  Orris was popular not so much for its fragrance—although it does contain a compound called irone that gives it a faint violet smell—but as a fixative, holding other fragrances or flavors in place by contributing a missing atom that would otherwise make the fragrance volatile and easily released from the solution it is suspended in.

  None of this chemistry was understood at first. Perfumers and distillers would also not have understood why the rhizomes had to dry for two to three years before they become effective as a fixative. We now know that it takes that long for a slow oxidation process to occur, bringing about the chemical change that causes irone to form from other organic compounds present in the rhizome.

  Only about 173 acres of orris are cultivated worldwide; most of the orris is either or I. pallida ‘Dalmatica’, grown in Italy, or its descendant I. germanica var. Florentina, grown in Morocco, China, and India. I. germanica ‘Albicans’ is also used in orris production.

  To extract the orris, the rhizome must first be pulverized and steam-distilled to produce a waxy substance called orris butter, or beurre d’iris. Then alcohol is used to extract an absolute, which is a perfumer’s term for a stronger version of an essential oil.

  Orris is found in nearly every gin and in many other spirits. Its popularity in perfume is due to the fact that it not only holds the fragrance in place but clings to the skin as well. It also happens to be a very common allergen, which explains why allergy sufferers might be sensitive to cosmetics and other fragrances—as well as gin.

  PINK PEPPERCORN

  Schinus molle

  anacardiaceae (cashew family)

  This fruit comes from the Peruvian pepper tree, a member of the most interesting of plant families. Within Anacardiaceae one finds mangoes, cashews, shellac—and poison ivy, poison sumac, and poison oak. It is, therefore, a family that should be approached with some caution: people who are highly sensitive to poison ivy, for instance, may find that mango rind gives them a rash. Fortunately, mango flesh is perfectly safe, as is the cashew nut itself, minus the shell. And while Schinus molle, which grows throughout warmer regions in the United States, is a safe spice, its relative S. terebinthifolius, which is found throughout Latin America, can cause a dangerous reaction. (They are easy to tell apart: S. molle has long, narrow leaves and S. terebinthifolius has glossy oval-shaped leaves.)

  The pink peppercorn’s history as a drink ingredient begins around 1000 AD, at the remarkable Cerro Baúl brewery in ancient Peru. Archaeological evidence shows that the Wari people settled the area around 600 AD and set up facilities to make corn-based beer flavored with the peppercorns. Women held the high honor of brewmaster. The Wari burned their brewery in 1000 AD—perhaps fleeing the area during warfare—but early Spanish friars reported the use of peppercorn to make wine several centuries later, suggesting that their traditions survived. Today it is used as a flavoring in beer, gin, flavored vodka, and bitters.

  SARSAPARILLA

  Smilax regelii

  smilacaceae (greenbriar family)

  Many people know sarsaparilla as an old-time soda similar to root beer. In fact, the drink called sarsaparilla was made with sassafras, birch bark, and other flavors, but no actual sarsaparilla. The climbing, thorny vine that really is sarsaparilla has been used as traditional medicine in its native Central America and was even championed once as a cure for syphilis. It also played a key role in the development of birth control pills: in 1938, a chemist named Russell Marker discovered that a plant steroid derived from sarsaparilla could be chemically altered to make progesterone. This process was too expensive to implement on a large scale, so he found an easier plant to work with: a wild yam from Mexico. His discoveries helped launch the birth control pill and the sexual revolution that followed. (It also launched rumors that sarsaparilla contained natural testosterone and increased sexual potency, none of which is true.)

  The ground, dried root is available from spice suppliers and can be used as an ingredient in liqueurs and other spirits—but the ground root of another vine, Indian sarsaparilla (Hemidesmus indicus) is also popular in the spi
ce trade for its sweet, spicy, vanilla flavor. Oregon’s Aviation gin relies on Indian sarsaparilla for a rich, deep cola flavor that its distillers believe helps the high notes stand out and makes Aviation distinctive.

  SASSAFRAS

  Sassafras albidum

  lauraceae (laurel family)

  Imagine the situation that European colonists found themselves in when they arrived in North America. They brought what food and medicine they could, but much of it was already consumed, or spoiled, by the time they came ashore. They encountered plants and animals they’d never seen before and had no choice but to undertake a dangerous game of trial and error to find out what they could eat or drink. Any berry, leaf, or root could either save them or kill them.

  One such plant was sassafras, a small and highly aromatic tree native to the East Coast. The leaves and root bark were put to use as a medical remedy right away: in 1773, sassafras was described in an early history of the colonies as being used “to promote perspiration, to attenuate thick and viscous humours, to remove obstructions, to cure the gout and the palsy.” Godfrey’s Cordial, a popular nineteenth-century cure-all, included molasses, sassafras oil, and laudanum, a tincture of opium.