Indigenous Botanical Mock G&T

Have you noticed all the non-alcoholic G&Ts that have entered the market recently? Not to mention the many tonic and other cordial syrups that have been championed by many craft brands and luxury grocery store chains. This is a fad I can get behind; the diversity of options that are now offered that do, in my opinion, make for interesting substitutes for alcoholic drinks is great. They are all just so expensive! Especially the ready to drink mock G&Ts. During the lockdown my interest in non-alcoholic options has peaked, for obvious reasons. Instead of stocking up on the non-alcoholic option on the market (which I can not really afford) I decided to try make some myself from the indigenous botanical flavours I have in my garden. (Illustration on bottle was done by Hello Ruby-Lou: https://www.hellorubylou.co.za/).

This sounds ambitious, but if you think about it, the options on the market try to mimic the intense bitter flavours in a G&T by making an infused syrup, to which carbonated water is added, it’s that simple. You would be surprise how mundane most of the ingredients in Gin are. Some common spices used to flavour gin include star anise, cardamom, cinnamon, all spice etc.

The cardinal ingredient, which unifies all gins, is juniper berries, which is also commonly sold in spice shops. Then there are frequently fresh flavours added such as citrus, ginger and a range of botanicals, often unique to the regions where the gin is crafted.

I looked through our cupboard and we had all the spices, including a trusty bag of juniper berries I keep in the house to spice my plain Cane spirits, to make gin. In the garden I had to prune a few aromatic shrubs and all of this plant material was to be added to the mix.

Rose geranium, which has a strong rose and citronella scent

Kooigoed shrub, which has a musky, camphor scent.

Mint Pelargonium, duh, mint scent.

And lastly some Buchu hydrosol I have in the cupboard, which is indescribable flavour, but the oil from Buchu is used as a black current flavour substitute if that helps you imagine the flavour.

So, with the addition of these strong botanical flavours I was confident I could cover the gin flavours in the syrup. Gin sorted, now the tonic.

Classic Indian Tonic water is famous for its quinine content, apparently the reason the drink was so popular in the tropical English colonies, as quinine was at that time the most effective treatment for Malaria. The Quinine is derived from the Cinchona tree, a Peru native. I highly recommend listening to the Gastropod Podcast episode on the history of Indian Tonic Water. The history of this drink is legendary.

You can find that here: https://gastropod.com/move-over-gin-weve-got-tonic-fever/

I have tried for years to get my hands on cinchona bark, but have been unsuccessful, so to try mimic tonic flavour I thought some other nice bitter botanicals would have to do: my mind immediately went to Artemesia afra, or African Wormwood. It too has potent medicinal benefits and is a great immune supporting herb (yes please!).

Lastly, the colour of the drink was also very important for me. You might have noticed before that G&T has a weird blue, inflorescent hue. Quinine is legit glow in the dark , from Scientific America: “ultraviolet light from the black light is absorbed by the quinine in the tonic water, and this excites the quinine. When the quinine becomes unexcited, it releases visible blue light that we see”. There is no botanical in my garden unfortunately that could possibly mimic this freak of nature, so I decided to make the entire thing pink. Who can turn down a pink drink? Luckily, I had dried some Num-num berries (Carissa macrocarpa) I had picked before the lockdown. Num-nums are a super common garden plant that is grown all over the world. The fruits taste like mix between strawberries and Oros to me, and have a great red colour, which they eagerly impart to any infusion.

So, with that I thought I had a good mix of flavours to try and fool myself into thinking I was drinking my favourite alcoholic beverage.

A nice craftly G&T. Next, I will guide you through the syrup making process and lastly give you a recipe for a Mock Wild Botanical Martini.

You can use whatever fragrant (edible) botanicals you have in your garden, and even any herbs you can find in the grocery store: sage, time, lemon grass and even basil feature commonly in gin recipes, so go nuts and try making some with what you have at hand, or can safely get from grocery stores right now.

Method:

Add water to large pot and add all the dry ingredients, ginger and citrus. Bring to the boil and boil for 30min on low simmer.

Add wet plant material, make sure all of it at least touches the boiling water to make sure the oils in the leaves are released into the infusion. When the leaves are wilted (5min) remove the plant material. It does not help the flavour of infusions to let delicate fresh plant material boil for too long.

Add the sugar, and take of the heat. Stir until sugar is dissolved. When slightly cooled, taste and see if you think it requires anything else. I ended up added 10 more Juniper berries as the ones I had, turned out to be exceptionally weak. I have used too many in the past, so be careful, they are potent (usually). I ended up adding another cup of sugar too, but this you need to decide for yourself upon taste.

Let the mixture cool overnight in the fridge (with all the bits still in!).

In the morning, strain the mixture, and bottle in airtight bottles. The citrus in the recipe should help keep it from spoiling. You can simply add a shot of the syrup to a glass of soda water to enjoy or you can use the Mock Martini recipe at the end of the post.

Ingredients:

3 Star anise

2 Sticks cinnamon

10 Green cardamom pods

10 All spice berries

10 Juniper berries

One large ginger rhizome sliced

Zest of 3 limes

Zest of 4 lemons

Juice of 4 lemons

500g Rose geranium (fresh)

500g Kooigoed (fresh)

500g Numnum Berries

100g Artemesia afra

½ cup Buchu betulina hydrosol

6 cups water

3 cups sugar

Mock Martini recipe:

Add 2 shots dry vermouth, 2 shots of syrup, 1 shot olive juice to cocktail mixer with 3 cubes of ice. Mix vigorously, pour into a glass, and add two olive. I add soda water to make a drink that goes a bit further.