Cocoa and Lavender: Gin, Hold the Rummy

Nothing says summer like a gin and tonic. And Markipedia loves to sip a gin and tonic on a lazy Sunday afternoon. And, since today is his birthday, this post is for him!

The good thing about living in the desert is that nothing stops you from feeling summery all year round.

Personally, I am not a huge gin fan. I don't do martinis, and I only drink a gin and tonic for the tonic and lime. (The limes on our tree ripen in autumn and early winter.)

Markipedia mentioned that, with all the herbs in our garden, it would be a breeze to make homemade gin.

Something about that appealed to me. If the herbs were really pronounced, I might actually enjoy it.

We have a an empty bottle of Botanist Islay Dry Gin gin given to us by cousins Cathy and Heather back East. We use a variety of empty - but, more important, beautiful - bottles for water at the dinner table.

Because of its design, the Botanist bottle is a favorite. It is embossed with the names of all the herbs in their brand of gin. Basically, a starter recipe in binomial botanical Latin!

We adapted the list of ingredients, and amended it - with our culinary sensibilities and ingredients from our garden - to create this recipe for homemade gin.

Don't expect Tanqueray or Bombay Sapphire. But do expect to enjoy this wonderful herbal elixir. Because this is not a distilled gin, it will come out a light amber color; it does not affect the taste.

Homemade Herb-infused Gin

2 tablespoons juniper berries

1 teaspoon chamomile

½ teaspoon coriander seeds, lightly crushed

½ teaspoon culinary lavender buds

3 cardamom pods, broken

3 fresh bay leaves, bruised

4 spearmint leaves, bruised

two 4-inch strips of grapefruit zest

1 sprig tender myrtle leaves, bruised

Combine the vodka and juniper berries (half the juniper berries can be crushed in a mortar and pestle for greater juniper flavor) in a sealable glass jar and steep for 12 hours.

Add chamomile, coriander, lavender, cardamom, bay leaves, spearmint, thyme, marjoram, grapefruit zest, and myrtle. Seal jar and shake, then let steep for an additional 5 days

Strain out solids through a strainer lined with cheesecloth, then strain through a coffee filter again into final bottle.

Store at room temperature for up to one year. (As if it would last that long...)

Makes 2 cups
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If you ever hear Markipedia call gin “mother’s milk,” he is referring to Eliza Doolittle’s faltering maiden voyage at the Ascot Races in the play My Fair Lady, excerpted here:

Eliza Doolittle (with perfect diction and dubious judgment):
My Aunt died of influenza, or so they said. But its my belief they done the old woman in. Yes, Lord love you. Why should she die of influenza, when she come through diphtheria right enough the year before. Fairly blue with it she was. They all thought she was dead. But my father, he kept ladling gin down her throat. Then she come to so sudden she bit the bowl right off the spoon. Now what call would a woman with that strength in her have to die of influenza?

Mrs. Eynsford-Hill, shocked:

But it can't have been right for your father to be pouring spirits down her throat like that, it could have killed her.

Eliza Doolittle:

Not her, gin was mother's milk to her. Besides he poured so much down his own throat, he knew the good of it.