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

by Amy Stewart

  In Mexico, Spanish explorers wondered about the vivid red dyes that native people used on blankets and other textiles. At first they thought the color came from the red prickly pear fruit itself. Fernández de Oviedo, writing in 1526, claimed that eating the fruit turned his urine bright red (which was either a complete falsehood or a sign of a much more serious medical problem). They soon learned that the dye came from cochineal. To make it, the scale would be scraped off the cactus, dried, and then mixed with water and alum, a kind of natural fixative. The Spanish had some experience with the use of bugs as dye—they’d been using another scale, Kermes, for a similar purpose—but cochineal produced a much more vivid red.

  Since the 1500s, cochineal-based carmine dye has been used as a coloring for confections, cosmetics, textiles, and liqueurs. It gave Campari its rich red color until 2006, when company officials say it was removed owing to supply problems. Reports of people with allergies going into anaphylactic shock, as well as a general squeamishness about insect ingredients in food, have led to new labeling requirements in the United States and the European Union. In the EU, any product colored with cochineal must state it on the label.

  It may be called E120, Natural Red 4, or carmine or cochineal. (The color once came from Polish scale, Porphyrophora polonica, as well, but it is severely endangered and no longer used.) In the United States, labels must read “cochineal extract” or “carmine.”

  SAVANNA BAMBOO

  Oxytenanthera abyssinica (syn. O. braunii)

  poaceae (grass family)

  Also called wine bamboo, this fast-growing member of the grass family is used for fencing, tools, basketry, erosion control—and alcohol. In Tanzania, the young shoots are cut and then bashed twice a day for a week, injuring the plant to encourage the sap to flow. It ferments naturally in as little as five hours. The bamboo wine, called ulanzi, is only made during the rainy spring season when the young bamboo is growing. Women make batches of it to sell by the liter in their villages. It is not uncommon for travelers to get a free sample as they walk from one village to the next: the stands of bamboo are left unattended while the sap flows into containers. The temptation to simply help oneself to a drink along the journey is hard to resist.

  STRAWBERRY TREE

  Arbutus unedo

  ericaceae (heath family)

  The red, rough-skinned fruit of the strawberry tree, perfectly round and about the size of a cherry, is not nearly as tasty as the fruit it is named after. In fact, botanists say that the species name unedo comes from the Latin unum edo, meaning “I eat one.” Just one.

  But distillers—most of them unlicensed and working on equipment that could have come straight from the Middle Ages—turn the fruit into a popular local spirit called aguardiente de medronho. Although it is available commercially, it is more commonly shared among families and sold to neighbors, particularly in the Algarve region of southern Portugal.

  Rather than bloom in spring, as most fruit-producing trees would, the strawberry tree blooms in fall, at the same time that the previous year’s fruit is ripening. In Portugal and Spain, that process begins in September. Pickers gather only the ripest fruit, returning once a month through December to complete the harvest.

  Once picked, the fruit is mashed or submerged whole in water and fermented for three months. Then, usually in February, it is boiled over a wood fire and distilled in a copper alembic still, with a pipe running through a barrel of water that serves as the condenser. The result is a high-proof spirit, usually above 45 percent ABV, which is either bottled immediately or aged in oak for six months to a year. In Spain, a sweeter, lower-proof liqueur called licor de madroño is made by macerating the fruit in high-proof spirits with sugar and water.

  The strawberry tree is a type of madrone, one of fourteen species found throughout Europe and North America. Most madrones are small, beautiful trees with glossy, narrow leaves and a reddish, peeling bark. None of them produce particularly tasty fruit, in spite of the fact that they are relatives of the blueberry, huckleberry, and cranberry. A. unedo is nonetheless grown in warm climates around the world as an ornamental. A cultivar called Elfin King is even grown in containers and is considered to produce tastier fruit than most.

  THIS BEAR IS NOT DRUNK

  Madrid’s coat of arms shows a bear standing on its hind legs, eating fruit from the strawberry tree. A statue depicting this scene can also be found in the city’s center, at the western end of the Puerta del Sol. While locals like to claim that the bear is getting drunk from the fermenting fruit of the tree, the fruit does not, in fact, ferment on the tree to such an extent that it could intoxicate an animal as large as a bear. This appears to be yet another tall tale of animal intoxication.

  TAMARIND

  Tamarindus indica

  fabaceae (bean family)

  The tamarind probably originated in Ethiopia and found its way to Asia via ancient trade routes. Today it grows in tropical climates all over the world, most notably in East Africa, Southeast Asia, Australia, the Philippines, in Florida, and throughout the Caribbean and Latin America.

  The tree reaches up to sixty feet in height, with a canopy of small, feathery leaves that throw off much-needed shade. The fruit is actually a long seedpod with a slightly sweet, slightly tart, edible brown pulp. It is used in curries, pickles, candies, and as a flavoring in Worcestershire sauce, where it might then make an appearance in Bloody Marys or Micheladas, a Mexican drink that combines beer with tomato juice (or Clamato), lime juice, spices, and sauces. Although there are over fifty different cultivars, they are difficult for anyone but a local to tell apart. Tropical plant nurseries mark them simply as “sweet” or “sour” varieties. The sweet variety is eaten raw, but it is actually the sour variety that is used in drinks and for cooking.

  Tamarind wine is made removing the dry, outer husk of the seed pod, scooping out the pulp and pressing the juice from it, and then fermenting a mixture of juice, water, and sugar. The wine can be found today in the Philippines, particularly in Batangas, just south of Manila. Tamarind also turns up as a flavoring in liqueurs, like Mauricia Tamarind Liqueur, a rum-based drink from the island of Mauritius south of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. Tequila distillers have created licores de tamarindo as well. Tamarind paste or syrup, available at specialty food markets, is becoming a popular cocktail mixer, particularly in margaritas, where it hits the same sweet-sour notes that lime juice does.

  PART II

  We Then Suffuse Our Creations with a Wondrous Assortment of Nature’s Bounty

  There’s more in the average liquor bottle than straight alcohol. Once a spirit leaves the still, it is subject to endless experimentation with herbs, spices, fruits, nuts, bark, roots, and flowers. Some distillers claim to use over a hundred different botanicals in their secret recipes. Here are just a few of the plants you’re likely to find in tonight’s cocktail.

  -- we begin with --

  herbs & spices

  Herb: the tender, green vegetative or flowering part of a plant used for flavoring.

  Spice: the dry, tough woody parts of a plant (such as bark, seeds, stems, roots) and, in some cases, fruit, used for seasoning.

  Allspice | Aloe | Angelica | Artichoke | Bay Laurel | Betel Leaf | Bison Grass | Calamus (Sweet Flag) | Caraway | Cardamom | Clove | Coca | Coriander | Cubeb | Damiana | Dittany of Crete | Elecampane | European Centaury | Fenugreek | Galangal | Gentian | Germander | Ginger | Grains of Paradise | Juniper | Lemon Balm | Lemon Verbena | Licorice-Flavored Herbs | Maidenhair Fern | Meadowsweet | Nutmeg and Mace | Orris | Pink Peppercorn | Sarsaparilla | Sassafras | Sundew | Sweet Woodruff | Tobacco | Tonka Bean | Vanilla | Wormwood

  GROW YOUR OWN

  Lemon Verbena | Wormwood

  ALLSPICE

  Pimenta dioica

  myrtaceae (myrtle family)

  Classic cocktail aficionados are accustomed to finding strange and unfamiliar ingredients in old recipe books, but few are more confusing than pimento dram. A drink made of those ru
bbery red things stuffed inside olives? What could that possibly taste like?

  Fortunately, pimento dram is not made of the pimento found in an olive. It is a liqueur made from rum, sugar, and allspice. And the reason allspice and mild red peppers share a name is an accident of history.

  Spanish explorers traveling to the West Indies and Central America saw people adding small dark berries to their traditional meals and to chocolate. They seemed to add heat and spice to the dish, so the Spaniards assumed they were some kind of pepper. For that reason, they called the plant pimento, their word for pepper. In 1686, British naturalist John Ray described it in his monumental three-volume work Historia Plantarum as “sweet scented Jamaica pepper.” And, because it could be used in such a wide variety of dishes, he also called it all-spice.

  The allspice tree flourishes in tropical regions of the Americas and in Jamaica. It produces pea-shaped berries that each hold two seeds. The berries are picked green in midsummer and spread on the ground to dry in the sun, or gently heated in ovens. The flavor is similar to that of cloves, and in fact the two trees, which are closely related, both produce the aromatic oil eugenol.

  Early spice traders tried to plant allspice seeds around the world but found them impossible to germinate. Eventually it was discovered that the seeds must pass through the body of a fruit-eating bat, a baldpate pigeon, or some other local bird, in order to be sufficiently heated and softened for germination. Today, through the agency of birds, the tree has become invasive in Hawaii, Samoa, and Tonga.

  The near devastation of the world’s allspice trees occurred in the Victorian era, when trees were cut down not for their spices but for their wood. It was all the rage to manufacture umbrellas and walking sticks from the pale, aromatic sticks because they resisted bending or cracking. Millions of trees were destroyed. To protect them, Jamaica enacted a strict ban on the export of allspice saplings in 1882.

  Allspice is an ingredient in perfumes and liqueurs. It is sometimes found in gins and is believed to be part of the mysterious formulas of Benedictine and Chartreuse, as well as other French and Italian cordials.

  Pimento dram, also called allspice dram, is an ingredient in classic tiki cocktails and has recently become popular in warm, spiced autumnal drinks, where it gives a baked spice flavor to Calvados or apple brandy.

  THE BAY RUM

  An extract from the leaves and berries of Pimenta racemosa, a close relative of the allspice tree, is added to high-proof Jamaican rum to make bay rum cologne. Although the ingredients sound delicious (and people who wear it smell delicious), the concentrated botanical extract delivers an unusually high dose of eugenol that would be toxic if imbibed. Wear the cologne, but drink a Pimenta tree in this form instead. This drink is sweet but not childish, and gives off the pale, tangerine glow of a Caribbean sunset. Velvet Falernum is a wonderful spicy, syrupy mixer from Barbados available at better liquor stores, but if you don’t have any, simple syrup will do.

  1½ ounces dark rum

  ½ ounce St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram, or another pimento dram

  ½ ounce Velvet Falernum or simple syrup

  Dash of Angostura bitters

  Fresh juice of 1 orange or tangerine segment (feel free to experiment with lime or other citrus as well)

  Shake all the ingredients over ice and serve on the rocks in an Old-Fashioned glass.

  ALOE

  Aloe vera

  asphodelaceae (aloe family)

  Like its cousin, the agave, the aloe is sometimes mistaken for a cactus. In fact, it is more closely related to lilies and asparagus than cactus. But like a cactus, it does love heat and dry weather. And while people who drink aloe juice might never guess it, aloe contains one of the most bitter flavors in the world. For this reason it turns up in more than a few bottles behind the bar.

  Aloe traveled from its native sub-Saharan Africa to Asia and Europe in the seventeenth century. Today nearly five hundred species have been identified, and they span the globe, growing in tropical climates where winter temperatures stay above 50 degrees Fahrenheit.

  Like other succulents, aloes depend upon a special kind of photosynthesis that requires them to open their pores—stomata—only at night to breathe. They take in carbon dioxide and store some to use the next day, which allows them to essentially hold their breath all day long. When they do breathe, they release as little water as possible through those pores, relying on cooler nighttime temperatures to slow the loss of water.

  And of course, they store water in their leaves, which explains the thick, juicy gel familiar to anyone who has ever attempted a little first aid in the outdoors. While the gel is useful to protect wounds—a latex made by the plant covers the wound while allowing it to breathe—its use as an internal medicine is not entirely proven. Some species are even poisonous, which makes it important to think twice before ingesting an unfamiliar aloe.

  The bitter component in aloe, called aloin, is found in the latex just under the surface of the leaf. Scientists have recently learned that a particular gene allele makes some people highly sensitive to aloin’s bitterness, whereas people without that allele can’t even taste it except at high concentrations. This may explain why some people love Italian bitters, also called amaros, and others can’t stand them.

  Aloe is one of the ingredients that gives Fernet-style amaros, such as Fernet Branca, their bracing quality. While quinine, gentian, and a number of other plants are also used to impart bitterness, they also give a slightly vegetal or even floral flavor. Aloe brings with it no such extra notes. If bitterness had a color, aloe would be black as coal.

  To make juice from aloe, the liquid is extracted from the center of the leaf and filtered to remove the aloin and the dark color it imparts. This makes it more palatable and perhaps safer: Aloin was once an ingredient in laxatives, but during a routine evaluation of ingredients that had never undergone modern safety reviews, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned its use in laxative products—not because it had been proven dangerous but because no pharmaceutical company offered to demonstrate its safety and effectiveness using modern methods. Still, its traditional use as a laxative may explain why aloe’s bitter components were used in the formulas for digestifs.

  ANGELICA

  Angelica archangelica

  apiaceae (carrot family)

  Angelica, a medieval herb native to Europe, is a flavor that seems to turn up in the secret formulations of Chartreuse, Strega, Galliano, Fernet, vermouth, and perhaps even Benedictine and Drambuie. The dried root was an early remedy for digestive problems.

  Angelica is related to parsley and dill, which is where it gets its bright, refreshing, and decidedly green flavor. It is also related to poison hemlock and a number of other toxic plants. In fact, of the over twenty-five species of angelica, many have not been evaluated for toxicity, and some closely resemble their more poisonous relatives, making it a risky plant to collect in the wild. Fortunately, the edible Angelica archangelica, sometimes sold as A. officinalis, is widely available from nurseries and seed companies. It is usually grown from seed because plants with a long taproot, like angelica, don’t transplant well. The plant reaches six feet tall and makes a striking statement with its large, finely toothed leaves and white umbel-shaped flowers similar to Queen Anne’s lace.

  While the stems have been used to make candied angelica, it is the seeds and dried roots that flavor wines and liqueurs. Angelica is a biennial, which means that seeds take two years to germinate, grow, and become mature plants that produce flowers and another generation of seed. If it is being grown for its roots, it would generally be harvested in the autumn of its first year, while the root is still tender and hasn’t been colonized by bugs. (Some are allowed to overwinter and bloom the second year for seed stock.) A chemical analysis of fresh angelica root shows that it contains a number of tasty compounds designed to ward off insect attacks: citrusy limonene, woodsy pinene, and the distinctly herbal Β-phellandrene are all flavors that make it particul
arly welcome in liqueurs.

  THE JOYS OF LIQUORE STREGA

  While the yellow Italian liqueur Strega can be mixed into a cocktail—it plays well with gin in martini variations, for instance—there is no reason to bother with that. Strega is divine on its own.

  Its manufacturers claim that the recipe dates to 1860, when it was given the name Strega, meaning “witch,” to refer to the legendary witches of the town of Benevento, just south of Naples. The distillery is still there today.

  Strega is a sweet, complex herbal liqueur that is perfect after dinner, served neat or on the rocks. The distiller admits to a few of its seventy ingredients: cinnamon, iris, juniper, mint, citrus peel, cloves, star anise, and myrrh, along with saffron for color. Visitors to the distillery have also reported seeing cloves, nutmeg, mace, eucalyptus, and fennel. But angelica is widely believed to be one of its primary flavors. Taste it and decide for yourself.

  ARTICHOKE

  Cynara scolymus (syn. Cynara cardunculus var. scolymus)

  asteraceae (aster family)

  The artichoke got its start as a cardoon. This leafy ancestor, C. cardunculus, probably originated in north Africa or the Mediterranean. It was actively cultivated by Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, and through their efforts a separate species, the artichoke, emerged. The two plants look very similar, with long, silvery, deeply serrated leaves and thistlelike flowers. The two can even interbreed if planted closely together. Cardoon stalks were considered both food and medicine, while artichokes were cultivated more for their oversized flower buds. Both plants spread throughout Europe in the fifteenth century and became an important part of Italian cuisine.