Three researchers have prepared a delightful concoction: equal parts plant science, cultural history and recipe book. The result is Botany at the Bar, an introduction to the fascinating world of bitters, complete with recipes for all manner of cocktails and elixers, prepared with the help of a mixologist. The three authors Selena Ahmed, an associate professor of sustainable food systems at Montana State University; Rachel Meyer, an assistant professor in ecology and evolutionary biology at UC Santa Cruz; and Ashley DuVal, a plant breeder who works on tropical tree cropsformed a company in 2011 called Shoots and Roots Bitters. They answered questions from Mind Matters editor Gareth Cook, and were gracious enough to share a specialty cocktail for Thanksgiving.
How did you get the idea of combining botany with craft cocktails?
AHMED: Our integration of botany and cocktails started when we were all graduate students through the New York Botanical Garden with fellowships and grants that emphasized broader impacts of science for society. As ethnobotanists who have carried out fieldwork in diverse communities around the world, we have encountered plants with fascinating attributes and cultural histories whose aromas and tastes captivate us.
I had just gotten back from Yunnan province of China where I had been studying biodiversity associated with tea production and consumption systems along ancient trade routes. Rachel had also been studying the origin and domestication of eggplants in this region. Ashley was examining diversity and management around acai in the Amazon. We were geeking out about some of the plants we had tasted such as nuo mi xiang cha. This plant is found around home gardens in Xishuangbanna prefecture of Yunnan and extracted and consumed as a tonic. It has a unique aroma reminiscent of sticky rice. We decided to collaborate on sharing samples of nuo mi xiang cha and others from our fieldwork as part of a research talk. This is when we tapped into our phytochemical lab protocols with the botanical infusion practices that we had seen in the field to make bitters that optimally bring out flavor and other plant compounds.
DUVAL: Presenting botanical research through drinks also created a forum for conversation. We learned even more about the plants from anecdotes that others shared with us. I remember a cocktail we made of goji berries and tartary buckwheat was found to be pleasant and reminiscent of home to a Nepalese couple; they described in detail the mouth feel and throat tickle from the goji berry infusion as an indicator of quality.
What do you mean by bitters?
DUVAL: Broadly defined, botanical bitters are infusions or extracts of plants that pull out their medicinal and flavor properties into a liquid. Most often, bitters are prepared by infusing botanical material in a fermented alcohol base including grain alcohol, fruit wine, or beer. This process serves to extract, concentrate and preserve the desired plant properties. Bitters can also be prepared by infusing plant material in nonalcoholic liquids such as water, as in the case of tea and tisanes as well as vinegar and fat.
People have been preparing bitters for thousands of years using plants from their surroundings for multiple purposes, and the infusions of plants in alcohol follows shortly after the innovation of fermentation arising in different parts of the world. Historically, bitters primarily had a medicinal function and evolved into key ingredients of cocktails. Although it has been used for over a thousand years, the term bitters is considered to have become popularized in its current meaning almost 300 years ago in England during the reign of King George II to market medicinal alcoholic products in response to government liquor taxes. Apparently, bitter herbs were added to liquor and sold as medicine as a way to escape taxation.
MEYER: Bitters serve a multifunctional role. Orally, they are taken for medicinal purposes including to aid in digestion, boost immunity, strengthen the body, for energy and for prevention of disease. Bitters also have an important social function in many cultures including for celebrating marriages and other life transitions. Bitters continue to play an important ritual function in many traditional communities. Traveling between villages in Togo, it was customary to stop and share bitters made from local herbs, along with local water, as a way to get acquainted with the area and culture, while they also provided a dose of restorative phytochemicals and hydration after the journey.
Can you tell me a bit about the bitters tradition in the United States?
DUVAL: In the U.S., everyone is most familiar with Angostura as a key ingredient for their Manhattan or Pink Gin. What people often dont realize is that Angostura, the oldest bitters brand in the United States, is also rooted in traditional knowledge, ethnobotany and herbal medicine. A German doctor, Johann Siegert from
Simn Bolvars army, was stationed in Venezuela in the 1820s, and developed a blend of local herbs he called amargo aromatico to improve appetite, digestion and other ailments the sailors and soldiers were afflicted with. The rest is history, but the contribution of local healers familiar with the medicinal plants of the region was not acknowledged in the development of the remedy. Of course this oversight was not uncommon for that timebut today we recognize the obligation we share to value traditional knowledge, and that this associated knowledge is important and vulnerable just like the plants.
Many of the bitter liquors that we are familiar with todayabsinthe, Chartreuse, Campari and Jgermeisterstarted out as patented medicines. Stoughtons elixir, created in 1712, were among the first medicines in England to receive a British royal patent and eventually became a successful British export to the American colonies. After the American Independence, local distillers in Boston and other cities began producing local versions of bitters and elixirs previously imported from Europe. Lash's Bitters Company was one of the successful bitters companies in the United States during the 20th and early 21st century that show the evolving use of bitters from a medicine to an alcoholic beverage. Early ads in 1901 show a little boy needing to use the chamber pot, promoting its use for digestion and constipation, but an ad in the 1920s suggests its use as a night cap.
AHMED: I live in Bozeman, Mont. The whole landscape is rife with medicinal and bitter plants with unique flavors such as bitter root, camas, chokecherries, service berries, huckleberries, wild rose, ponderosa pine and Rocky Mountain juniper. Native American communities have been making infusions of many of these plants for centuries both as a well-being practice and for purifying the spirit. The bitters tradition in the United States is a juxtaposition of this long use of botanicals by Native American communities along with the assimilation of people from around the world who have made this their home.
When you look at someone sipping on a drink today, what parallels do you see to someone, say, 1,000 years ago, sipping on a bitters concoction?
DUVAL: Sometimes it is more than a parallel; often we are actually enjoying the same beverages. Many of the worlds earliest bitters and botanical infusions are still widely consumed today or enjoying a revival. Mead, a spiced beverage from fermented honey and water, and the mulled apple cider we enjoy around the holidays connect us to the very first documented uses of wine, which were spiced with herbs as medicine or preservatives. There is also an enormous revival of interest in tonics for health, and options for beverage bars such as kava bars that dont serve alcohol but still offer the social ritual experience.
AHMED: Many of the plants are the same as well as their functionality. For example, Chinese materia medicas from 1,5002,000 years ago include hundreds of plants in which dozens are used in drinks today such as great yellow gentian, ginseng and cinnamon bark. There are hundreds of gentian species, with the root of Gentiana lutea being a key ingredient of apritifs, bitters, liqueurs and tonics to this day. Gentians have long been used for treating and preventing digestive issues. We see these overlaps of plants used past and present in regions around the world. For example, hops, American ginseng and wild black cherry were common plants used by several Native American groups and are found as ingredients of bitters today.
Would you be so kind as to suggest a cocktail for a Thanksgiving Day?
MEYER: Thanksgiving may first bring to mind turkey. As enthusiasts of domestication history, we love that many places where early turkey domestication took place displayed concurrent agave domestication. This spans Veracruz and Jalisco to Arizona. But to many who have to prepare a Thanksgiving meal, they might first think of the stress of handling cooking, family politics and everyones entertainment, so lets make a boozy drink with lots of Agavaceae species that also provides those gracious overworked hosts with some nutrition and a dose of antianxiety, endurance-boosting adaptogens that will kick in immediately.
This cocktail, which we developed with the mixologist Christian Schaal, features chestnuts as part of a chestnut pepita orgeat. In the U.S., only those of us living in the Pacific Northwest might be able to access the American chestnut (Castanea dentata), a towering tree that used to be widespread but was wiped out by a disease. Now, after decades of work spearheaded by William Powell at State University of New York, the American chestnut has just become the first GMO tree to be approved for release, just this year, and its expected to replenish our forests and orchards. We find this is one of the most beautiful examples of genetic engineering to de-extinct species and restore ecosystems.
Cocktail name: The good genePreparation time: 1 hourDrinks: infusions are enough for >10 drinks and can be saved, refrigerated, for up to two weeksIngredients:Ingredients for infusing350 mg of powdered Rhodiola (Rhodiola rosea)this plant is stress-fighting adaptogen becoming popular in the natural products industry and as a new crop in arctic areas facing climate change. Its rosavin and salidroside contribute to the functionality of the drink. This arctic species is common to find as a ground root powder that can be consumed as a tisane or in capsules. For this drink, we just broke open two gel capsules.1/8 tsp cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum) an Indonesian tree brought to Mexico by the Spanish1/2 cup, or about 10 chestnuts (Castanea sppthere are six species to choose from, and soon maybe youll have the American chestnut available to make this drink!) cup pepitas (Styrian pumpkin seeds, Cucurbita pepo) green seeds that have no hull, descended from a pumpkin with a special mutation that was discovered in Austria. Pumpkins of this species originated in mesoamerica (along with turkeys and agaves).Pinch of salt1 pint of sugar1 pint of water3 oz tequila (Agave tequilana) a bright, likely familiar, nectar-like spirit from JaliscoEquipment: blender, fine mesh strainer, cup, spoonFor the rest of the drink1 oz mezcal per drink (Agave spp)an oft smoky, complex spirit made from one to several of over 30 agave species0.5 oz sotol per drink (Dasylirion spp)a grassy, earthy spirit made from species in a genus related to Agave0.5 oz lime juice, lime peel for garnishIceEquipment: Shaker, fine mesh strainer, coup glass
Prepare the infused tequila: Mix tequila, cinnamon, and rhodiola in a cup, let sit for 45 minutes, strain to retain liquid. During that infusing time, you can prepare the orgeat.
Prepare the orgeat: Make a simple syrup by boiling 1 pint of water and 1 pint of sugar. Refrigerate to cool. With a paring knife, score an X on the round side of the chestnuts, soak chestnuts in water for 1 minute, lay scored side up on a baking tray, and bake at 400 degrees F for 20 minutes or until cooked through. Peel the chestnuts immediately. Dont worry about the papery layer between the seed and the shell. Toast the pepitas on the stove or in the oven until fragrant. Put the chestnuts, pepitas, simple syrup, and a pinch of salt in the blender and blend until fully homogenized. Let rest 15 minutes, strain to retain the liquid.
To prepare one cocktail: Add 0.75 oz orgeat, 0.5 oz lime juice, 0.25 oz infused tequila, 1 oz mezcal, and 0.5 oz sotol to a shaker with ice, shake, and pour over the fine mesh strainer into a coup glass. Garnish with a lime peel on the glass rim.
Continued here:
Botany at the Bar - Scientific American
- Main Show Only - Genetic Engineering - Coast to Coast AM - Video [Last Updated On: September 7th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 7th, 2012]
- RTPB | Genetic Engineering [Last Updated On: September 7th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 7th, 2012]
- Stop Monsanto From Poisoning Hawai'i: Genetic Engineering Chemical Warfare - Video [Last Updated On: September 7th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 7th, 2012]
- Informatics 161 PSA: Human Genetic Engineering - Video [Last Updated On: September 7th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 7th, 2012]
- Don't Trust Whole Foods or Other Health Food Stores For Non- GMO Foods | Genetic Engineering - Video [Last Updated On: September 7th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 7th, 2012]
- Genetic Engineering - Video [Last Updated On: September 7th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 7th, 2012]
- Easier Genetic Engineering! (Brainstorm Ep69) - Video [Last Updated On: September 7th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 7th, 2012]
- TEDxUCIrvine - Francisco Ayala - Cloning, Genetic Engineering, [Last Updated On: September 7th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 7th, 2012]
- Genetic Engineering in Agriculture - Video [Last Updated On: September 7th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 7th, 2012]
- Infowars Special Report : Genetic Engineering - Video [Last Updated On: September 7th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 7th, 2012]
- Glowing Rats and Extreme Genetic Engineering - Video [Last Updated On: September 7th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 7th, 2012]
- Endangered Cat Born at Audubon - Video [Last Updated On: September 7th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 7th, 2012]
- Danger of Genetic Engineering - Video [Last Updated On: September 7th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 7th, 2012]
- AQA GCSE core science and B1 - Genetic Engineering - Video [Last Updated On: September 7th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 7th, 2012]
- genetic engineering rDNA.wmv - Video [Last Updated On: September 7th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 7th, 2012]
- Genetic Engineering for Human Enhancement.mp4 - Video [Last Updated On: September 7th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 7th, 2012]
- Genetic Engineering - Seven Wonders of the Microbe World (6/7) - Video [Last Updated On: September 7th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 7th, 2012]
- Promising new drug target for inflammatory lung diseases [Last Updated On: September 8th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 8th, 2012]
- Mandatory GM Labeling Would Require Major Change [Last Updated On: September 10th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 10th, 2012]
- GEN reports on ocular therapeutics targeting the retina [Last Updated On: September 11th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 11th, 2012]
- Prop. 37: Another example of the perils of the initiative process [Last Updated On: September 15th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 15th, 2012]
- Genetic test predicts risk for Autism [Last Updated On: September 19th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 19th, 2012]
- Immediate withdrawal of unsafe GE corn vital - Greens [Last Updated On: September 20th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 20th, 2012]
- Immediate withdrawal of unsafe GE corn vital [Last Updated On: September 20th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 20th, 2012]
- NZ out of step on GE [Last Updated On: September 21st, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 21st, 2012]
- Ballot Watch: Labeling genetically engineered foods [Last Updated On: September 30th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 30th, 2012]
- Just another GE mirage [Last Updated On: October 2nd, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 2nd, 2012]
- The GM Barnyard [Last Updated On: October 3rd, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 3rd, 2012]
- Free Engine [Last Updated On: October 3rd, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 3rd, 2012]
- Cellectis Publishes Results Paving the Way for New Therapeutic Approaches against Cancer and Genetic Diseases [Last Updated On: October 3rd, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 3rd, 2012]
- Does moral decision-making in video games mirror the real world? [Last Updated On: October 3rd, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 3rd, 2012]
- Animals engineered with pinpoint accuracy [Last Updated On: October 3rd, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 3rd, 2012]
- Valley farmers fear 'modified' wording in Prop. 37 [Last Updated On: October 4th, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 4th, 2012]
- No on Proposition 37 [Last Updated On: October 4th, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 4th, 2012]
- The Dangers of Genetic Engineering [Last Updated On: October 5th, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 5th, 2012]
- Are inhaled medications effective and safe in critically ill patients on mechanical ventilation? [Last Updated On: October 5th, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 5th, 2012]
- Calif. initiative will test appetite for GMO food [Last Updated On: October 7th, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 7th, 2012]
- Calif. initiative will test appetite for GMO food - Sat, 06 Oct 2012 PST [Last Updated On: October 7th, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 7th, 2012]
- California to vote on 'genetically modified' labels [Last Updated On: October 7th, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 7th, 2012]
- California initiative will test appetite for genetically modified foods [Last Updated On: October 7th, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 7th, 2012]
- Do we have an appetite for genetically modified food? [Last Updated On: October 7th, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 7th, 2012]
- Genetic labelling mooted in California [Last Updated On: October 7th, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 7th, 2012]
- California initiative to test appetite for 'genetically engineered' food [Last Updated On: October 7th, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 7th, 2012]
- New tool for making genetic engineering of microbial circuits reliably predictable [Last Updated On: October 10th, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 10th, 2012]
- Researchers develop new tool for making genetic engineering of microbial circuits reliably predictable [Last Updated On: October 10th, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 10th, 2012]
- A Welcome Predictability [Last Updated On: October 10th, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 10th, 2012]
- Engineered flies spill secret of seizures [Last Updated On: October 12th, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 12th, 2012]
- Genetic 'remix' key to evolution of bee behavior, researchers find [Last Updated On: October 15th, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 15th, 2012]
- Can vaccines be delivered via the lungs instead of by injection? [Last Updated On: October 15th, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 15th, 2012]
- Food labeling regulations [Last Updated On: October 16th, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 16th, 2012]
- Research and Markets: Therapeutic Antibody Engineering: Current and Future Advances Driving the Strongest Growth Area ... [Last Updated On: November 2nd, 2012] [Originally Added On: November 2nd, 2012]
- Is there a difference between GE & GMO? [Last Updated On: November 2nd, 2012] [Originally Added On: November 2nd, 2012]
- Port Townsend Food Coop: A Sad Story of GMO Crop Cross Pollination - Video [Last Updated On: November 2nd, 2012] [Originally Added On: November 2nd, 2012]
- PUT IT IN YOUR MOUTH! Yes to Prop 37 — it's your right to know what's in your food! - Video [Last Updated On: November 2nd, 2012] [Originally Added On: November 2nd, 2012]
- editta braun company: planet LUVOS (clip, 4:30) - Video [Last Updated On: November 2nd, 2012] [Originally Added On: November 2nd, 2012]
- Mimic: The Director's Cut (Blu-ray Trailer) - Video [Last Updated On: November 2nd, 2012] [Originally Added On: November 2nd, 2012]
- South Park Season 1 Episode 7 - An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig - Video [Last Updated On: November 2nd, 2012] [Originally Added On: November 2nd, 2012]
- Yes on Prop 37: Animated Video - Video [Last Updated On: November 2nd, 2012] [Originally Added On: November 2nd, 2012]
- The Day of the Triffids Part 1 Full Movie - Video [Last Updated On: November 2nd, 2012] [Originally Added On: November 2nd, 2012]
- YES on prop 37 "flashmob" march - Santa Cruz, CA Sept. 2012 - Video [Last Updated On: November 2nd, 2012] [Originally Added On: November 2nd, 2012]
- World's Weirdest Places Discussed - Video [Last Updated On: November 2nd, 2012] [Originally Added On: November 2nd, 2012]
- THE CLUB OF ROME - DEPOPULATION AGENDA 21 - THE UNHIVED MIND - Video [Last Updated On: November 2nd, 2012] [Originally Added On: November 2nd, 2012]
- 27-Medical BiotechnologySG Part II.Gene Therapy, Tissue Engineering and Nanotechnology.mov - Video [Last Updated On: November 2nd, 2012] [Originally Added On: November 2nd, 2012]
- 26-Medical BiotechnologySG Part Ic. Animal and Human Cloning and Genetic Engineering.mov - Video [Last Updated On: November 2nd, 2012] [Originally Added On: November 2nd, 2012]
- How to Clone Animals - Video [Last Updated On: November 2nd, 2012] [Originally Added On: November 2nd, 2012]
- Fringe Opening sequence (Season 3 - The Day We Died) - Video [Last Updated On: November 4th, 2012] [Originally Added On: November 4th, 2012]
- Fringe Opening sequence (Season 3 - Olivia) - Video [Last Updated On: November 4th, 2012] [Originally Added On: November 4th, 2012]
- Fringe Opening sequence (Season 3 - Entrada) - Video [Last Updated On: November 4th, 2012] [Originally Added On: November 4th, 2012]
- Fringe Opening sequence (Season 4) - Video [Last Updated On: November 4th, 2012] [Originally Added On: November 4th, 2012]
- Fringe Opening sequence (Season 3) - Video [Last Updated On: November 4th, 2012] [Originally Added On: November 4th, 2012]
- Fringe Opening sequence (Season 2) - Video [Last Updated On: November 4th, 2012] [Originally Added On: November 4th, 2012]
- Fringe Opening sequence (1985) - Video [Last Updated On: November 4th, 2012] [Originally Added On: November 4th, 2012]
- Dendritic Cells: Biology And Clinical Applications - Video [Last Updated On: November 4th, 2012] [Originally Added On: November 4th, 2012]
- Port Townsend Food Coop: "I want my food untainted by GMOs" - Video [Last Updated On: November 4th, 2012] [Originally Added On: November 4th, 2012]
- Catholic Priest vs. Biologist - Video [Last Updated On: November 4th, 2012] [Originally Added On: November 4th, 2012]
- Watch Real Life Superhero Muscles Like Marvel's The Avengers - Video [Last Updated On: November 4th, 2012] [Originally Added On: November 4th, 2012]
- Fringe Opening sequence (Season 1) - Video [Last Updated On: November 4th, 2012] [Originally Added On: November 4th, 2012]
- Fringe Opening sequence (The Final Season: "Fight For The Future") - Video [Last Updated On: November 4th, 2012] [Originally Added On: November 4th, 2012]
- Port Townsend Food Coop: I Want To Know If GMOs Are In My Food - Video [Last Updated On: November 4th, 2012] [Originally Added On: November 4th, 2012]
- ProCognia jumps on expanded biosimilar collaboration [Last Updated On: November 7th, 2012] [Originally Added On: November 7th, 2012]