Festive summer cocktail & food pairings using Australian native botanicals
Get creative with Australian native botanicals this Christmas!
We are incredibly lucky to have unique botanical pantry around us in Australia, and while many of these can be found in our Australian craft gins, liqueur and botanical vodkas, our mixologists love getting creative with them too! We like to use Australian Superfoods’ range of Australian native powders and extracts to complement the botanicals in our spirits.
We’ve put together our favourite cocktail & food pairings using native botanicals to get you inspired for this festive season:
Start the celebrations with something a little sour...
Summer Wine Sour
60mls Barrel Aged Gin
30mls Freshly Squeezed Lemon
30mls Rosé Syrup
2 drops Strawberry Gum Extract from Australian Superfoods
Egg White
Method: Dry shake, wet shake, single strain over ice, garnish with raspberry dust and lemon zest.
To make Rosé Syrup (full bottle of rosé, half the amount of sugar (should be about 375g) and a vanilla bean insides. Gently Boil the rosé and the vanilla together for 5mins or so, then off the heat and stir sugar in until dissolved)
Lemon Myrtle for the Main Feast…
Turkey Roulade
Upgrade your classic Christmas turkey with some of our favourite native ingredients – Lemon Myrtle & Mountain Pepper Leaf.
COCKTAIL PAIRING
Citrus Beach Collins
Pair your Christmas turkey with a refreshing Citrus Beach Collins, with homemade lemon myrtle syrup to give that extra earthy zest!
Glass – highball (tall glass)
60ml Coastal Citrus Gin
30ml Lemon Juice
30ml Lemon Myrtle Syrup
Muddle Karkalla (buy from Harris Farm, or fruit markets)
Method: Shake over ice – single strain – top w soda
Garnish – Lemon Wheel, Karkalla
To Make Lemon Myrtle Syrup:
500g sugar
500ml water
125g Lemon Myrtle Leaves (or use 250g to 1L of water as a guide)
A few dashes of Australian Superfoods Lemon Myrtle Extract
Boil up the water then finely chopped the lemon Myrtle leaves and simmered them for only a min or two. Add all the sugar and a few drops of lemon myrtle extract, then take off the heat and put the lid on for the whole thing to cool down in the fridge. Like making Gin, the trick is to not over boil the botanical. You want to capture as much of the vapours coming off it as well, so cooling with the lid on helps to keep all those delicious soft flavours inside.
Native Citrus for Dessert…
Christmas Wreath Pavlova with Finger Lime, Lemon Myrtle & Wattleseed
It’s not an Aussie Christmas without a pavlova! Add a little finger lime and lemon myrtle extract into the passionfruit curd for a little extra zing.
COCKTAIL PAIRING
Finger Lime Gin-qiri
One of our favourite native botanicals found in our Australian Dry Gin is the native finger lime, also known as a lime caviar, with lime crystals bursting with flavour, all you need is a couple of small finger limes, our Australian Dry Gin & some sugar syrup.
Recipe
60ml Australian Dry Gin
2 Finger Limes – Chopped and Muddled
15ml Sugar Syrup
2 dashes of Finger Lime Extract from Australian Superfoods
Method: Muddle Finger Limes in shaker – Shake over ice – Double Strain into a Nick & Nora glass.
Garnish with half a finger lime.
