Weekend cocktail: The Palomar’s Bumblebee

BUMBLEBEE

I have always been fascinated by honey — where it comes from and how it’s produced — and I love that it can be used as a healthy alkaline sweetener. I wanted to make a cocktail without refined sugar; sweetness is a key component in both food and drinks, but how to get away from the refined stuff? I drew inspiration from an old Prohibition cocktail called a Bee’s Knees, which was a mix of gin, honey and lemon juice. From there on it was straightforward: I made a syrup of honey and ginger juice and combined it with the lemon juice, gin and curaçao, a liqueur made from the dried peel of bitter oranges.

Ingredients

50ml (2fl oz) gin
20ml (4 tsp) freshly squeezed lemon juice
1.25ml (¼ tsp) orange curaçao
2 dashes orange bitters
ice cubes
orange peel twist, to garnish

For the honey and ginger syrup
1½ parts runny honey
1 part fresh root ginger juice

To make the honey and ginger syrup, blend the honey and ginger juice until smooth. Pour into a sterilized airtight bottle (see below), seal and chill in the fridge. It will keep for up to 2 weeks.

Put all the cocktail ingredients into a cocktail shaker and add 20ml (4 tsp) Honey and Ginger Syrup. Shake and serve over ice in a rocks glass. Garnish with a curl of orange peel.

Sterilized airtight bottle

Sterilize a 2-litre (3½ pint) airtight container or jar by simply pouring boiling water into it, then drying it thoroughly with a clean cloth, or putting it through a dishwasher can also do the job.

Recipe taken from The Palomar Cookbook, available here