Cocktails to get you in a pickle this Christmas

The latest must-have drink for fashionistas, top athletes and hipsters? Pickle juice. Believe it or not, ‘pickle liqueur’ is popping up on cool cocktail menus and the Pickle Martini – or variations thereof – is tipped as the drink of choice this Christmas.

At Isabel in London’s Mayfair, a party venue favored by actresses Sienna Miller and Alicia Vikander, they serve a Garden Martini with yellow tomato and samphire (well, you can’t call it pickle juice when a cocktail costs £29). , can you?). While you’re at NoMad, the hip hotel where you’ll find models Alexa Chung and Adwoa Aboah, actresses Iris Law and Lena Dunham and rock star Courtney Love, those in the know order the Szechuan Gibson, a spicy twist on the classic dry martini with pickle juice and hot Szechuan oil. made from chili and Chinese herbs, and pickled pearl onions.

Admittedly, it doesn’t sound very glamorous, does it? Gherkin juice is the liquid used to pickle something (be it onions, gherkins, yellow tomatoes or samphire) and is usually a mixture of diluted vinegar with salt, sugar and various spices. So how did this simple drink become so elevated and timely?

At Isabel in Mayfair in London, a party location favored by actresses Sienna Miller (photo) and Alicia Vikander, they serve a Garden Martini with yellow tomato and samphire.

One of the first pickle juice-based drinks is said to have originated a few years ago in New York’s uber-cool Brooklyn, when a pickle-munching bartender was asked by a customer to serve a shot of whiskey followed by a shot of pickling . brine. He did as he was told, tasted it himself, was impressed with the result and the ‘pickleback’ was born.

The trend spread to Britain and now they are available in hipster bars across the country. Meanwhile, Florence Cherruault, founder of The Pickle House, whose Original Pickle Juice (from £7 for 500ml) is available at Harrods, Selfridges and Harvey Nichols, has published a special book: Pickle Juice: A Revolutionary Approach To Making Better Tasting Cocktails And Drinks (£4.99, amazon.co.uk).

“Picklesap is great for cocktails,” says chef Chantelle Nicholson, who runs hip London’s Apricity (apricity restaurant.com), a low-waste restaurant. “It’s great in a Bloody Mary or a dirty martini, but my new favorite is freezing it and then scraping it to make a granita,” she says.

‘We serve it with marinated tomatoes and it gives it extra freshness.’

Some even say that adding pickle juice to your drink can prevent cramps, prevent you from getting a hangover – or save you from one the next morning.

That’s because the combination of sugar and salt is essentially a tastier form of one of those dehydration sachets, packed with minerals like potassium, sodium and magnesium. A great excuse to make a batch for your Christmas party!

Would you like to give it a try? You can wait until you finish the jar of pickled cucumbers lurking in the back of your refrigerator, or you can make your own.

While you’re at NoMad, the hip hotel where you can find models like Alexa Chung (photo) and Adwoa Aboah, those in the know order the Szechuan Gibson, a spicy twist on the classic dry martini with pickle juice

DIY pickle juice

The basic pickle juice recipe consists of just four ingredients: vinegar, water, sugar and salt. It is up to you to add the desired herbs and spices: garlic, bay leaves, fennel seeds, mustard seeds, dill, coriander seeds, chili. Experiment until you come up with a combination that works for you.

Ingredients

• 250 ml of water
• 350 ml vinegar
• 70 g sugar
• 2 tablespoons of salt

Place all ingredients in a pan and heat until the sugar and salt have completely dissolved. Allow to cool and then use – for pickling or in cocktails.

Here are some cocktails to experiment with from The Pickle House recipe book:

In a pickle

The original Pickle Juice cocktail that inspired so many others, this simple classic has been a hit from the start!

Ingredients

• 30 ml vodka
• 15 ml pickle juice
• 100 ml ginger beer
• Squeeze lime
• Ice cubes for serving
• Rosemary and red chili to garnish

Place all ingredients on ice and garnish with a sprig of rosemary and a red chili pepper if you like it spicy.

La Soiree

This is a unique concoction, combining the light sweetness of elderflower with the umami goodness of pickle juice.

Ingredients

• 35 ml Hendrick’s gin
• 15 ml St-Germain elderflower liqueur
• 10 ml pickle juice
• 7.5 ml egg white (or replace it with chickpea water to make it vegan)
• 1 teaspoon lime juice
• Ice cubes for shaking
• 8 mint leaves, plus 1 mint sprig to garnish

Mix all ingredients in a cocktail shaker, cover with ice, close and shake vigorously for ten seconds. Pour the mixture into a martini glass and garnish with a sprig of mint.

Inlaid Vespers

Another classic cocktail with a little push towards the pickle.

Ingredients

• 50 ml vodka
• 10 ml dry vermouth
• 5 ml pickle juice
• Ice cubes for shaking
• Lemon peel twist to garnish

Place all ingredients in a cocktail shaker, add ice and shake vigorously for ten seconds. Strain into a martini glass and garnish with a slice of lemon.