Citric bitters

This post is part of the UK Herbal blog party on bitters hosted by Debs Cook at Herbaholics Herbarium.

January, especially when blessed with snow and ice, can often make you feel like hibernating for the rest of the winter. The midwinter festivities may also have left you with digestive stagnation from all the wonderful food and treats consumed. Whether we like it or not, January is a perfect time to start a new relationship with bitters. There is every likelihood they can promote a healthy digestive system and even lighten your mood, helping you to work your way towards Spring in the most positive way possible.

If you are new to the concept of bitters and maybe feel sceptical about the idea of a national “Bitters Deficiency Syndrome”, I suggest you read Jim MacDonald’s excellent article, “Blessed Bitters”. I have written a previous article about the bitters I know. You can also find further discussions about bitters on the Herbwifery Forum and the August 2008 blog party .

One major difficulty in introducing bitters into your diet at this time of year is the absence of fresh greens. You could go to the shops and buy watercress and other bitter salad greens, but salads may not be your first choice of food during cold weather.

There is another food group which is in season at the moment which we may not think of in terms of bitters, but is easily available - citrus. Grapefruit, oranges and lemons can all be used to make bitter tinctures or liqueurs with equal effectiveness providing the bitter taste is not masked by sweetness in the liqueur.

Oranges, especially Seville oranges used for marmalade, make a useful bitter tincture. Other sweet oranges can also provide a bitter component if the peel is used with the white pith left intact. Lemon peel can be used in the same way, to make a “cooler” bitter. I often add fresh or dried citrus peel to teas and elixirs to add an extra “umph” to the mixture.

Recipes
Here is a selection of recipes from various herbalists which use citrus and other warming bitters which are helpful for this time of year.

Grapefruit bitter aperitif (Rebecca Hartman)
Slice up some grapefruit peel and remove most of the white pith. Put the slices of peel in a pot with enough water to cover them by about an inch. Add a pinch of salt. Bring the mixture to a boil and simmer it for 15 minutes or so. Drain the peels and set aside the cooking water to make liqueur. Return the peels to the pot, add fresh water, bring it to a boil, and simmer it for another 15 minutes. Drain again (don’t forget to reserve the cooking water).

Bring all the reserved cooking water to a boil and reduce it by about a third. Now add 2/3 cup sugar per cup of water. Stir to dissolve. Let it cool and then add 1 cup of vodka per cup of liquid. You need to allow plenty of time both for the reserved cooking water to reduce and for the sugar water mixture to cool. Pour finished bitter into a glass jar with a screw top lid, label and date. When using, take about a shot glass full or less and add fresh grapefruit juice. It tastes wonderful!

Seville Orange bitter (Julie Bruton-seal)
Fill an empty jam jar loosely with the peel of a couple of Seville oranges, a tablespoonful of cardamon pods, and a few fennel or anise seeds. If you wish, add a clove or two - but not too many as they are strong. Add a tablespoon of honey, and top the jar up with vodka (or brandy, whisky or rum if you prefer). Keep in a dark cupboard for a month, shaking occasionally, then strain off and bottle the liquid. Take half a teaspoonful before meals to improve digestion.

Bitter tincture (Jim Macdonald)
Dandelion root (mixture of roasted and raw or dried) (Use gentian or yellow dock root if available)
Orange peel
1tsp dried ginger or ½-1 inch root ginger
Fill a glass jar with chopped root and peel, cover with vodka for 3 weeks in dark cold place, strain and use. Dose is 15-30 drops 15 minutes before eating or after a heavy meal to release stagnant feeling

Chamomile bitter (Jim Macdonald)
1oz dried chamomile flowers
32 fluid ounces just boiling water
Steep flowers in water overnight.
Dose is 1fl oz taken cold. Freeze remainder in 1fl oz portions and use as necessary.

Bitter tea (Kristena Haslam)
Dandelion root
Burdock root
Milk thistle seed
Ginger
Cardamom seeds
Cover with cold water, bring to the boil in covered saucepan and simmer for 20-30 minutes. Strain and drink.

Demulcent bitter tea (Darcey Blue French)
2 tsp flax seed
Bitter roots (dandelion, burdock, elecampane, angelica either one or a combination)
Warming spices (cardamom, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, etc.)
Place in small saucepan and fill with cold water. Heat uncovered and simmer for half an hour until liquid in saucepan has reduced by half. Strain and drink

Bittersweet digestive and immune tonic (David Essig-Beatty)
Mix tinctures of burdock root and fennel in equal proportions.
Dose: 30 drops 15 minutes before meals.

Preparing for Christmas

Last Sunday was the traditional stir-up Sunday when everyone is supposed to bake their Christmas puddings and Christmas cake. My Christmas pudding recipe is special to us, using carrots instead of eggs. It was my Grandmother’s recipe born out of wartime rationing (we think) or in her case, because eggs were a source of income at a time of desperate poverty; they were for sale, not for consumption. Her three children were only allowed one egg a week on Sundays as a treat.

The beauty of this recipe is that it is suitable for vegans.

Nanna’s Christmas pudding

1/2lb flour,

1/2lb breadcrumbs

1lb chopped suet (vegetable)

1lb sultanas

1lb currants

1lb raisins

8oz candied peel

1 ½ lbs brown sugar

Juice and rind of 2 lemons

1 carrot (or 4 eggs)

Milk to mix (or orange juice)

½ grated nutmeg

Mix everything together with milk until of a stiff consistency. Place in 2x 3pint pudding basins with close-fitting lids inside a large saucepan filled 2/3rds full of water. Boil for 4 hours. When cooking for eating, boil for a further 3-4 hours. This pudding will keep in a cool, dark place for several years. It will become dried up after 3 years, but can be steamed in a steamer to moisten. Serve with cream, custard, brandy sauce or brandy cream according to your preferences.

If you still have any cooking apples stored, here is a German recipe for apple cake which needs no eggs or milk.

Ischi’s Apple Cake

12oz flour (1/2 plain, ½ wholemeal)

1tsp bicarbonate of soda and a pinch of salt

6oz margarine

6oz dark brown sugar

2oz walnuts (or mixed ground nuts)

10oz dates (or mixed dried fruit)

½ pint stewed apples (If you fill a pint measure with apple segments, it will make ½ pint of stewed apples after cooking with the minimum of water and no sugar.)

Add bicarbonate of soda and salt to flour. Rub in flour and margarine until it resembles breadcrumbs. Mix in sugar, nuts and mixed fruit. Add stewed apple and place in greased 8” cake tin. Put into oven as quickly as possible. Cook Gas Mark 5 for 1-1 ½ hours.

At the November meeting of Solihull Writers Group we were talking about our Christmas "party" on 10 December. Most of the meeting is spent on the adjudication of the short story competition before we break for nibbles. In past years I've brought bottles of Spiced Berry Cordial to use as a mulled wine since we're not allowed to bring alcohol onto Methodist Church premises. Last year Tesco's didn't have any Spiced Berry Cordial, so we had to make do with cold soft drinks. I decided to be adventurous and create my own Spiced Hedgerow cordial. It was very simple to make, so I thought I'd share the recipe.

Spiced Hedgerow Cordial
1-2lbs of blackberries
1/2lb rosehips
1 large orange (sliced)
1 and a half inches of root ginger (grated)
1 nutmeg (grated)
2 large quills of cinnamon
6 cloves
3 lbs honey

Place everything in a large pan and cover with cold water (I used about 5 pints). Bring to the boil and simmer with the lid on for about an hour. Strain the liquid and push any juicy bits you can through the sieve. Discard the debris and wash the saucepan. Measure the liquid and put on a low heat to evaporate for an hour or so, depending on how thick you want your cordial to be. I had 4 3/4 pints liquid, so I evaporated it down to around 3 pints. A film will form on the top of the liquid, mix this back into the cordial before you add the honey. Heat very gently until the honey is dissolved. Sterilise bottles in the oven for ten minutes, then pour cordial into bottles, seal, label and date. To make the drink, add 1 tablespoon of cordial to a small cup/goblet of boiling water. Sip and enjoy.

You could use half elderberries and half blackberries and more rosehips. I had a box of blackberries I'd picked several weeks ago in the freezer and used a mixture of fresh rosehips which had been in the fridge for a while and dried rosehips from last year. I gave the cordial to some residents of an “extra-care” residential home yesterday and they thoroughly enjoyed it.

Another beverage to be enjoyed is hawthorn berry liqueur, but if you make it now, you will need to have the patience to put it away to mature for about two years or more.

Hawthorn Liqueur

To a jar full of infused hawthorn berry brandy, add 1 grated nutmeg, one cinnamon stick (crumbled), the chopped peel of one orange, 4 cloves and ½-1 cup full of sugar or honey. Seal the jar with a screw top lid, place in a warm, dark place for 8 weeks shaking regularly, then strain and pour into a sterile bottle. Seal the bottle with a screw top lid or cork and leave in a cold dark place to mature for as long as possible (at least two years). It really is worth the wait!

I’ve also been thinking about herbal gifts to make for various relatives or just to have as nibbles during the festive season. I was delighted to see Non Shaw and Christopher Hedley’s recipes for syrup of figs and crystallised ginger on the latest Herbmonger page on the Herb Society website.

I haven’t made the syrup of figs yet, but I have made two different kinds of crystallised ginger with interesting results.

I made the syrup by heating a cup of sugar in 4 cups of water, then added ginger root cut up into small segments. (I couldn’t work out how to cut cubes!). It seemed to take about two hours to simmer the root until it was soft and the syrup had reduced quite a lot, so I left it overnight in the saucepan and then lifted out all the ginger, hoping it might dry. It tasted wonderful, sweet and not so powerfully ginger.

I then cut up and diced another large root of ginger, using the peelings to make ginger tea. This time I reconstituted the syrup with a large chunk of brown sugar and another 1/2pint of water to try and make it back up to the original volume. Once the sugar had dissolved into the syrup, I added a handful of frozen elderberries, a quill of cinnamon, 4 cloves and half a grated nutmeg. I stirred it well as I added the diced ginger and left it to simmer for another two hours.

If I had thought about the logistics, I would have cooked the syrup for half an hour and then strained it before adding the ginger, but I didn’t, so when I came to remove the ginger pieces, I had to pick it all out carefully, discard the bits of cinnamon stick and elderberries and then wash the ginger pieces before putting them into a sterile glass jar. The spiced elderberry ginger was much hotter than the plain crystallised ginger, so I left it in the strained syrup and will use it for tasting during workshops or to cook with.

Finally, if you’re looking for a really nice aperitif to serve before your festive meal, try Rebecca Hartman’s Grapefruit Bitter Liqueur.

Slice up some grapefruit peel and remove most of the white pith. Put the slices of peel in a pot with enough water to cover them by about an inch. Add a pinch of salt. Bring the mixture to a boil and simmer it for 15 minutes or so. Drain the peels and set aside the cooking water to make liqueur. Return the peels to the pot, add fresh water, bring it to a boil, and simmer it for another 15 minutes. Drain again (don’t forget to reserve the cooking water).

Bring all the reserved cooking water to a boil and reduce it by about a third. Now add 2/3 cup sugar per cup of water. Stir to dissolve. Let it cool and then add 1 cup of vodka per cup of liquid.

You need to allow plenty of time both for the reserved cooking water to reduce and for the sugar water mixture to cool. Pour finished bitter into a glass jar with a screw top lid, label and date.

When using, take about a shot glass full or less and add fresh grapefruit juice. It tastes wonderful!