Botany At The Bar by Selena Ahmed, Ashley Duval, and Rachel Meyer is a bitter-making handbook with a beautiful, botanical difference—botanists Selena Ahmed, Ashley Duval, and Rachel Meyer take us on an enlightening trip throughout the plant world as they share their unique expertise on the ecology, cultural practices, and medicinal properties just waiting to be discovered at the bottom of your glass.

You can enjoy two easy cocktail recipes from the book and download printable recipe cards below.

92 in the Shade

Mexico generally gets credit for chili pepper origins, but some species of domesticated Capsicum came from the Amazon, namely the exceedingly pungent varieties of habanero. The name itself, habanero, and the lack of a Mayan name suggest it arrived via Cuba.

Ingredients

1½ oz (45 ml) Habanero Cachaça (see below)
1 oz (30 ml) unsweetened coconut milk
¾ oz (20 ml) pineapple juice
½ oz (15 ml) lime juice
½ oz (15 ml) Simple Syrup (see page 124)
1 dash Raisin in the Sun Bitters (see page 68)
or Chicha Morada Bitters (see page 54)
Pineapple (for garnish)

Habanero Cachaça: Determine how much you want to make, given 1 ½ oz are all that's needed per drink With a spoon or pestle, press to muddle (mash) ¼ habanero, including seeds, for every 5 oz (150 ml) cachaça in a metal shaker cup. Let sit for 30 seconds to 2 minutes, depending on desired pungency (think of 2 minutes as five-stars spicy).

Method: In a shaker, combine all the ingredients except the bitters and then add ice. Shake and strain into a coupe glass and garnish with a pineapple wedge and a dash of Raisin in the Sun Bitters. Yields one 4½ oz drink.

Blackberry Shrub with Lemon Balm

Bright sweet blackberries are complemented by a tangy, grassy tickle on the nose from lemon balm Blackberries have the tendency to go from very ripe to rotten really quickly. Finding that sweet spot can be difficult, so I recommend using them as soon as you get them. The same goes with any recipe with fresh herbs or vegetables. Using fresh herbs right away means you'll be using them while they still have all of their potency. The flip side is that using blackberries so quickly will mean that they have more acidity and possibly underdeveloped sweetness compared to the way a super fragile overripe blackberry tastes. To compensate, this recipe calls for slightly less vinegar than is used in the strawberry shrub.

Ingredients

2 cups (290 g) blackberries
1¼ cups (290 ml) unfiltered apple cider vinegar
1 cup + 3 Tbsp (260 g) agave syrup
15 g fresh lemon balm leaves, plus extra for garnish

Method: Puree lemon balm leaves with the berries and apple cider vinegar until fine enough for some to pass through the mesh of the chinois strainer. You'll want to strain out the blackberry seeds, but in doing so, you will strain out some of the leafy lemon balm, however, a lot of the leaves and their essential oils will pass through The bright acidity of the fresh berries carries over the vinegar while the tangy grassy lemon balm greets the nose and again on the aftertaste. Add the agave syrup to the filtered puree and stir to combine.

To serve: Pour l ½ oz (45 ml) Blackberry and Lemon Balm Shrub over a glass with ice and top with about 3 ⅞ cup (200 ml) of cold sparkling water. Stir vigorously and garnish with three or four leaves of lemon balm . Give them a good smack by clapping them between your hands to bring out the essential oils in the leaves. The aroma of the freshly clapped leaves and the lemon balm in the syrup should be potent enough to add to the bouquet of berries and vinegar.

Download the printable recipe cards:

92 In The Shade

Blackberry Shrub with Lemon Balm