There are a lot of fun and festive herbal cocktails and mocktails that you can create. Below are a few that a couple that I like. Balsam Baby has balsam fir and cranberries for a fresh taste of the winter forest. Mulled wine has all of your favorite warming winter spices in it and can be enjoyed warm, on a snowy winter day.
Here is a video that I made with the Island Heritage Trust, at the Scott’s Landing Preserve, on Deer Isle. In this short video I demonstrate making the Balsam Baby cocktail and talk about mulled wine.
Balsam Baby cocktail
This a festive red cocktail with the bright taste of a balsam forest and a sweet hint of citrus.
As I was developing this cocktail, the song Santa Baby was running through my head. All I could think, was “Balsam Baby, and hurry down the chimney tonight!…..” to the same tune. So of course, that became its name, for better or worse.
This is a tasty beverage to have on a sparkly holiday evening. Whether it’s the snow sparkling, the Christmas tree lights, or the starry night sky, this cocktail will help set the holiday mood.
Ingredients:
1 oz Balsam Fir infused vodka
1 oz Cranberry infused vodka
1 oz Balsam Fir Syrup
1 pint Bubbly water
1 mandarin, tangerine, or tangelo
Garnish with a balsam fir twig, 1 cranberry, & 1 wedge of whatever citrus you are using
Ice
Either a tumbler or pint glass depending on your taste
Mocktail version-
Ingredients:
1 oz unsweetened Cranberry juice
1 pint Bubbly water
1 oz Balsam Fir Syrup
1 Mandarin
Garnish with a balsam fir twig, 1 cranberry, & 1 wedge of whatever citrus you are using
Ice
Pint glass
Directions:
1. Place ingredients in a pint glass (or tumbler for a stronger flavor and alcohol content).
2. Stir well to fully combine ingredients.
3. Garnish with a balsam twig that you peel the bottom needles from and use it as a toothpick to stab
through a cranberry and a wedge of mandarin.
Cranberry infused vodka
Ingredients:
Jar with a lid
Frozen cranberries
Vodka
Unbleached parchment paper (not required)
Directions:
Dice enough frozen cranberries too loosely fill whatever jar you are using.
Cover the cranberries with vodka.
Put a lid on the jar. If you have unbleached parchment paper or wax paper, you can place it between the lid and the vodka to prevent any possible leaching from the lid into the vodka.
Let steep for a minimum of 3 days, 6 weeks will develop more flavor and is a standard steep time for tinctures (infused alcohol). However, as long as the cranberries are submerged in vodka, they may remain unstrained indefinitely.
Strain and it is ready to go!
Balsam Fir infused vodka
Ingredients:
Jar with a lid
Balsam Fir tips (or Christmas tree clippings)
Vodka
Unbleached parchment paper (not required)
Directions:
Strip needles from the balsam tips and chop up the tender branch tips. Do not use the brown barked twig parts. They are too strong in flavor.
Loosely fill whatever jar you are using.
Cover the fir needles with vodka.
Put a lid on the jar. If you have unbleached parchment paper or wax paper, you can place it between the lid and the vodka to prevent any possible leaching from the lid into the vodka.
Let steep for a minimum of 3 days, 6 weeks will develop more flavor and is a standard steep time for tinctures (infused alcohol). However, as long as the cranberries are submerged in vodka, they may remain unstrained indefinitely.
Strain and it is ready to go!
Balsam Fir Syrup
Ingredients:
4 tablespoons Balsam Fir needles and twig tips
4 cups of water
1 cup Honey
Directions:
Put the Balsam Fir needles and twigs in a small sauce pot with the water.
Simmer the water until there is half the amount you started with, 2 cups. To determine this, I use a wooden spoon handle to measure the water level in the pot. Then I decide where the water will need to be on the spoon handle when it is halved. When I think I am close, I use the spoon again to measure. The wet mark on the spoon should be at the desired point that I originally determined.
Strain the liquid.
4. While it is still warm, add the honey and stir, until it is fully incorporated.
5. Bottle and store in the fridge.
Health benefits of Cranberry
Cranberries are loaded with antioxidant bioflavonoids that are beneficial for cardiovascular health and cell protection.
They are a classic remedy for urinary tract infections. They have a component that does not allow the infectious bacterial to adhere to the walls or the ureters. They also have a diuretic effect, allowing the body to eliminate more easily from the kidneys.
Health benefits of Balsam Fir
Balsam fir has lots of volatile oils which provide the tree with its lovely small. These volatile oils are strongly antimicrobial. They are, in essence, part of the trees immune system, protecting it from pathogens. These volatile oils can help us kill infections, especially in our lungs and sinuses. This is one of the places that we clear the oils from our body, and by doing so, they can kill infection on their way out. A steam of balsam fir breathed in can also help fight infections and clear the lungs and sinuses of excess mucous.
Mulled Wine and Cider
Warm spiced beverages are so delightful on cold fall and winter evenings. Especially when sipped around a fire outside with friends.
I was always intimidated by the idea of adding spices and citrus to wine and drinking hot wine. I always loved warm cider with cinnamon, but wine? I wasn’t so sure. Once I got over the intimidation and just tried it out, I realized how great it is!
It is super good, super easy, and you can get as creative as you want with it.
The basic idea is that you warm up the wine with spices, fruit, and something sweet. From there you can keep it as classic or as wild as you want.
The Basics:
Spices (chai or pumpkin spice blends work well)
Fruit (orange, apple, cranberries, pomegranate)
Sweetener (honey, sugar, fruit juice like cider or orange juice)
Wine (or cider for mocktail version)
Classic Mulled Wine:
Ingredients:
1 cinnamon stick
10 whole cloves
1 inch of fresh ginger root, thinly sliced or diced
6 whole cardamom pods, freshly crushed
1 organic orange or apple, sliced whole
1/2 cup of honey
1 bottle of Pinot Noir or a wine of your choice
*you can replace the wine with cider, for a non-alcoholic option. I would not add oranges or orange juice to the cider. I would add only the spices and maybe a little honey.
Directions:
Put all of the ingredients, except the honey, into a sauce pot.
Simmer on a low heat for 1 hour, partly covered with a lid.
Remove from heat, cover, and steep for 20 minutes.
4. Strain and drink or store in a thermos (for short-term) or in a quart jar in the fridge (for longer-term).
5. Drink warm with a garnish of a cinnamon stick and/or orange slice.
Health benefits of winter spices like cinnamon, clove, ginger, and cardamom
All of these wonderful spices are warming and aromatic in nature. They all support digestion, ease nausea, uplift the spirits, open the lungs, fight infections, and increase circulation and warmth to the extremities.
They are a lovely accent to a heavy winter meal or cold winter night.
In tea, liquor, wine, cider, and food, these spices aid health in many ways, especially during the cold months of the year.