
Books Fizz
By Mark Williams
I made this drink on a guided forage I did at Wigtown Book Festival on 29th September. We added a little of everything edible we encountered on the walk and rapid infused it with The Botanist and a few preparations I had rattling about in my bag.
The Fresh: contents were:
– Fuchsia flowers, Sea campion flowers, White dead nettle leaves & flowers, Nettle leaf and seeds, Meadowsweet seeds & leaf, Wood avens root & leaf, Tansy leaf & flower (not much – small doses only!), Fool’s watercress, Common hogweed seeds, Blackthorn leaf & squished sloes, Brambles, Rosebay willowherb flower, Sweet cicely, Cow parsley, Sorrel, Yarrow, Hawthorn – haws & leaves, Dandelion flower & leaf, Angelica seed, Rosehips.
These plants were then rapid infused in about 300ml of Botanist Gin using an iSi NO2 Creamer. The resulting liquid tasted pretty fine as it was – the essence of our walk. The final serve was refined with the following preparations of plants we had encountered on the walk:
- 60ml Infused Botanist Gin
- 25ml Galloway herb amaro
- 2 dash 9 carrot bitters
- 10ml Elderberry vinegar
- 10ml Wood avens root syrup
- 5ml Japanese knotweed liqueur
- 5ml Rosehip mulling syrup
Method:
Elderflower and meadowsweet champagne to taste/top up
Foraging notes
28 freshly picked plants from Wigtown hedgerow, merse and harbour. Amaro and bitters made from wild Galloway herbs