Last Days of Summer Cocktail: Lemon Coriander + Rosemary Gin Fizz
By Sola Onitiri
Summer deserves a good send off - Photography by Sola Onitiri
This has been the quickest summer in reported history. Maybe it was moving or bouncing around to five different cities - but either way, this summer has come and gone.
I've been on the road for a little over a month. Ducking in an out of Air bnb's and friends' homes, I haven't had the opportunity to concoct and cook until now. And if I'm being honest, I'm blown away by just how much I missed it. So now, in my adorable apartment in Bridgeport Chicago, I revel in spending conservatively 70% of my time in the kitchen.
After two lengthy shopping excursions, because I guess I forgot how to grocery shop, I came up with a few new recipes plus some tried and true classics that I wanted to try. One of the new recipes was a coriander syrup and one of the tried and trues was a tea syrup (I'll get to that in a different article).
Coriander is a tricky little bugger. Also known as Chinese cilantro, coriander has a strong pungent flavor that depending on your genes could taste like soap. To others, it has a herb-y tart flavor profile. I was trying to create a syrup that can punch up even the simplest of concepts. As a fan of citrus and herbs, a lemon rosemary and coriander gin fizz is the first thing that came to mind. But first, the syrup.
I opted for using coriander seeds. They're more readily available and not as overwhelming in flavor. However, if you're looking for a bolder coriander flavor, than totally go for fresh coriander leaves. Instruction below.
Coriander Syrup Recipe
1. Using a mortar and pestle, roughly grind 1/2 cup of coriander seeds.
2. Steep the coriander in 2 cups of boiling water for 7 minutes. The water should look like dark green tea when it's done.
3. Strain the coriander water into 2 cups of sugar.
4. Stir until sugar is dissolved and chill.
Extra: I put a few seeds in the syrup for added aroma.
That was the hard part, from here on out it's smooth sailing. You're going to need fresh lemon juice to complete your prep. Fresh is the operative word. If you use anything else, it's going to taste like trash. That goes for every citrus based cocktail by the way. Give that lemon juice a strain as well.
This cocktail, or fizz, is meant to evoke the feeling of the seasons changing. It's a beautiful summer day that turns into the first brisk fall night. The fresh lemon juice is lemonade on the porch while rosemary, being a late summer to fall herb, is what's to come in just a few weeks. So cheers to the last days of summer and for a prosperous fall to come.
Lemon Coriander + Rosemary GIN Fizz
What You'll Need:
- Coriander Seeds for #aesthetic
- Coriander Syrup (See Above)
- Lemons for juicin' and garnishin'
- Rosemary for a punch up
- Club soda or sparkling water if you fancy
- Gin
- Shaking Tins for shakin'
- Jigger for measurin'
- A porch for hangs
The Build:
- Slap one sprig of rosemary and add it to the tin
- 2oz of Gin
- 1oz fresh lemon juice
- 1 oz coriander syrup
- Shake with ice and strain into rocks glass
- Pour club soda on top
- Garnish with rosemary sprig and seeds.
Make it your own!
That's all there is to it. But if lemons are not your gig, try this recipe with fresh grapefruit or limes. This recipe is also perfect for a vodka fizz as well. Don't forget to pin the images above. Until next time, happy and responsible drinking!
