Damien mixes: Time for Sorrel!

Damien Guichard

18 Feb 2022 4 minutes to read

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© Damien Guichard

Bar ohne Namen

Entschlossen verweigert sich Savage, der Bar einen Namen zu geben. Stattdessen sind drei klassische Design-Symbole das Logo der Trinkstätte in Dalston: ein gelbes Quadrat, ein rotes Viereck, ein blauer Kreis. Am meisten wurmt den sympathischen Franzosen dabei, dass es kein Gelbes-Dreieck-Emoji gibt. Das erschwert auf komische Weise die Kommunikation. Der Instagram Account lautet: a_bar_with_shapes-for_a_name und anderenorts tauchen die Begriffe ‘Savage Bar’ oder eben ‚Bauhaus Bar‘ auf.

Für den BCB bringt Savage nun sein Barkonzept mit und mixt für uns mit Unterstützung von Russian Standard Vodka an der perfekten Bar dazu.

And the winner is... Sorrel! This main ingredient was clearly the undisputed champion in this match, with 73% of you voting for it! Now that the winner has been decided, it's time to get our hands dirty. First, let's take a closer look at our main ingredient:

Sorrel: a perfect substitute for citrus

If you check Wikipedia, you'll find that sorrel belongs to the Polygonacae family, which also includes buckwheat and rhubarb. Fascinating, isn't it? – Well, no, not really. What we want to find out, however, is simple: what does it taste like? It's grassy, green, has strong apple-like flavors and lots of acidity.

In a time where a lot of bartenders are looking to find citrus substitutes to incorporate more sustainable sour flavors to their concoctions, we consider ourselves spoiled. Sorrel is relatively easy to find in Germany, although the peak season is in spring, but it can be grown in organic greenhouses so it can be found year-round.

How to create a syrup from sorrel

Now let's make a blitzed syrup. All you need is....

a blender
sorrel
sugar
citric acid
a coffee filter
jugs
ice

The idea is simple, we’re going to enter a race against time: time is of the essence when using fresh herbs as you’ll be fighting against oxidation.

Instructions:

First step, I weigh my sorrel: 55g. Then I wash it. Make sure you weigh it before you wash it.

Then I’m going to add a little citric acid. It’s always hard to know exactly how much as it always varies based on the acidity of the plant. As a rule of thumb, I add around 2% so in this case: 1g.

The citric acid powder has two goals here: boosting the natural acidity is one. You should be able to use this cordial as a sour base little to none additional acidity to it. The other aspect of citric acid is that it will slow down the inevitable oxidation of your cordial. It has a clock on it as oxygen will affect the freshness of the product but adding citric acid to it, vitamin C, will slow down that process.

Next, we’re going to add our sugar, in this case I like to add an equal measure to sorrel ratio: 55g.

Last but not least water: sorrel doesn’t render enough juice to make it a viable ingredient behind the bar so we will add 4 measures of water to sorrel ratio: 220g.

Once all of your ingredients are mixed together well, transfer them into your blender and set it to the highest speed available for 3mins. You want the herbs to be blitzed and the ingredients to be mixed together well but the cordial shouldn’t heat up too much otherwise it will taste of burnt mud – and nobody wants that.

In the meantime, prepare a cold bath with ice and water – not for you, it’s for the cordial.

Place a jug into the icy water and run your cordial through a coffee filter. This. technique is inspired by the traditional blanching technique which slows down the of action of the enzyme responsible for browning.