Currant Mood

Cocktail ingredients:

1.5 oz Vodka

1 oz Lemon Juice

.5 oz Elderflower Liqueur

.75 oz Simple Syrup

Black Currant and Blueberry Spheres:

5-7 g Sodium Alginate

1 g Calcium Lactate

1000 g Distilled Water

.5 t Xanthan Gum

100 g Black Currant and Blueberry Spheres:

Tools:

Immersion Blender

Tea spoon

Bakers Scale

Shaker Tin

Hawthorne Strainer

Pippet

Fine Mesh Strainer

You will want to start with the spheres:

This recipe uses a process called reverse spherification.  It takes time as the following instructions need to sit for at least an hour before use.  You will first need to make a sodium alginate bath with distilled water and then infuse the juice with calcium lactate and xanthan gum.

Buckle Up!:

1. In a large bowl add distilled water and sodium alginate.  You need to use distilled water because it does not have calcium like tap or spring water.  The calcium that we add to the juice is what causes the reaction that we need to form the spheres that will pop in your mouth.  If there is calcium in the water the entire bowl will turn into a thicker gelatin which will not be usable.

2. Use the immersion blender to incorporate the ingredients entirely.  You will notice that it will thicken and have many air bubbles.  Cover the bowl and place in the refrigerator for at least an hour.  The reason it needs to sit is that we do not want any bubbles in the liquid.  The bubbles will disturb the spherification process.  When using the sodium alginate bath it should become clear after sitting.

3. In a medium bowl add the black currant blueberry juice, calcium lactate, and xanthan gum.  Using a clean immersion blender, incorporate entirely.  Cover and place in the fridge for an hour or until there are no more air bubbles.

4. After the bubbles in both the sodium alginate bath and juice mixture dissipate, pull them out of the refrigerator to begin the spherification process.

5. Using a pipet draw up the juice and carefully squeeze out peasides spheres into the sodium alginate bath.  You will want to bring your pipet close to the sodium alginate bath, but do not fully submerge it.  Once you see the sphere starting to descend into the liquid, move onto your next sphere.  Make as many spheres as you want, just be sure that they are not touching each other.  Do not disturb the spheres for 2-4 minutes.  You can use a spoon to move the sodium alginate bath without touching the spheres to see if the out barrier has formed a strong enough layer.  The longer it sits, the thicker the gelatin wall so you will want to pay close attention as we are just forming an outer barrier while the inside remains liquid.

6. Once you are confident that your spheres have formed, strain the entire bath with the spheres into a fine mesh strainer.  Rinse the spheres with distilled water and place in a bowl with a little bit of black currant juice.  This should be fresh juice, not the remaining juice incorporated with the calcium lactate and xanthan gum.  The juice will keep the spheres from sticking together and will help them from breaking as we make the cocktail.

Assembling the cocktail:

1. In a shaker tin add the vodka, lemon juice, simple syrup, and elderflower.  Add ice and shake vigorously.

2. Strain into a highball glass with a hawthorne strainer and add fresh ice.

3. Carefully top the cocktail with your black currant blueberry spheres.  Use a spoon with small holes so that you can rinse the excess juice off of the spheres before adding it to the cocktail.  Serve with a straw.