I love a good Gin and Tonic, and lately that’s been easier due to the explosion of quality tonic waters on the market. However, many bars still standard in the soda-pop sweet canned stuff leaving me wondering who mixed Sprite in my gin. Sadly, I’ve resorted to the Gin and Soda when out and about (which has it’s own benefits mind you.)
Now that I have refined my palate back to a dry taste, I can’t seem to stomach the cost of my tonic water exceeding that of my gin. Enter the DIY solution, homemade tonic syrup- but I’ve taken it a step further and created my own supply of read-to-go tonic, specifically tinkered and refined to taste.
Tonic is essentially made up of 4 things- quinine (from the bark of the cinchona tree), various bitters, a simple syrup, and carbonated water. Using guidance from a variety of sites, I settled on an ingredient base and infusion technique, then added my own flair to the bitters part of the equation.
- 3 ½ cups water
- ¼ cup (1 ounce) chopped cinchona bark
- 1 ½ Tbsp. powdered citric acid
- 2 grapefruits– zested and juiced
- 3 stalks lemongrass, roughly chopped
- 1 inch lobe of fresh ginger (approx 1 tablespoon when chopped), roughly chopped
- 5 allspice berries, cracked
- 3 cardamom pods, crushed
- 2 cloves, crushed
- 1 star anise pod, crushed
- 1 tablespoon lavender
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- 2 cups of pure cane sugar
- 1 tablespoon of raw honey
I like to use my granite mortar and pestle to crack and crush the spices together for a more flavorful experience, and would encourage anyone with a love of spices to add it to their kitchen arsenal.
All of the ingredients (except for the sugar) should be added to a saucepan over low heat to dissolve the citric acid and increase the infusion of herb and spices for about 30 minutes, occasionally stirring.
Transfer to mason jars or whatever your glass vessel of choice may be and put into the fridge for 72 hours. Be sure to shake the mixture a few times a day.
The next step is to make a simple syrup infusion mix for a complete tonic recipe. Begin by straining the infusion through cheesecloth and coffee filters into a saucepan to remove as much of the spices and bark as possible.
Over a low heat, mix 2 cups of sugar and the tablespoon of honey with the heated liquid infusion, stirring frequently. Once the sugar and honey has dissolved, pour the mix into a swing-top bottle for storage, or separate into individual use batches. I’ve been using a mix of 1 tablespoon of tonic syrup to 1/4 cup (2 fl ounces) of soda water, so use that as a guide to taste.
Enjoy!
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