crabapple fight!

I just bottled a syrup yesterday for my 5 Monday long residency at the Cocktail Lab at Earl's Prudential. Starting Monday October 30th and throughout November, I will be manning the first floor bar from 5-11pm. Stop on by to see what new trio of drinks I will be serving! The Crabapple Fight below the photo is one of them and will be part of a this week's forage/still growing in my garden theme.

Fred at the Cocktail Lab
Earl's Kitchen at the Prudential Center
800 Boylston St in Boston
Monday nights from 5-11pm October 30th, November 6th, 13th, 20th, 29th!

This drink was inspired by the crabapple jelly that I made for my wife Andrea this season after she revealed that she missed the jelly that her mom used to make for her using the crabapple trees in their yard. My crabapples were in my yard of Greater Somerville, and the jelly was so amazing that I decided to make syrup! Yes, crabapples are edible but they are not so tasty without adulteration due to their tartness and tannins, but with sugar added, they are delightful! Crabapples were historically used as pollinators for apple tree orchards mixed between the rows before moving on to be more ornamental yard plantings due to their great floral display.

Crabapple Fight!
• 1 3/4 oz Blended Scotch
• 1/4 oz Benedictine
• 1/2 oz Crabapple Syrup (*)
• 1/2 oz Lemon Juice
Shake with ice, strain into a cocktail coupe, and garnish with a lemon twist (a floated lemon twist flower)

(*) Crabapple Syrup (recipe makes a little over 24 oz/3 cup)
• 4 cup sliced crabapples (remove stem & cut off the blossom end)
• 2 cup sugar
• 2 cup water
• 1/2 tsp salt
Wash crabapples, remove stems, cut off the blossom end, and slice thinly. Leave in the skins and seeds and place them in a pot. Coat with sugar, mix well, and leave for an hour our more to extract. Add water, bring to a boil, cover, and let simmer for 30 minutes. Let cool or leave overnight to steep further. Strain through a tea towel or cheese cloth. The more gentle you are with the crabapples, the clearer the syrup. The more you mash them, the cloudier the syrup will be but perhaps more flavor will be extracted. Here, I was gentle except for a final squeeze through the tea towel which donated a hint of haziness to the syrup. Bottle and refrigerate. Adding 2 oz 80 proof vodka will help to stabilize the syrup (I did not add here in case I need to use it to make mocktails).
Photo taken at the Cocktail Lab 11/09/17