How to Make Herb Flavored and Scented Sugars and Salts

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How to Make Herb Flavored and Scented 
Sugars and Salts

 

Flavored sugars and salts are a wonderful way to add some great rimming mixes and cocktail flavorings to your bar.  They also make great gifts and they're very easy to make at home.  All you need are some fresh herbs of your choice, some sugar or salt, a few jars and some time!

Here's What You'll Need:

2 Cups of Sugar or Salt
10 - 15 Leaves of your herb
Mixing bowl large enough to accommodate the sugar
1 or 2 Sealable "Infusion" Jars (Mason Jars are perfect)
Muddling stick
1 or 2 Decorative Jars that can be tightly sealed
Some Pretty Ribbons or other things to decorate the jars
Printable Labels

Here's What You Do:

Make sure your herb leaves are clean and dry then chop into small pieces.  Place the chopped herbs in your mixing bowl and gently crush them with your muddling stick to release the oils. You can also use a mortar and pestle if you prefer.  The oils are where the scent and flavor reside and "bruising" the leaf will release more of these oils.

When your crushed herbs are ready in the mixing bowl slowly add your sugar and blend in with the herbs so they are nicely distributed throughout the sugar.

Store your herb/sugar mix in an air tight jar and out of direct sunlight for two weeks.  Every 2 or 3 days open the jar and stir up the mixture to help break up any clumping and distribute the herb essence throughout the sugar.  The herbs will slowly dry as they give their flavor to the sugar.

After 2 weeks your sugar will be wonderfully aromatic and ready to put in your decorative jars, decorated and labeled for your bar or as gifts.

Herbal Suggestions:  Mint, Lavender, Basil, Cilantro (I love this on my Cilantro Martinis!),

SPICE IT UP!

You can also flavor sugars and salts with spices, citrus and even some flowers!  Cinnamon sticks, cloves, star anise, vanilla beans, cardamom, lemon, lime or orange zest and rose petals make a really unique sugar or salt!

FLAVORING YOUR LIFE

Obviously my first use of these flavored sugars and salts is as a rimmer for my martinis but they're also great for adding subtle flavors to your favorite recipes and foods and flavoring your favorite drinks.  I use flavored salts in my Bloody Martinis, add flavored sugars to my tea, keep smaller jars of the flavored salts (save those empty spice jars!) on my dinner table and will sprinkle the flavored sugars on cupcakes and my buttered toast.
BATH TIME GETS A  LIFT

Go beyond the kitchen and put some great scents in your bath!  Get some Epsom salts and add some herbs to them for an aromatic soak! TIME TO ENJOY!
Get some really cute sealable jars, print up and attach some fun labels, attach a beautiful cloth ribbon and you can set these out and show them off or give them as gifts.  A small set of spice jars with different flavored salts and sugars would make great holiday gifts or be a perfect size to set on your bar! The flavors and scents will last for several months if kept tightly sealed but you probably  won't have them around that long! POP ART MARTINIS 2010

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The Mint Julep Martini & more uses of fresh mint

I was walking Pixel the other day and stopped to talk with my neighbor who was outside pulling weeds - or what he thought was weeds.  Turns out he was yanking out a ton of mint that was growing near his front door!

I immediately informed him he was uprooting a perfectly good herbal gift from Mother Nature and told him all the wonderful things he could do with the spearmint he thought was a weed:

• Obviously you can make some wonderful mint infused martinis!  Today I've posted the Mint Julep Martini, a classic southern bourbon cocktail.
• You can infuse your bourbon and other liquors with mint.
• Muddled fresh mint is a necessity in a mojito!
• You can flavor your teas or even coffee with mint.
• You can create flavored sugars (article on how will be posted tomorrow) for cooking and mixing cocktails.
• You can create flavored simple syrups for your bar.
• Fresh mint is great in salads - I love it in a strawberry salad.
• You can dry the mint and store for use later.
• Crush up some mint leaves and add to water and you can heat this to infuse your home with mint.
• You can create scented salts for your bath.
• Put a few smaller mint leaves in an ice cube tray and fill with water for some fun ice cubes.
• Perfect for a natural breath freshener!
• Sprinkle a few mint leaves in the back of your cabinets to keep out bugs!
• Planting mint around the perimeter of your home will keep the bugs out before they get to your cupboards!

 Of course, I dragged all his pulled up mint home - my mother always said "Waste Not, Want Not"!

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How Big Can a Martini Get Anyway???

Image copyright © by Natalie Phillips 2010. Image used with permission of The Bewildered Brit.

  My friend, Richard, over at  The Bewildered Brit blog is always finding great, fun nostalgia and retro goodies I love to read about - especially since I do some retro blogging myself over at The PopArtDiva Blog on occasion.
So, when I dropped by for a visit and found this giant martini glass I was tickled pink - who wouldn't love a martini glass this size??  Richard ponders just what the cocktail might be in this giant green martini glass with the lime garnish - I'm voting for one of my favorite martinis - The Key Lime Pie Martini which can be easily garnished with a wedge of lime and fits the color of this giant martini perfectly.
It's interesting to note this might not be such a giant martini glass these days - martini glasses seem to be getting larger and larger - Crate and Barrel offers a 13oz. martini glass! I myself happen to have several over sized martini glasses - one large enough to serve a whole bag of chips in!  Lolita even offers some with hand-painted holiday designs.   Once upon a time a standard martini glass would accommodate a gin or vodka martini of around 1.5 to 3 ounces with allowances for dropping in a garnish - about a 4 to 4.5 oz. glass. That was in the days when a martini was gin or vodka with a splash of vermouth, primarily all alcohol. These days designer martinis have changed the rules and martinis and martini glasses come in a range of sizes, not to mention shapes!   There is something to be said for a smaller glass - especially in a classic "up" martini (without ice). A smaller glass allows for a cold drink all the way to the last sip.  The larger the glass the longer it takes to drink the cocktail and the warmer the drink becomes.  But the trend is towards "super sizing", possibly because of the fast food trend, maybe because the price of cocktails seems to be soaring at drinking establishments, or maybe because our society has a belief that "bigger is better".  Many happy hour patrons would agree with this but then I doubt they've ever faced a martini the size of this one at the Party Block Pool Bar in Ocean City, Maryland!   My martini recipes can range from 3 ounces all the way up to 7 ounces depending on the recipe and mixers involved and I have martini glasses in an assortment of sizes - but then I'm a crazed martini glass collector!
I'd sure like to add this one to my collection.  I don't have a cabinet or shelf big enough for it but I can see it on my roof!  
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TROPICAL MARTINIS for a Late Fall Heat Wave!

 

 

 

  You've all been asking me for fall martinis this week, which is reasonable considering it's the first week of November.  What many of you may not be aware of, however, is the heat wave we've been experiencing here in Southern California!  We are being treated to 90 degree temperatures and balmy days reminiscent of the warmest part of summer!
If you think I'm drinking hot apple martinis spiced with cinnamon or a yummy pumpkin pie martini, think again.  I'm grabbing the rums, the fresh tropical fruits and as much ice as I can and making myself some refreshing, cooling martinis to sit out in the warm evenings as I contemplate global warming!
These three got me through this week of record breaking heat and it doesn't have to be warm to enjoy them - they're perfect for the dead of winter when you're snowed in and thinking of sandy beaches and vacations by the sea!
This recipe card design is my UNDER THE SEA POP ART available on posters, tees & hoodies, home decor, stationary & print media & gear

Read about the inspiration and creation of this heat wave, ocean inspired sea image at The PopArtDiva Blog.   PLEASE DRINK RESPONSIBLY & DRIVE RESPONSIBLY
Updated 8-2016

ALL MY HALLOWEEN MARTINIS & COCKTAILS! Happy Halloween!

ALL My HALLOWEEN MARTINIS & COCKTAILS
Have a safe but fun filled Halloween!

 Read more about my favorite Halloween costume.   Tweet
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Black Cat Martini Cocktail Recipe

Get The BLACK CAT MARTINI Here ALL MY HALLOWEEN COCKTAILS PLEASE DRINK RESPONSIBLY Updated 10-2016

HALLOWEEN MARTINIS & HALLOWEEN PARTY FOOD - Purple Ghost Martini & Crabby Dead Brain

 

Download the full sized 5x3 recipe card in print quality here

The PURPLE GHOST MARTINI is a really delicious raspberry vodka martini with tones of orange from the Cointreau and a good dose of anti-oxidants from the pomegranate juice.  It has this really deep purple magenta color that looks great when you float a Ghost Peep on top.

I got extra peeps and dipped them in chocolate for my Halloween Buffet dessert bar - they go great with this martini too!
 SOME LAST MINUTE HALLOWEEN PARTY IDEAS:

Don't have time to carve a pumpkin?  No problem, grab a few black magic markers in various sizes and draw on a scary pumpkin face!  Do a search online for pumpkin carving patterns.

You don't even have to put on a face!  Simply grab a few pumpkins and some of the fun seasonal squashes in various colors at the grocery store and do a nice grouping with some candles.

You can make ghosts to hang around with plastic grocery bags.  Cut your bags into different sized squares for different sized ghosts,  put a wadded up paper towel or toilet paper in the center of the square, gather the bag around the paper stuffed "head" and tie it off with string or a rubber band. You can paint a spooky face on it with your black markers. Grab a can or two of matte black spray paint (Walmart's brand is cheap and dries very quickly!) and spray a few branches from your trees and set them around various areas with Halloween Candles or those great new battery operated votive candles. Dry ice is a great way to create atmosphere on your buffet and most grocery stores carry it.  If you have a fog machine drag it out! Party games are a great idea but if it's too late to pick up some of the cool Halloween party games try creating some of your own.  I did a search for Free Halloween Games and found a ton of fun ideas.

TODAY'S HALLOWEEN PARTY FOOD:
Crabby Dead Brain
(5x3 recipe card at the The Diva of Tiny Foods):

ALL MY HALLOWEEN MARTINIS

HALLOWEEN APPETIZERS

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