#3. Hot Off The Press
Mixer: Nata Traub, professional mixologist
Ark of Taste Ingredient: American Rye
About Nata: The pleasure and joy of sharing food and drink, for me, goes hand-in-hand with being a caring citizen of one’s community and ultimately the world. I work as a private mixology consultant for parties and organizations. Among my clients are organizations trying to solve some of the problems plaguing our world, including the Blacksmith Institute (dealing with pollution problems in the developing world, cleaning up highly polluted sites where children are most at risk) and Hearts of Gold (working for sustainable change in lifestyle and levels of self-sufficiency for homeless mothers and their children). In my spare time I volunteer with the Holy Apostle Soup Kitchen in NYC, the largest soup kitchen in the City.
Local Chapter: Slow Food Metro North
Recipe
1.5 oz. Cornelius Applejack (Harvest Spirits)
1 oz. Hudson Manhattan Rye (Tuthilltown Spirits)
½ oz Ginger Syrup (recipe below)
½ oz. freshly squeezed lime juice (approx. 1/2 of a lime. Reserve the peel for garnish)
Several dashes of Scrappy’s Cardamom Bitters
In an old fashioned/low ball glass, add the ginger simple syrup, lime juice and bitters. Fill with ice cubes. Add the Rye and Applejack. Stir with a mixing stick. Garnish with a lime twist coiled around a cinnamon stick.
To Make the Ginger Syrup
4 oz. water
4 oz. Hummingbird Ranch Raw Clover Honey
1/8 c. fresh grated gingerroot
Place ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Simmer for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Let cool and strain. The syrup can be stored in a jar in the refrigerator for about one week. Makes approx. 4 oz.
About the Ingredients
This recipe highlights New York’s bountiful and historic Hudson Valley. We have become home to several world-class distilleries and wine producers, in addition to many organic farms and growers.
Tuthilltown Spirits, which produces the American rye in this recipe, is committed to supporting local farmers, making it possible for me to incorporate slow food values from grain to glass. Prohibition put an end to small-batch distilling in New York, but Tuthilltown Distillers have resurrected an Empire State classic with Rye Whiskey. They use organic grains from local farmers to leave a smaller footprint on the environment.
Applejack is a spirit with roots that go right back to America’s Colonial times. Golden Harvest Farm & Harvest Distillery, which produces the Cornelius Applejack, has been a family-owned farm for more than 50 years. Cornelius Applejack is made from 100 percent Hudson Valley apples, homegrown on their 200-acre fruit farm. Hummingbird Ranch maintains their hives in the lower Hudson Valley and are proud to “make our products not only the old fashioned way, but environmentally safe.”
Read on for Part 4! For more Ark of Taste ingredients, check out the catalog.
