Pickle ’n’ mix

Introducing the newest mixers on the block: pickle juices and ‘shrub’ syrups inspired by the New York bar scene. Here, Florence Cherruault breaks out her cocktail shaker. Photographs by Clare Lewington

Join the tangy cocktail club

PICKLING HAS BECOME the norm in my day-to-day life. There’s always an array of things in jars on the kitchen counter, and bowls of fruits and herbs macerating in our conservatory. Friends often joke that it’s like they’re in a school science lab, as I emerge with different concoctions for them to sample. These are my experiments to create recipes for pickle juices, drinking vinegars and cocktails – both alcoholic and non-alcoholic.

I’ve always loved the sharp, briny taste of pickles, but it was while on holiday in New York that I first tried a pickleback. The idea of throwing back a shot of whisky followed by a shot of pickle juice, the brine neutralising the burn of the alcohol, seemed a strange one, but I was hooked.

Once back in London, I tried to make a pickle juice perfect for drinking; one that would go way beyond the leftover brine found at the bottom of a jar. After many months, I came up with a blend of cucumbers and spices that I brewed for 12 weeks to create a sweet-and-savoury flavour that packs a real punch. In 2014, I decided to launch The Pickle House and sell my Original Pickle Juice. The first batch made 10 bottles, so I went to 10 bars around London to see what they thought. The first bar manager I met ordered 40 bottles for that weekend. Once more bartenders were on board, they started coming up with some great picklebased cocktails. One drink they all loved was the Bloody Mary, which led me to create my Bloody Mary Mix: a blend of tomato juice, fresh horseradish, spices and pickle juice.

While drinking vinegar can help improve digestion, lower blood-sugar and support your immune system, adding pickle juice and shrubs (fruit and sometimes vegetables macerated in sugar to create a sweet, vinegary syrup) to cocktails is simply delicious – especially in a Bloody Mary – and different to any other drink you’ll find on the menu.

Pickle Juice, by Florence Cherruault, is published by Hardie Grant (£12.99). To order your copy for £10.99, go to books. telegraph.co.uk or call 0844-871 1514