Lemon Cocktail Garnish

We suggest you use your sliced fruit within six months of purchase, however dried fruit has been known to last for years!

 

It is essential the bag is kept dry and free from any damp until ready to use.  Best at a slightly cooler than room temperature, out of bright light and with the top of the bags turned over a few times to keep moisture out.

This fruit is from certified organic producers, and comes to you as close to its natural state as can be, therefore you may see the odd bump or blemish on the skin. 

No known allergens are used in any of our products, but whilst all care has been taken, we cannot completely guarantee that cross-contamination has not occurred.

We try to be as observant as we can during the preparation, but the odd pip or seed may sneak through – don’t worry, we don’t charge extra for these.

From the very first spark of an idea several years ago, we wanted TheZestCo to be as ethical as would be practicable.  This included the fruit we used for our fruit garnishes.  Did you know that citrus fruit, and especially orange, needs cooler night temperatures to develop from the green rind to the more familiar orange.  This greenish tinge is perfectly safe, just not as attractive as the orange colour we love in our garnishes.  In order to force the green to develop into orange, some growers expose the fruit to ethylene to speed up the ripening and reduce chlorophyll.  In some countries the growers are even permitted to spray the fruit with a synthetic dye to supplement the orange tone.  As it is widely (and incorrectly) assumed that fruit bought domestically is used for juicing or eating and peeling, it is not always labelled as having been dyed or treated in this way.

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Similarly, much citrus can be sprayed with wax, which is very often petroleum or synthetic based.

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If, like us, you prefer not to have these unnecessary chemicals in your food, drink and cocktail garnishes, go down the organic route.

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At ZestHQ we choose to pay more for certifed organically grown fruit, and we still subject each individual fruit to a thorough scrubbing in fresh water before slicing and drying.   Fruit as it should be, becoming dehydrated, sliced fruit for gin & tonic and many many cocktails.

The most important and popular citrus botanical, not just because of its use in making gin, but because of it is also a common garnish choice and key ingredient in many cocktails.  The lemon is a hybrid of bitter orange (Citrus x aurantium) and citron (Citrus medica) and likely originated from northeast India or China.  Most lemons commonly available at grocers and supermarkets are the Eureka lemon, which has been cultivated so that it flowers throughout the year.  Today, lemons are grown in Italy and across the Mediterranean region after being introduced there nearly two thousand years ago.  There are also lemon groves in Florida and California in the United States.  The juice of the lemon is tart and contains around five percent citric acid.  It is commonly used to flavour food and soft drinks, as well as gin cocktails such as the Aviation and White Lady.  The peel is full of pockets of essential oil and it is this oil the makes its way into gin during the process of distillation.  Between the peel and the flesh of the fruit is a thin layer of white pith, which is bitter and, if used to make gin, adds a somewhat unpleasant flavour.  Wedges or wheel of lemon are a common garnish for Gin & Tonics, especially in the UK.

 

 

CREDIT: The Gin Dictionary author David T Smith published by Mitchell Beazley an imprint of Octopus Publishing Ltd

The Bees Knees: 

 

2 oz Gentleman's Gin

3/4 oz Fresh Lemon Juice

2 barspoons of Honey

1 Dehydrated Lemon Slice

1 Red Geranium Flower (please ensure floral garnishes are non-toxic)

 

• Mix your gin, fresh lemon juice and honey in a cocktail shaker prior to adding ice. This ensures the honey is fully incorporated within the liquids.

• Add ice into the cocktail shaker.

• Shake for 10-15 seconds.

• Fine strain into the coupe glass and garnish with a dehydrated lemon slice and a red geranium flower.

• Enjoy your drink.

 

All credit to tipsywithtyreek.com

The Lemon One  along with some other fruits, have had a packing upgrade!  The new pouches give a much more airtight seal after opening, to keep your garnishes even better for even longer.

But best of all - they are completely recyclable, so pop them into the recycling bin with a clear conscience.