Orange 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 absolutely essential to keep the fruit in a dry atmosphere and at a slightly cooler than room temperature, out of bright light and ideally in an airtight container. 

This fruit is from certified organic sources, 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.

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

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

​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.

We give you oranges from Spain.  These beauties are of course from organic growers and bursting with vitamin C and sunshine.

The ones we use are medium sized and plump full of juice.  Their lightly dimpled skin is simply scrubbed in cold water and sliced.  We aim at two millimetre slice widths, but the thickness may vary.  Generally we aim at giving you the full wheel slice, but if the fruit are just a bit bigger, we go for the half moon effect to ensure it fits in all size glasses, from a tall slim Tom Collins to a fat and generous Copa glass.

Thought to have originated in southern China, sweet orange is a hybrid of the pomelo (Citrus maxima) and the mandarin (Citrus reticulata) and is used to flavour many different gins. They were introduced into Spain by the Moors in the 10th century. Sweet orange is often juiced to create orange juice, a popular breakfast drink which is commonly available in filtered and unfiltered varieties. The peel of sweet orange contains essential oils that can be extracted to make orange essence. This essence is used to flavour a variety of sweets and desserts. The petals are also used to create "orange blossom water", a citrus variation of rosewater. Beehives located near orange groves produce a particularly aromatic type of honey that is often sold as "orange blossom honey". In gin production, sweet orange peels are used, either dried or fresh, to add a lightly sweet citrus note, a gently florality and a juicy mellowness to the spirit. The flowers (orange blossom) are sometimes used alongside citrus peels in gin production to enhance their flavour and add a light florality. Today, the main producers of sweet oranges are Brazil, followed by the USA and Mexico. Popular varieties include Valencia oranges, Navel oranges, Jaffa oranges, Narinja oranges and blood oranges. Sweet orange is used as a botanical in Beefeater Gin, City of London Distillery Gin and Adnams Copper House Gin.

 

 

 

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

Cosmopolitan:

 

1.5 oz Colwith Farm Distillery Aval Dor Vodka

0.5 oz Cointreau

1 oz Cranberry Juice

0.5 oz Lime Juice

1 Dehydrated Orange Slice ((we got ours from The Zest Co.))

 

• Add all ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice.

• Shake for 10-15 seconds.

• Fine strain into the coupe glass.

• Garnish with a fresh or dehydrated orange slice.

• Enjoy your drink.

 

All credit to tipsywithtyreek.com

This product comes to you in fully recyclable, resealable pouches. 

They are made using single material, therefore easy to recycle.