Finding Flavours

"As bartenders, we have an honest opportunity to change the fragile nature we depend so heavily on for the better. But in order to do that, we need to share our knowledge, to search for answers and to find flavors.
 
I've created a masterclass programme called 'Finding Flavors' which is about just that: Empowering the community by sharing knowledge about respectful foraging and the art of fermentation. 
The initiative is accessible through both online masterclasses as well as physical foraging masterclasses, taking the participants from berry to bottle.

But this is not just a one-off!

A nationwide tour is already planned, covering five regions of Denmark over five months with five different foraged flavors, spanning from the strawberries in June to the sea buckthorn in October. While the flavors of the berries alter slightly throughout the seasons, the cocktail stays true to the same message.

The cocktail itself is a seemingly simple highball, partnering the proud Ketel One with a homemade dry and tart lacto-fermented soda made from foraged berries. It's quite literally garnished with good, as the glass is dusted with pollen, just like we're spreading pollen while foraging, thus tying a knot on the experience.

This initiative is more than a cocktail. It's a scaleable platform meant to invest in our communities, inviting them into the wilds, to be a part of the solution.

The flavors of the future are closer than you think. Let me help you find them! 

July

Glassware: Short stemmed Highball/Collins
Garnish: Chill your glass and dust it with pollen - I've chosen fennel pollen as it pairs beautifully with dark berries.
Method: Combine 50ml Ketel One Vodka with 100ml lacto-fermented soda over ice. Stir gently, enjoy and spread the message!

Ingredients:
50 ml Ketel One Family-Made Vodka
100 ml Finding Flavors Soda

To make Finding Flavors Soda:
Take your foraged berries from your Finding Flavors masterclass and rinse them gently with cold water and pad them dry.

Weigh the berries and add them to a vacuum bag. Add 2% salt by weight to the vacuum bag (ex. 200g berries = 4g salt) and seal the bag with minimal air left within. Leave the bag in at room temp, or ideally a little warmer (around 28C), to lacto-ferment, until the bag is bloated and tight like a balloon - this is a great signal to help you follow the lactose fermentation.

After 3-5 days (depending on temperature) the bag is bloated and ready to open. Open the bag and weigh the content once more. Add the same amount by weight of sugar to a pot with 1000% water, also by weight (ex. 100g lacto-fermented berries = syrup with 100g sugar and 1kg water).

Chill the 1:10 syrup to below 40C and combine the entire lacto-ferment with the syrup in a sterilized jar with a cloth loosely covering the jar, enabling the content to breathe.

After a few days, the liquid should be slightly bubbly and be ready for bottling.

Bottle the liquid and keep the solids for blending and drying to a garnish. Leave the bottle out for a few days at room temp and check the carbonation daily. When it's sufficiently bubbly, chill before use."