Energy Brings Back Energy

The year of 2020 brought to this world a series of impediments and even catastrophes that made their impact on every one of us. Our industry has been especially affected, but as we're all working to heal, I was inspired by the Hive Collective Community Challenge by Ketel One vodka to look for an organization or an ongoing social campaign that I'd find relatable and with a purpose relevant to my community.

The chef at the restaurant I'm currently working at and his team already began a program that makes up to 700 hot meals a day for people who need it. They collaborate with a national chain of supermarkets, using only edible goods that are close to their expiration date and would have otherwise been wasted. We are addressing the food waste problem in Europe that produces almost 88 million tons of food waste annually.

My personal input in this project was bringing the versatility of Ketel One vodka together with familiar flavours from a classic vodka Apple juice. So I created a dessert served in 120 portions and 80 drinks based on Ketel One vodka, managing to have only 320g of trash as we used all our ingredients in multiple shapes and techniques with minimum waste.

The money that came out of selling these products were donated or used in the promotion of this campaign which included other local businesses. The law of compensation says that what you give is what you get, so I gave my best to create a drink with Ketel One vodka, spiced apple puree, fresh lemon juice and a foam made out of leftovers. I served it in a glass shaped like a cracked egg to symbolize the fragility of our community's balance and garnished it with glass textured apple syrup.

We managed therefore to bring on board four local businesses and their communities, as well as the consumers buying from the supermarkets involved, and create positive energy that brings back positive energy through small actions.

Energy Brings Back Energy Cocktail

Glass: Cracked egg
Garnish: Apple Foam & edible apple glass
Method:

Ingredients:
60 ml Ketel One Vodka
30 ml Fresh Lemon Juice
50 ml Homemade Blended Apple Jam*

"Homemade Apple Jam"
5 peeled and chopped Red apples
2 peeled lemons
1 cup water
2 cups sugar
4 tbs balsamic vinegar
2 tbs powder curry
1 tbs turmeric
3 anise stars
5-6 cloves
1 chopped Ginger Root
Bring the first 4 ingredients to a boil, then simmer it down adding the spices and stirring thoroughly for ten minutes. Let it cool down for at least 4 hours, then strain and keep both the syrup and the jam.

"Leftover tea"
I made a tea from all the leftovers of the ingredients used for making the jam: Apple peels, stubs and seeds, Ginger peels, lemon peels and seeds. I brought all of them to a boil and added the same spices as in the jam. I strained it and set it aside to cool down.

"Apple Foam"
Fill a whipper with
half and half leftover tea and syrup from the jam
Add 2bs of albumin
2 N2O chargers

"Edible Apple glass"
Using a mixer, blend together the Apple Jam syrup with 1bs of UltraTex. Lay it down evenly on a silicone tray mask and put it in a hotbox for 18 hours at 72° Celsius. Take it out and break it carefully. Use the biggest pieces to garnish the drink.
*Sustainable tip: The smaller pieces you can crash and turn into a powder and make rims for other drinks.