TREND WATCH: Flowers and botanicals

BOTANICALS? AREN’T THEY WHAT YOU GET IN GIN?
Anything naturally grown which adds taste or aroma to a drink or dish is a botanical. To make gin, the only mandatory (not everyone agrees) botanical is juniper. Right now the plethora of craft gins and the variety of petals, leaves, herbs and berries going into them is mind-boggling. Harvey Nichols has a Secret Garden gin infused with medicinal flowers, made by the Old Curiosity Distillery in Edinburgh. Lavender & Echinacea, Apothecary Rose and Chamomile & Cornflower are the variants.

I’M TEETOTAL. ANYTHING BOTANICAL FOR ME?
At Scout bar in London’s Hoxton you can order a cocktail of fig leaf, vetiver and fermented gorse flowers. In September, Surrey-based One Drinks launched their Origins range of botanically-infused spring waters including Hibiscus, Raspberry & Mint.

THE WINNER OF LAST YEAR’S BAKE-OFF MADE A LEMON AND LAVENDER CAKE…
Yes, cooks and chefs are having a field – and garden – day. Over at La Dame de Pic restaurant in the City, expect carrots infused with pinetree buds and geranium roast, and asparagus paired with pastis, anise, liquorice and lemon verbena ice cream. On Claridges’ afternoon tea menus, we’ve spotted cucumbers for sandwiches dressed in chamomile-infused buttermilk, and at Harrods, hibiscus and strawberry jellies.

WHAT’S BEHIND THE TREND?
Foraging, DIY-ism, localism and renewed interest in home-made cures. This spring sees the launch of two new books showing you how to make herbal infusions at home: The Herball’s Guide to Botanical Drinks by Michael Isted and Botany at the Bar: The Art and Science of Making Bitters by Shoots & Roots Bitters, a craft bitters-making company run by three woman botanists. Frances Bissell’s The Fragrant Pantry, about floral scented jams, jellies and liqueurs, appeared at the end of last year.

NO, WHAT’S REALLY BEHIND THE TREND?
Okay, it’s all down to gin, gin and more gin. In 2009, pioneering London distillers, Sipsmith, won their battle to make small scale gin production legal. Between March 2014 and March 2015, 65 microdistilleries opened. To distinguish one gin from another and give it a regional twist, distillers got creative with botanicals.

WHICH PRODUCTS DO YOU LIKE?
We like the hint of orange zest in Tarquin’s gin. It also contains Devon violets. Oriental blooms are used to great effect in Flora Tea and the packaging resembles the opening petals of a flower. We enjoyed the green tea, marigold and jasmine Oriental Beauty. Lavender, the difficult-to-use herb, is skilfully balanced in Kush Cuisine’s Great Taste award-winning Lemon & Lavender Marmalade. We also love the clean flavours of the award winning chocolates made by Botanic Chocolates, Pembrokeshire. The fresh citrus tang of the lemon verbena chocolate transported us to a kitchen garden.

IT TAKES SKILL TO BALANCE BOTANICALS IN FOOD AND DRINK, DOESN’T IT?
Yes, former Great British Bake Off winner, Nancy Birtwhistle, says: “Too much rosewater and your bake will be inedible, tasting of bubble bath or soap. Too little fennel, parsley or thyme and you may as well not bother.”

Another challenge for new product developers is our sweet palate. Bitter plants such as dandelions are good for us but we struggle to eat them. Drinks expert and herbalist, Michael Isted, says: “I love gentian. I’ve distilled it a few times and sampled it with people but it doesn’t go down well. We need to retrain our palates and get back to the bitters so beneficial for health.”

HOW CAN WE MAKE THIS TREND WORK FOR US?
Choose products with pretty packaging because customers buy with their eyes. Garnish your end-of-aisle displays of Rhubarb, Rose & Cardamom Jam (Louise’s Larder) and Fentiman’s Rose Lemonade with Fresh Roses.

Celebrate local heroes and invite them to host a tasting. If yours is a West Country business and you’re not selling Curio Rock Samphire gin or their new Fly Navy gin infused with Cornish heather, you’re missing a trick. Tregothnan Rose Rea and Chocolarder Wild Gorse Flower Milk Chocolate make stylish gifts and souvenirs. Cornwall-based chocolatier, Mike Longman, had sea buckthorn-filled eggs this Easter and is working on a seaweed chocolate.

Botanicals are fun. At Cambridge pub, The Mitre, staff offer to ‘take your taste buds on a botanical expedition’ serving 38 different gins with up to 10 house infusions. Could the chef at your farm shop or café knock up iced herbal teas? Could you offer Fentiman’s Dandelion & Burdock or Sparkling Lime and Jasmine in the chiller cabinet?

IS THIS TREND HERE TO STAY?
Yes, because gin is cheap to make and versatile. Robust competition in the premium mixers category alone has led to such exciting accompaniments as Fentiman’s Mediterranean Orange Tonic Water made with Valencian Oranges & Lemon Thyme. If we can tame our sweet tooth, we’ll see more innovative soft drinks with grown-up flavours. As for food, we predict sea buckthorn is an ingredient to watch and that some entrepreneur somewhere will make dandelions work, simply because they’re free, ubiquitous and healthy.