Im totally in love with these DIY kits for making your own bitters. The problem with making your own bitters is that some of the spices are expensive and difficult to track down. (You cannot get gentian root in the spice section at Safeway.) So this company called Dash Bitters has put kits together with infusion jars, bottles, funnels, cheesecloth, and assorted spices.
You, of course, should feel free to experiment and add your own secret botanical ingredients.
Im particularly intrigued with th e 1889 Aromoatic Bitters Kit, and the Orange Hop Bitters Kit.
and they sell refills, so you dont have to buy the bottles every time.
Good stuff! Oh, and by the way, Im off to the Fresno Home & Garden Show, so if youre going to be there, stop by and say hi. March 2 & 3. Noonish and 3-ish.
Oh yeah, one more thing: If youre super into bitters, the book to get is calledwell, Bitters. Brad Parson wrote it. Its a fine and beautifully illustrated book. Check it out.
The most essential ingredient in any batch of bitters is well the thing that gives it its bitterness. Traditionally that bitterness comes from some sort of tree bark or root. Its usually quinine, from the cinchona tree, or angostura, from the angostura tree, or gentian root (fromyes, you guessed it gentian plants. Gentiana lutea, to be exact.)
None of this is easy to grow in the garden, or even in a spice shop, which is why I like the bitters kits so much. But you can add some garden-grown ingredients to bitters. Just be sure to dry them thoroughly firstfresh herbs can add a nice flavor to infused vodkas, but they get slimy and nasty fast, and give off some weird flavors if theyre left to soak too long. Dry them first, which gets the moisture out and leaves behind some strong flavors that work well in bitters. Such as these, always in dried form:
Lavender buds
Coriander (cilantro seeds)
Lemon verbena
Rose hips or petals
Lemongrass
Hops
Dandelion root
Fennel Seed
Hibiscus
Juniper berries (Use Juniperus communis; some other species are toxic)
Wormwood, Artemisia absinthum
Citrus peel
Via: I Must Have This.
