Bitter, delicious, aromatic
Went to the big Hispanic market in my neighborhood today and came out with this stuff: cinchona bark, panela, and star anise. Cinchona bark is bitter stuff, one of the sources of quinine. Panela is a Colombian sugar made of boiled, pressed, and somewhat dehydrated sugarcane juice. Star anise is ... well, you know star anise.
The chichona bark and star anise are for tinctures I plan on making soon, maybe eventually getting all the way to proper cocktail bitters status. We'll see, but don't keep your fingers crossed.
I picked up the panela to see what kind of flavor it had when combined with water to make a simple syrup. As I stood over the stove heating it up the smell reminded me of visiting the Mennonite community in Muddy Pond, Tennessee as they crushed and heated sugarcane to make their syrup - it really brought me back.
There were a ton of other things I wanted to buy but I limited myself to these three so I wouldn't get too distracted and spend all day mixing and soaking and measuring and so forth. Oh, and I was simultaneously pleased and annoyed: pleased because they have true cinnamon bark for cheap, and annoyed because I'd just spent way too much money at the grocery store on cassia (the more common but less awesome Chinese cinnamon).
Bitter, delicious, aromatic
Went to the big Hispanic market in my neighborhood today and came out with this stuff: cinchona bark, panela, and star anise. Cinchona bark is bitter stuff, one of the sources of quinine. Panela is a Colombian sugar made of boiled, pressed, and somewhat dehydrated sugarcane juice. Star anise is ... well, you know star anise.
The chichona bark and star anise are for tinctures I plan on making soon, maybe eventually getting all the way to proper cocktail bitters status. We'll see, but don't keep your fingers crossed.
I picked up the panela to see what kind of flavor it had when combined with water to make a simple syrup. As I stood over the stove heating it up the smell reminded me of visiting the Mennonite community in Muddy Pond, Tennessee as they crushed and heated sugarcane to make their syrup - it really brought me back.
There were a ton of other things I wanted to buy but I limited myself to these three so I wouldn't get too distracted and spend all day mixing and soaking and measuring and so forth. Oh, and I was simultaneously pleased and annoyed: pleased because they have true cinnamon bark for cheap, and annoyed because I'd just spent way too much money at the grocery store on cassia (the more common but less awesome Chinese cinnamon).