Green vodka launches foraged cocktail project

Element 29 vodka has brought out a series of cocktail recipes using foraged ingredients.

Ingredients include nettles, wild cherries, elderflower and gorse flowers. One cocktail, nettle and borage, involves picking fresh nettle and borage leaves, washing then chopping them and stewing them with vodka for five days in a covered saucepan.

Strain the vodka back into the bottle and the newly flavoured vodka can then be drunk with tonic or apple juice or as a straight shot.

The Element 29 will also be bringing out an, “infusion strength” vodka for foraging enthusiasts.

The brand said in a statement: Using alcohol is an extremely clean and effective way to extract and preserve flavour from plants and blossoms, with no need to adulterate a delicate foraged flavour with sugar or salt.”

Other combinations include wild cherry and dog rose and elderflower and gorse.

Foraging is an increasingly popular trend and with Element 29 priding itself on its green credentials (it operates a refill system for customers at Selfridges) it described the project as a “perfect fit” for the brand.

Foraged cocktails themselves are increasingly popular, db recently reported on French ethnobotanist François Couplan’s foraged cocktails for the bar at Viajante.