One thing that tends to bother me when it comes to books filled with recipes is how many ingredients you have to purchase to make them. They are simple, the ingredients overall are easily obtainable, and they are tasty. Finding the ingredients, even if you do not have a local health food store, are covered with links to resources in the back of the book. Each recipe is accompanied with information about the benefits of one or more of the ingredients in the cocktail. The majority of the book focuses on single serving cocktails, but there are a few punch recipes for when a group gets together. Are you looking for something Fresh and Crisp or Sweet and Spicy? The recipes are there for you. The recipe section is broken down by flavor profile. There are even some ice basics for making decorative or flavored ice cubes. The set up suggests the tools, liquors and syrup recipes that you will need when you start to move into the recipe section. The book is divided into two major parts: setting up the ingredients needed and then crafting all of the cocktails. The book’s major focus is cocktails made with herbs, botanicals and fresh fruits. Her first book, Zen and Tonic ($24.95, 2016, The Countryman Press), utilizes her background as a holistic health coach, nutritional explorer, and most importantly a bartender. Jules Aron was the right woman to start the conversation. With so much old becoming new again, the arena of extracting the health benefits of fruits, vegetables, and botanicals was bound to be rediscovered. Gin’s medical chops were further solidified when it was used as a delivery system for the tonic being administered to fight off the malaria that was rampant at the time. Other herbs were added, and suddenly you had very early versions of genever (or jenever, the Dutch translation of “juniper”), which became gin. Clear spirits were used to extract the flavor and healing properties of the juniper. It was thought that it would help flush out the diseases that were being contracted in these climates. It is a diuretic and anti-inflammatory the English and the Dutch used while they were colonizing new, tropical lands with new, tropical diseases. Juniper was one of those botanicals that found a home in spirits. The slew of potable bitters, digestifs and aperitifs we are using in cocktails now are descendants of that tradition. As the world expanded, new herbs and botanicals were discovered and infused into spirits. From Roman times onward, alcohol has been used in a variety of ways to heal the body. Alcohol has a long history of use as a medicine.
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