Mint is the most widely used herb with fruit drinks, but bergamot,
borage, dill, lemon balm, lemon verbena, parsley, peppermint, rosemary, rose
geranium, sage and thyme all work well. Herb flowers, such as borage or
lemon thyme, make beautiful garnishes.
Herb and Rose Geranium Punch
2 sprigs each lemon verbena, mint and sage; 1 small sprig rosemary; 6
rose geranium leaves; 1 bottle dry white wine; 3 tbsp honey or castor sugar;
2 cups strawberries; 1 bottle champagne; 1 bottle lemonade; borage and
geranium flowers.
Place herbs in a jug and bruise them with a wooden spoon. Add dry white
wine and infuse, covered, overnight. Warm honey and sprinkle over
strawberries (or use sugar) and chill one hour. Pour into a punch bowl and
strain wine and herb infusion over them. Just before serving add chilled
champagne and lemonade and float borage and geranium flowers among the
strawberries.
Vegetable juices
Stronger herbs such as basil, chives, coriander and tarragon are better
with vegetable juices. For extra flavour add basil, lovage or parsley to
tomato juice, dill or chives to cucumber juice, and tarragon and mint to
carrot juice.
Carrot-Gazpacho Cocktail
1 ¾ cups carrot juice; 1 ¾ cups tomato juice; 7.5cm cucumber, grated; 2
tbsp chopped fresh coriander, basil or dill; salt; freshly ground black
pepper, ice cubes.
Mix the juices in a large jug and chill for one hour. Stir in the
remaining ingredients. Pour into glasses and serve garnished with sprigs of
the chosen herb.
Yoghurt and milk
Drinking yoghurt is becoming increasingly popular, though in the East,
yoghurt has long been the base of refreshing drinks. Lassi, the traditional
Indian yoghurt drink, can be either sweet – flavoured with mint or rose
water – or savoury, flavoured with cumin and cardamom. Lassies are meant to
tame the fire of spicy curries, but they are refreshing drinks in their own
right.
Lassi
1 cup natural yoghurt; ½ teaspoon salt; 1-2 sprigs mint, leaves only; ½
teaspoon cumin seeds; freshly ground black pepper; fresh mint sprigs for
garnish.
In a blender combine the yoghurt, salt, mint and 2 ½ cups water, and
process until smooth. Chill for at least 3 hours. Pour into tall glasses,
sprinkle with cumin and pepper to taste. Garnish with sprigs of mint.
