Native Drinking: Myrtle & Mint Gin Muddle

A local gin cocktail recipe we discovered in the Warndu Mai cookbook by Rebecca Sullivan & Damien Coulthard featuring Applewood gin and native lemon myrtle.

Ingredients:

Lemon Myrtle Sugar

3 tablespoons raw sugar

6-8 lemon myrtle leaves

2 cm piece of lemon zest

Gin Cocktail

3 tablespoons lemon myrtle sugar

1 lime wedge

60 ml Applewood gin

30 ml lime juice

2 sprigs of river mint

2 sprigs of lemon verbena

Method:

Begin with the lemon myrtle sugar by grinding the sugar, lemon myrtle and lemon zest in a spice grinder until fine.

For the gin cocktail, combine 3 tablespoons of lemon myrtle sugar and 3 tablespoons of water in a small saucepan over medium heat and simmer until the sugar dissolves. Refrigerate the syrup until ready to use.

Place the remaining lemon myrtle sugar on a small plate. Rub the lime wedge around the rim of a cocktail glass so that the sugar can stick to the glass, then dip the rim in the sugar; refrigerate the glass until ready to use.

Combine then, lime juice and 15ml of the syrup in an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake well, then strain into the sugar-rimmed glass and garnish with sprigs of river mint and lemon verbena.