Delicious drinks from our own garden

Products from our own harvest can be used in many ways. Herbs, spices, fruits, berries etc. from your own garden are not only good for food, but also for drinks. We've put together some ideas on how you can use these ingredients to make delicious cocktails, lemonades, iced teas and much more.

Products from the garden

A garden offers countless possibilities, vegetables, berries, and fruits growing herbs. Many of them can be used to prepare culinary delights. The possibilities for delicious drinks are particularly underestimated. We will show you which fresh ingredients from your own garden you can use to prepare delicious drinks or simply refine water and spirits.

Berry	Vegetables	Herbs	fruit/fruits
blueberries	cucumbers	anise	Apple
blackberries	carrots	basil	apricot
strawberries	celery	lavender	nectarines
raspberries	tomatoes	mint	grapes
mulberries	thyme	watermelon
currants	rosemary	kiwi
fennel	Lemons
cardamom
coriander

flavor water

Especially on hot days it is important to drink enough liquid. Drink enough water or water at all instead of sugary drinks eating is difficult for many people. But with a few simple tricks you can give the bland water a delicious taste.

These sample combinations are great for flavoring water:

• mint and lemon
• cucumber, lemon and mint
• Cucumber slices with rose petals
• Raspberries and Rosemary
• Lime slices, ginger and lemon balm
• Watermelon with basil
• Cucumber slice, melon with mint

There are no limits to the selection - whether herbs, berries or even vegetables - everything can be put in a carafe with water. The advantage: Many of these natural ingredients can not only be easily grown in your own garden, but also on the balcony or windowsill.

Notice: Also flowers, e.g. B. from roses, can be combined very well in the so-called "Infused Water".

Once you have decided on the appropriate ingredients, you only have to add them if necessary. Cut into smaller pieces and then place in a carafe of water. Leave this in the fridge for a few hours, preferably overnight. You already have your refreshing and healthy drink from your own garden.

Instructions for a peach rosemary water

Ingredients:

• 2 to 3 peaches
• 1.5 liters of water
• 1 lime
• 1 teaspoon honey or agave syrup
• sprigs of rosemary

Preparation:

1. Wash peaches thoroughly. Even if they are freshly harvested.
2. Remove the core and cut the peach into small pieces.
3. Fill a carafe or a container of your choice with 1.5 liters of water and add the peach pieces.
4. Add a few lime slices to the carafe for an extra refreshing taste.
5. Some honey or agave syrup provide extra sweetness.
6. In the last step, cut off a few sprigs from your rosemary and put them in the container.
7. Now let the mixture stand for a few hours.

Notice: Peaches can vary by variety be harvested from July to August. Just right to sweeten the summer as a refreshing drink.

Create cocktails and bowls

punch

Bowling with herbs and fruits from your own garden for a cozy barbecue evening or a birthday party? No problem. Here, too, there are no limits to your imagination and your taste. Whether classic strawberry punch or something more unusual, such as a peach and passion fruit punch. Simply put your favorite fruit in a bowl with some sparkling wine and white wine and you have your own punch.

Melon punch with ginger

Ingredients:

• 1 honeydew melon
• 1 bottle of semi-dry or dry sparkling wine
• 1 liter ginger lemonade or flavored ginger water

For this recipe, first pit the melon and cut out melon balls with a melon baller. Now pour the melon balls with the ginger lemonade. Then you put the whole thing cool and pour it over with the Prosecco just before serving.

cocktails

Whether for the next garden party or after work - homemade cocktails are always a hit. There are countless recipes for a wide variety of cocktails and long drinks that you can easily imitate at home with just a few ingredients and tools. Sometimes all you need is a shaker or mortar and you're good to go. Fruits and herbs from the garden are used here as ingredients or to decorate delicious drinks.

Some of the most popular cocktail classics that you can prepare yourself with just a few ingredients:

• bloody mary
• Strawberry daiquiri
• Strawberry Margarita
• Strawberry Caipirinha
• Gin and Tonic
• Raspberry mojito
• classic caipirinha
• classic mojito
• Lillet Wild Berry

Tip: Many cocktails taste just as good without alcohol. There are plenty of non-alcoholic alternatives such as B. an Ipanemawith lime and ginger ale.

Instructions for a strawberry margarita

Ingredients for 2 margaritas:

• 150 grams of fresh strawberries
• 80 milliliters of freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 120 milliliters of Tequila Blanco
• 40 milliliters triple sec
• 6 tablespoons crushed ice
• Lemon wedges (glass rim)
• Sugar (rim of the glass)

method:

1. First, prepare the cocktail glasses for your margarita.
2. To do this, put some sugar on a plate.
3. Rub the rims of the glasses with lemon and then roll them in the sugar.
4. Cut the fresh strawberries into small pieces.
5. Puree the strawberry pieces together with the lemon juice.
6. Pour puree into a shaker with the alcohol and crushed ice and shake vigorously.
7. Pour the drink into the pre-made glasses.

Make your own lemonades and iced teas

For sugar lovers there is also a way to mix your berries & Co. from the garden into sweet (non-alcoholic) drinks. Lemonades offer a wide range of options and are easy to make yourself. All you need for the drinks is your favorite fruit or vegetable from your garden, sugar and water. All this is mixed into a syrup, which then only has to be mixed with tap water or mineral water as required.

Possible combinations for lemonades:

• apple mint
• blackberry and lime
• strawberry and mint
• Raspberry and Rosemary
• ginger and lemongrass
• Lavender Lemonade
• Rose petals with lemon

Instructions for a cucumber lemonade

Tools:

• blender or blender
• Sieve

Ingredients:

• 1 to 2 cucumbers (depending on size)
• Freshly picked basil (1 to 2 handfuls depending on preference)
• 60 milliliters of freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 60 milliliters Lime Juice (lime syrup)
• 100 milliliters of water
• Mineral water (with or without sparkling water, depending on your preference)

Preparation:

1. Wash fresh ingredients from the garden well.
2. Cut the cucumber into small cubes.
3. Place the basil, cucumber cubes and lemon in the blender.
4. Blend everything thoroughly.
5. Depending on your taste, sieve the mixture to avoid chunks in the drink.
6. Sweeten with lime syrup if you like.
7. Simply pour mineral water over the finished mixture and enjoy the drink.

Tip: You can easily make lime syrup yourself. In addition, the bowl of approx. Grate and squeeze 10 to 15 limes. Heat the juice with 300 grams of sugar in a saucepan over medium heat and after approx. Pour into a jar for 10 minutes.

Make refreshing ice tea yourself

Iced tea can also be easily made at home with just a few ingredients. Basically, you don't need anything else for it than for a lemonade, only that you use tea instead of normal tap water or mineral water. Of course, this can also be brewed from herbs from your own garden. Black or green tea is used for the classic iced teas. But also fruit and herbal teas, How rose hip, peppermint or chamomile give the ice tea an interesting note.

possible combinations:

• Apple Mint Iced Tea
• Blackberry Iced Tea with Black Tea
• Strawberry and rosehip iced tea
• Raspberry Lime with Green Tea
• Lavender and lemon balm iced tea
• Peach with Black Tea
• Lemon and ginger iced tea with green tea (extra: cucumber slices)

Tip: Frozen berries in ice cube molds are a real eye-catcher in your drinks and cool them at the same time.

Recipe for a peach-raspberry iced tea with mint

Ingredients needed:

• 3 bags of black or green tea 
• 1 liter of water
• 2 peaches
• a handful of raspberries
• 4 sprigs of mint
• ice cubes
• 2 to 3 tablespoons peach syrup or honey/agave syrup

Preparation:

1. Bring approx. 250 milliliters of water to boil to brew a tea. The tea should be very strong and aromatic. Please make sure not to pour boiling water over green tea.
2. Let the tea steep for a few minutes. The steeping time varies and depends on the type of tea.
3. Then add sweeteners, whether syrup or alternatives, to the warm tea as you like. These dissolve best in the warm liquid.
4. Pour over the brewed tea with approx. 750 milliliters of cold water with the addition of ice cubes.
5. If necessary, cool the tea. further down in the fridge.
6. Cut the peaches into strips. You can catch the escaping juice and add it to the tea to give it an additional aroma.
7. Now add a sprig of mint and slices of peach, if desired.
8. For an even better taste, you can add more slices of peach, raspberries and ice cubes to the glasses.
9. Finally, pour the cold tea into the glasses and garnish with fresh mint.

Refine gin and whiskey with garden produce

Not only herbs and fruits from your own garden can be combined in alcoholic beverages, but also blossoms, seeds, roots and barks are suitable for refining spirits such as gin or whiskey. These groups of plants are also called Botanicals designated.

Completely new flavors can be created with these botanicals. Because wood, berries & co. gradually release their aroma and taste.

berries & fruits	Herbs	seed	roots & bark
apricot	basil	aniseed	douglas fir
Pear	savory	dill seeds	Ginger
blackberry	nettle	fennel seeds	cherry wood
strawberry	Verbena	cardamom	turmeric
rose hip	tarragon	coriander seeds	horseradish
blueberry	fennel	cumin	sandalwood
raspberry	lilac	malt	violet root
elderberry	broom	almond shell	Cinammon
plum	kale leaf	pine seeds
peach	raspberry leaves	Black pepper
rhubarb	elderflower	Vanilla
sloe	jasmine	White pepper
grapes	chamomile
juniper	Cherry Blossom
bay leaves
dandelion
clove
rose petals
Saffron
sage
woodruff
lemongrass
lemon balm

A notice: The brewing time and the amount of botanicals play a central role in flavor development. The longer the brewing time, the more intense the taste.

refining gin

Take a neutral alcohol, e.g. B. Vodka and add some different herbs. If you want to create your own gin, you should add juniper, because the berries are also used to make gin. After a longer brewing time, the alcohol mixed with herbs takes on their taste and becomes a specially created schnapps.

example refinement

Utils:

• screw-top jar
• a bottle with a capacity of one liter

Ingredients for a bottle:

• 1 lime
• 1 lemon
• approx. 5 to 10 grams of fresh ginger
• 1 to 2 teaspoons of juniper berries
• 2 teaspoons coriander seeds
• 2 cardamom pods
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 dried chili pepper
• 1 to 2 sprigs of rosemary (depending on size)
• 1 teaspoon of chamomile flowers
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 750 milliliters of vodka

Preparation:

1. Wash all fresh ingredients well.
2. Peel and slice the ginger.
3. Cut the zest from the lemon and lime into thin slices.
4. Roast the cardamom, coriander seeds, juniper and cinnamon in a pan without oil.
5. Let everything cool down.
6. Place the peels, ginger slices, toasted spices and seeds in a jar with the vodka.
7. Put the jar in a cool and dark place.
8. Leave for about 12 to 24 hours.
9. Pour the finished gin through a sieve and fill into a bottle.

refining whiskey

Add the desired woods and herbs to your whiskey and wait one to four weeks. To find your individual taste, keep trying and stop when you've found the perfect aroma. Also, use smaller amounts of the whiskey at first to get better with different herbs etc. to be able to experiment. It is advisable not to use expensive whiskey.

sample seasoning

Ingredients:

• 1 bottle of whiskey
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 vanilla bean
• 2 star anise
• 6 green cardamom pods
• 3-4 cloves
• zest of an orange

That is how it goes:

1. Put all the ingredients in a large screw-top jar.
2. Put it in a shady and not too warm place.
3. Shake the jar from time to time.
4. Pour the finished mixture through a strainer before bottling in a clean bottle.

Tip: Also coffee beans and chili make a wonderful flavor in a whisky.

frequently asked Questions