Top 10 Tips for Sustainability in the Home Bar (cont’d):
6. Rethink Single Use Ingredients
Take the humble pineapple which is the symbol of hospitality and a tropical fruit that can have many uses. The flesh can be juiced then dehydrated and used as garnish. Pineapple rind and core can be used in infusions and for making tepache and the spikes can be used to garnish Tiki cocktails.
Need egg white for a Hibiscus Gin Sour? Use the leftover yolks in cooking to make mayonnaise, aioli, hollandaise sauce or even a simple herb omelette. Egg shells can be washed, dried, and broken into small piece to be used as compost in the garden. Bruised fruit or berries can be used in spirit infusions such as strawberry infused gin. Used coffee grounds from an Espresso Martini can go straight in the garden as fertiliser. Discarded pips from sour cherries and their liquid can be used to make sour cherry shrub or sour cherry syrup.
7. Pre-Batch Cocktails to Save on Ice
As a home bartender, it’s likely that a third of your freezer is full of ice of various shapes and sizes: cubes, spheres in silicone mould, diced, crushed ice just to name a few. Cocktails, whether shaken, stirred or swizzled require ice to chill and dilute before they are served (in some instances) over more ice.
Pre-batching cocktails (where possible) such as a pre-batched Martini means that the cocktails are not only made ahead of time with the right dilution and temperature, but you get to save on the amount of ice used (see how to calculate dilution here). And if you need to chill your glassware with ice cubes, don’t discard them. Simply pour them into a glass and drink the water after it melts.
8. What to do With Oxidised Vermouth
While spirits don’t usually go off, modifiers such as vermouth and sherry have a limited shelf life once they’re opened, ranging from 4 to 8 weeks. As a home bartender, it’s unlikely that you’ll go through a full bottle of dry vermouth within its optimum life span) even when it’s stored in the fridge.
Buying half bottles of vermouth may be a solution but they are rare to find. You could use a vacuum cork or re-bottle the opened vermouth in smaller bottles ensuring they are filled to the top to prevent further oxidisation. These options may not be ideal but they’re small measures towards sustainability in the home bar and reducing waste.
Vermouth has many uses in cooking even when it has begun to oxidise and it’s deemed unsuitable for cocktails. Slightly oxidised vermouth can be used for preserving fruit which can be used as cocktail garnishes. Dry vermouth can be used in risottos, white vermouth can be used in lieu of white wine, for steaming mussels while sweet vermouth can be used in stews and sauces.
9. Reuse Empty Bottles
You’ve probably seen used Chianti bottles as candlesticks and while that idea may seem too retro for your home decor, you can apply the principle to your home bar. Spirit bottles can be re-purposed and used as water bottles, or for infusing spirits or for pre-batching cocktails such as the Old Fashioned (see point 7 above). Small, glass bottles that once had mixers in them are a convenient size for storing home-made syrups or shrubs.
10. Consider Consumables
While the odd paper umbrella in your Piña Colada or Tiki cocktails may seem harmless at first, its days may soon be numbered. Consumables are part of the home bar inventory and it pays to use reusable items such as coasters instead of paper napkins. For cocktail picks, invest in metal picks such as these which are long-lasting and more aesthetically pleasing that single use bamboo picks.
Sustainability in the Home Bar: Bringing It Home
Sustainability may have started as a trend but it is evolving into normal practice. Applying sustainability in the home bar is not about compromising quality, flavour or aesthetics. It starts with taking small steps, as simple as not using plastic straws and opting for seasonal and local produce for your cocktail ingredients. While zero waste cocktails may be the holy grail, in time, you may begin to question whether you really need wasteful garnishes, how a product can have a second or third use and you’re already on the way to creating sustainable cocktails in the home bar.
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