In this episode, I made a Verjuice Sidecar and you’ll see how to swap lemon juice in a cocktail! Verjuice, or verjus, meaning ‘green juice’ in French, is a highly acidic juice made by pressing unripe grapes, apples, or other sour fruits. It was used as far back as ancient Greece, it was a common ingredient in medieval recipes and it is slowly making a comeback in gastronomy. I used it to make my version of a Sidecar with three grape-based ingredients. Cognac, Pierre Ferrand Dry Curacao, and verjuice made from sour grapes (I picked them back in August and placed them in the freezer). And because yesterday (11th November) was St. Martin’s day, which is a big thing where I live, it was only fair to use products made from grapes, and toast to the winegrowers for their hard work and effort to give us their wonderful wine. So if you want to make a medieval ingredient and use it in a Sidecar cocktail, or any other way that you find works great, this is the recipe I recommend. Let me know if you try it out!
Verjuice Sidecar
• 45 ml (1 ½ oz) Cognac
• 22,5 ml (¾ oz) Pierre Ferrand Dry Curacao
• 22,5 ml (¾ oz) verjuice
• 1 bar spoon Gomme syrup
Shake it with ice and double strain it in a coupe glass, which you sprayed with verjuice on one side and sprinkled with powdered sugar, as an homage to the sugared rim, typical for a Sidecar.
Verjuice
• 250 g unripe sour grapes
• 0,5 g ascorbic acid (vitamin C)
blend it and then strain it through a cheesecloth or a muslin fabric. Squeeze it well, to get as much juice as you can. Measure the juice and, per every 97 g of juice, add
• 1,5 g tartaric acid
• 1,5 g malic acid
Stir well, bottle it and place it in the fridge. Leave it to settle from 24 h to 72 h. The longer you’ll wait the clearer the product you will get. Then gently strain it again before bottling in a clean bottle. You’ll have verjuice that you can use within a month. Since we can’t pick unripe grapes or apples all year, you can put the juice in the freezer and use it when you need it.
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