Basil Lime Elixir

[Wholemeal Crank]

I had an amazing drink at Gingergrass, a Vietnamese restaurant near my home in Los Angeles, and have been trying to reproduce it since. I hope this is the right forum--it is a non-alcoholic beverage, but I don't see a forum for that.

The drink was called "Basil-lime elixir" or something like that, and it was a limeade with an amazing hit of basil and a touch of mint as well. It was a lightly cloudy green, made with sparkling water, and just sweet enough to not be sour but not taste sweet.

I have tried:

pureeing a generous handful of basil and a sprig of mint with lime juice and a bit of water, straining the result, diluting with sparkling water and adding sugar to taste. The result tasted a bit, well, leafy. The basil flavor came through ok, but it was muddier than the version at the restaurant.

bruising a handful of basil leaves and a bit of mint and steeping them in lime juice diluted just enough to cover, then straining and adding the sugar and sparkling water. This did not taste strongly enough of basil.

making a tea with hot water and basil, just enough water to cover the basil, and the result had very little flavor so I stopped there.

chopping the basil fine in the cuisinart, and steeping that in sugar and lime juice, then diluting with the sparkling water. This also didn't taste strongly of basil.

Is there a better way to extract the maximum flavor from the fresh basil, and not get the "leafy" taste of the pureed version? Would a champion juicer do a better job? Is there a potent commercial basil extract available to the restaurant cook?

[dockhl]

Ask Katie Loeb.

She has a recipe for an herb infusion that sounds very much like what you want.

Best~

Kathy

[Wholemeal Crank]

Will do, thanks!

[KatieLoeb]

Hey - I'm right here!

Several weeks ago a friend of mine asked me to make a "mojito syrup" for a large party she was having. She really wanted to serve mojitos, but didn't want to overwhelm the catering staff with muddling and such with so many guests. I made a slightly sweeter than 1:1 simple syrup - about 2.5 cups sugar to two cups water and let it boil. I threw in about one cup of packed mint leaves and the microplaned zests of three or four limes. I let it boil for a couple of minutes and turned off the heat. After it cooled slightly I buzzed it through the blender while it was still hot (don't forget to put a towel on top of the blender and hold on the lid. The stuff expands like you wouldn't believe and it's a bitch to clean up. Don't ask me how I know this. ) to get maximum surface area of the mint exposed. I let it cool overnight in the fridge and strained it the next day through a fine strainer. It was delicious and made great instant mojitos with the addition of rum and lime juice.

The same recipe with basil and lime zest ought to get you something you could stir into soda water and add lime juice to taste.

[Wholemeal Crank]

Ok, will try that and report back.

[zoe b]

That sounds really delish, Katie--I have a ton of basil right now so I think I'll try it--I wonder how it would taste in iced tea? Maybe made with grren tea?

Zoe

Edited July 30, 2007 by zoe b (log)

[Wholemeal Crank]

This is the closest version yet, but I'd like a little stronger basil finish.

Used about 1 C minced basil to a 1:1 simple syrup with 1/2 C ea sugar and water, steeped overnight, drained & strained the leaves, diluted the basil syrup with juice of 3 medium limes, and then diluted 1/2 of that with about 12 oz of sparkling water.

Would a stronger sugar solution draw more flavor out of the same amount of basil leaves, enough to make up for the extra lime juice I'd need to dilute it with?

[KatieLoeb]

Did you buzz it through the blender?? That step is what really gets a lot more flavor out of the leaves. If you blitz it while it's still hot (not too hot. Read cautionary tale above) you expose maximum surface area of the leaves to the hot syrup and get a much better infusion. You'll also get color in the syrup, which may or may not be a bad thing, depending on whether you care what color the resulting drink turns.

[Wholemeal Crank]

Forgot that step this time. Next batch!

[KatieLoeb]

Think of the whole basil leaves as blanching in the hot syrup. When it cools a little bit, then put it through the blender and let it sit overnight in the fridge to cool. Strain well the next day. That ought to get you the strength of basil flavor you're after.

edited to add:

You can add the microplaned zest of limes probably after you blend it. I think chopping it up any further might make it turn bitter.

[Wholemeal Crank]

That worked beautifully.

I took a lot of basil--about 5 ounces--and rinsed it; chopped it coarsely; and added it to freshly prepared simple syrup (1C sugar's worth) as soon as it was out of the microwave; let it blanch/steep until the syrup was lukewarm, then pureed all in the blender, very carefully, but still had a fair bit of cleanup to do!. Then overnight in the fridge, strained and pressed the liquid out of the shredded basil, and added lime juice to that to give a tart concoction, and diluted about 1:4 with sparkling water.

The added step of pureeing after the first steeping seems to have done it.

Tomorrow I will see how well the syrup/lime mix keeps, since I do not have any guests to help finish it off tonight.

Thanks!

[KatieLoeb]

Awesome! Glad that worked out for you.

I think the addition of fresh lime juice will make the syrup more perishable than the inclusion of the zests. If you use it up quickly that might not matter, but I'd just add the fresh lime juice to each glass as needed, so the syrup lasts a bit longer in the fridge. I've kept it for up to four weeks before noticing any change in color or flavor.

Edited August 8, 2007 by KatieLoeb (log)

[Chris Amirault]

So... don't we think that this concoction could use a bit of the hair of the dog?

Has anyone tried dosing it with some hooch?

[weinoo]

Question - have you tried making it with Thai basil, or are you using "standard" basil?

I imagine it would look pretty outrageous if you used opal basil!

[Wholemeal Crank]

I have used standard sweet basil from the farmer's market, and also used some basil with a purple stem from a thai grocery, but this stuff requires a ton of basil, so I look for what's available in bulk at a reasonable price.

As for the hooch, I would not add it because I do not like it, but for those who do, it would probably be terrific.

And today I confirmed Katie's point that the juice, added to the herb syrup, does not keep so well. Today I diluted some of the juice/syrup concentrate from last night and had it with lunch, and the basil and mint flavors were notably flat. It still was nice limeade, but nothing like last night.

I will try to do better by the next batch!

[KatieLoeb]

So... don't we think that this concoction could use a bit of the hair of the dog?

Has anyone tried dosing it with some hooch?

←

Makes for a tasty watermelon-basil mojito with some muddled cubed melon, rum and a bit of fresh lime juice. Shake hard and strain over fresh ice.

Also tasty with citrus vodka and fresh lemon juice for a lemon-basil sour.

There are many possibilities. Basil syrup is delicious!

[alacarte]

The July issue of Gourmet also had a recipe for basil lemon syrup for basil lemonade or vodka gimlets -- you could try substituting lime for lemon zest.

[Wholemeal Crank]

I'll see if I can find that. Thanks for the tip!