Cocktail Saturday: Spring Fever “Gimic”

Has spring fever struck you yet? After a long hard winter of salted meats and root vegetables, our forebears yearned to ingest the first green shoots to cleanse and invigorate the body. After the sluggish winter months, the digestion needed a jump start and the blood needed purifying. These green drinks became known as spring tonics. I can well remember my grandmother relishing the vitamin laden “pot likker” from a simmering cauldron of collard greens. It was “good for what ails you.” The lady on the left is her mother, Kesiah Ann, known as Annie K.

Although spring is not yet here per the almanac or our experience out of doors, by now we all long for its arrival. Why not have a sneak peek? If you prefer your spring tonic to have a little kick, make it into an adult beverage. Refreshing lime and quinine based tonic water are logical choices because of their traditional medicinal qualities. Limes were carried aboard ship to combat scurvy, and the British of the 19th century used tonic water with strong quinine to ward off malaria in their tropical colonies. The drink gin and tonic actually originated in British colonial India, when it was discovered that gin cuts the bitter taste of quinine. Add a little lime and – voila – a gimlet tonic or — to use a blended word or portmanteau — a  Gimic.

Spring Fever “Gimic”

Ingredients:
2 ounces gin
1 ounce Rose’s sweetened lime juice
1 ounce tonic water
Lime wedge for garnish

Directions:
In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, shake liquid ingredients until cold. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a wedge of lime. Sip while dreaming of an early spring.

For the purists at heart, go to this site for step by step instructions on making your own quinine syrup:
http://www.twincities.com/restaurants/ci_21634690/make-your-own-quinine-syrup