Font Resize1 ounce Charbay Blood Orange vodka
1 ounce Cointreau
1 1/2 ounces fresh-squeezed blood orange juice
Blood orange flag (see note)
Combine first three ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake vigorously and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with blood orange flag. Rest assured that 20 minutes work will be well worth it.
Note: A "flag" is half of a wheel of orange, or other citrus fruit. About 1/4 inch in diameter, they are made by cutting the fruit crossways into circles or wheels and then cutting the wheels in half. The fruit will separate along the segments and can be slipped over the edge of a glass easily.
I looked up and down the bar. Three customers total, one staring at the basketball scores as they ticked across the bottom of the TV screen, the other two, a couple sitting as far from the basketball fan as possible, discussing the intricacies of domestic bliss. Sometimes a bar is a stage for social interaction and sometimes it is not. And this night was beginning to look a lot like the latter.
When the newly arrived couple sat down I felt a tilt in my initial impression. She was skinny as a rail and wore one of those outfits that appeared to actually be two outfits at once. Jeans and a T-shirt with a long dress over them both. I don't get it, but then I don't get a lot of things. He was 10 years older, pot-bellied and bearded with brightly colored suspenders holding up faded jeans with the
"I see that you have blood orange juice in one of your salad dressings."
I nodded.
"Do you have time to make us drinks with blood orange juice?"
I looked at the sports watcher and then at the connubial couple. It appeared time was one thing I had plenty of.
The blood orange is a type of orange (citrus sinensis) that has crimson, blood-colored flesh and is slightly smaller than your typical orange. The dark red color of the fruit is from the presence of anthocyanin, a pigment agent present in flowers such as hydrangeas and fruits such as grapes, but not usually seen in citrus fruits. The fruit itself is bitter, as is the juice made from it, not unlike a strong tangerine juice.
After checking with the kitchen I discovered that I would have to make my own blood orange juice. I dug around in the citrus storage section until I located several oranges that bore the bloody red-splotched skin that distinguishes the fruit from other oranges.
The orange itself is suspected to be the much-revered "golden apples" of Greek mythology, the very fruit Gaia gave Hera on her wedding day to Zeus, the retrieval of which, from under the watchful eyes of the maidens of Hesperides, ended the 12 labors of Hercules. The blood orange would make its appearance in history much later. Chinese poets began lauding them in the eighth century; Europe's first mention of the fruit comes, ironically, from the opera "Hesperides," written by a Jesuit in 1646, in which their introduction into Sicily from the Philippines by a Genovese missionary is described.
Grown all over the world, the three most common versions of the blood orange are the Sicilian Tarocco, the Spanish Sanguinello, and the more-readily available Moro. Their season is opposite that of the common orange. Blood oranges cultivated in California are in season from November to May, Texan versions are available from December to March. They also can't be grown where the typical orange is; Florida and Southern California's climates are unsuitable. In fact, the flesh of blood oranges from Florida is rarely even red.
There are several widely available cocktail products made from blood oranges. Ukiah's Domaine Charbay makes a delicious blood orange vodka and Stirrings bottles a blood orange bitters. As a cocktail ingredient the blood orange's striking color gives an unusual presentation to mimosas and screwdrivers. The fruit gives an old-fashioned cocktail a new-fashioned take when muddled with a cherry, sugar cube and bitters. A blood orange wheel floating atop a Manhatten adds flavor as well as delightful color to a drink normally drably decorated with an artificially colored cherry.
Blood oranges can easily be substituted wherever a typical orange (or its juice) is used to zip up the flavor and appearance of many ordinary cocktails. Its juice is available year around (from companies like Napa's Perfect Puree) but in the winter, when fresh blood oranges are available, there is nothing quite like fresh blood orange juice.
By the time I finished making the juice and made several cocktails for my slow-night guests, I knew four things:
- Sometimes you get the most out of the slow nights.
- The other bartenders are going to hate me when that couple returns on a busy night and tells them, "Well, we've had blood orange cocktails here before."
- Unfashionable people can often determine the fashion.
- When Hercules finally retrieved his "golden apples" and presented them to his tasker, King Eurystheus, he was told to return them to their original owner - which just proves that sometimes the process itself is more important than the end result.
Jeff Burkhart is an award-winning bartender at a Marin bar/restaurant and an author. His columns appear weekly in Here. Contact him at jeffb@thebarflyonline.com.
