Spring in Bloom

The language of flowers can be complex—especially when it comes to florals in drink making. Often considered overpowering or too cloying, floral cocktails can be quite polarizing. That is, unless you learn the secret solution to this most challenging balancing act: fresh edible blossoms.

Lucky for us, the first florals of spring, including tulip petals and lilac blossoms, are among the best for culinary use and they’re easy to work with when you incorporate them the right way and at the right time.

Since spring blossoms often have a subtle perfume and an ethereal quality, it’s really a game of pairing or preserving ingredients at the height of their freshness. In my take on the Spring Martinez, a forerunner of the Martini, I lean on the natural fruity and floral qualities of vermouth and hint of maraschino cherry liqueur to harmonize and amplify the essence of edible lilac and tulip petals. Instead of using regular sweet vermouth, I infuse poached rhubarb into bianco vermouth, adding deep fruity tones of the rhubarb while also preserving its unmistakable springtime astringency. Equal parts gin and rhubarb vermouth are sweetened with the cherry liqueur, and a few shakes of orange bitters further underscore the light floral fragrance of tulip petals. Somewhere between the flavor of wildflower honey and the scent of fresh cut grass, these edible petals are as delicious and pretty as they are soul-stirring. If this cocktail was a painting, it would be a pastoral landscape rife with juicy botanical notes, a snapshot of spring dressed in her finest florals.

Willa Van Nostrand is an award-winning mixologist and beverage consultant and owner of Little Bitte Artisanal Cocktails and World’s Fair Gallery. Visit her at LittleBitte.com.