Locally Foraged Cocktails: Unique, Sustainable and Delicious

Here at Tahoe Unveiled it's our job to give the best wedding tips, advice and insider information we can to make your Lake Tahoe wedding as successful as possible. This blog is dedicated to our current obsession: locally foraged cocktails. We are all about sustainability and this new wave of locally foraged cocktails is not only unique, it's delicious as well. If you want something special to wow your guests and really capture the essence of Tahoe, this is the way to go.

The Sierra Nevada Mountain range around Lake Tahoe is filled with countless edible and medicinal wild plants. Garden to Glass is a local company that realized many traditional cocktail recipes contain ingredients that can be found right in our own backyard. Everything they harvest is done ethically and sustainably which leads to them ending up with the freshest beverage ingredients possible. They then experiment with fresh seasonal flavors to create various tinctures, amaros, syrups, tonics, and vermouths. What are all of these things you might ask?

Elixirs extract nutrients naturally found in plants, cordials are crafted with local honey and raw sugars and vermouths and bitters feature locally foraged ingredients to enhance flavor. Some local plants found in the Lake Tahoe area include Elderflower, Wormwood and Angelica root.

With the Farm to Table movement becoming more and more popular as well as the craft cocktail scene consider making a locally foraged cocktail your signature drink! Here are a few cocktail ideas from Garden to Glass featuring local fall Crabapples from downtown Truckee! Perfect to drink on a rainy fall day as you plan your wedding!

Crabapple Hot Toddy

1 oz Crabapple Cordial

1 tsp Local Honey

1 stick Organic Cinnamon

2 oz Water

2 oz Bourbon

Combine all ingredients in a pot and cook on medium heat until steam rises from the pot. Do not boil. Strain and serve in a mug. Garnish with lemon wedge.

Truckee Crabapple Cordial

8 Crabapples

1 Organic Lemon

1/2 cup Local Honey

1 stick Organic Cinnamon

2 1/2 cup Water

Harvest crabapples from downtown Truckee. Wash and dry crabapples. Skin crabapples and 1/2 lemon, and place skins in a large bowl with 1/2 cup raw sugar. Mix until sugar begins to stick to skins. Refrigerate for 2 hours

Take skinned crabapples and cut out core. Place fruit in a blender with 1/2 cup water and juice of 1 lemon. Blend to a pulp, and store in refrigerator (easy to keep in blender with lid)

After 2 hours, remove apples from fridge and bring 2 cups water to a boil. After water boils, turn down stove to medium-high. Add bowl of skins and pulp to the water, then stir in 1/2 cup honey, cinnamon, and cook 10 minutes. Turn off stove and let sit for 10 minutes.

Pour mix through fine strainer. Store in a tightly sealed container in refrigerator for 1 month, shaking every week.