YUZU
Yuzu is a thick skinned sour cross between a mandarin and the strange, bitter Icheng Papeda. The Yuzu fruit originally came from China and made it's way to Japan in 600 AD. While the fruit is not particularly tasty, the rind exudes a complex, fruity citrus fragrance beloved by Japanese cooks.
It also has other uses - at Solstice time in Japan one can bathe in hot water infused with Yuzu.
Yuzu happens to be a fantastic cocktail ingredient and works extremely well with gin and is also an enchanting addition to flavoured Sake and Shochu based liqeur.
Apart from Yuzu liqueur there are a variety of ways to introduce this wonderful flavour into your gin cocktails such as Yuzu juice, Yuzu and Sake, a Korean Yuzu Syrup called Yucheong which is mixed with hot water to make tea and candied Yuzu as garnish.There are so many ways to have fun with this magical ingredient. We have only listed a few but here they are!
This recipe uses Yuzu juice. You will need an old fashioned glass/whiskey tumbler.
Squeeze the Yuzu juice into a cocktail shaker. Add 1/4 squeezed rind. Add gin, vanilla extract, simple syrup, and optional bitters to cocktail shaker. Add ice and shake. Pour into an old fashioned glass, top with soda and gently stir. Add a garnish of your choice.
YUZU LIQUEUR AND GIN COCKTAIL
A little of this goes a long way. You will need cocktail glasses for this one!
Place the rosemary in the bottom of a cocktail shaker and use a muddler or a wooden spoon to mash it. Add a few of the ice cubes, gin, and Yuzu liqeuer . Place the lid on the shaker and shake until cold. Strain into cocktail glasses over ice and fill to the top with club soda
To make a more citrusy mixer add 1/4 oz of Yuzu with 1/2 oz of lemon or lime.
Another augmentation on this gin cocktail with Yuzu liqueur is as follows :
Add gin, Yuzu liqueur and bitters to a shaker and shake with ice until well chilled.
Strain into a well chilled cocktail glass or rocks glass with fresh ice. Garnish with citrus or Yuzu wheel.
YUZU TOM COLLINS
This is another lovely cocktail made with Yuzu Juice and you will need two Tom Collins Glasses.
Add gin, Yuzu juice and simple syrup to a cocktail shaker with ice cubes. Strain the mixture evenly into two ice filled Tom Collins Glasses and top off with Soda.
YUZU SAKE GIN COCKTAIL
We suggest you adjust these measurements to your own taste using two Old Fashioned glasses.
Add all the Ingredients into a shaker, shake and pour and strain into two old fashioned glasses over ice.
Iechyd Da!