Drinks and Food Waste

This Drinks section covers two different but related ideas: what to do with extra beverages, and what beverages you can make with food waste.  The first really centers around one main concept: the freezer.

Got Extra Drinks of Any Kind?

Freeze them into ice cubes. A few extra ice cube trays are super useful to have around, or use baby food storage containers to hold your liquid. 

• Coffee cubes - add them to your ice coffees to keep them from getting diluted
• Wine cubes - make them into slushy cocktails (I highly recommend frozen rose and watermelon blended together), add them to sauces or stews or braises instead of opening a new bottle, or use them in a pinch to cool down a wine, we won't judge. 
• Beer cubes - add them to sauces, stews, braises, and more
• Juice cubes - perfect for smoothies or desserts

What Drinks Can You Make With Food Waste?

You can make a lot of delicious infusions with fruit and alcohol, or even vegetables and alcohol. Most of us are familiar with the idea of a cucumber infusion, but sugar snap peas are a fantastic fresh addition to gin. 

Two ideas we do often from the Death & Co cocktail book:

• Cut up a few apples (they recommend Fujis) and steep them in an inexpensive Scotch (they recommend Famous Grouse) for a week. Turn it upside down and back again every day just to make sure it's well combined. Makes killer sours and old-fashioneds. 
• Cut up extra sugar snap peas (aim for about 2 cups) and add to a bottle of gin (they recommend Plymouth). Let stand for an hour, then strain and make a badass gin & tonic, or your cocktail of choice.

Fresh herb syrups are also an excellent way to use up extra herbs, and they add depth and nuance to any cocktail requiring simple syrup. Simple syrups are exactly as easy to make as they sound: add equal parts sugar and water to a pan, toss in some fresh herbs like rosemary, thyme, or mint, and bring to a boil. Simmer for a few minutes, then turn off the heat and let cool. Remove the herbs and transfer to a glass container, then keep in the fridge for a few weeks. This is also a great way to use up extra ginger.