If for whatever reason you or your friends and family don’t want to drink alcohol, these jam sweetened mocktails won’t leave anyone feeling left out. It’s extremely adaptable and great for any time of the year, but especially during the holidays when you may be entertaining more.
Scales beautifully, but for 1 Jam Mocktail, do the following:
- Fill a cocktail shaker with ice.
- Add 8 oz of seltzer or any other kind of non-flavored fizzy water to the shaker.
- Add 1 tablespoon jam of your choice (see suggestions, below).
- Add 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice.
- Add 1 tablespoon roughly chopped or torn soft-leaf herb (suggested are basil, mint, tarragon, lemon verbena, or sage). NOTE 1: if you wanted to use a hard-leaf herb like a fresh bay leaf or rosemary sprig, you can, but you will have to simmer the jam and lemon juice with the herb for a couple of minutes over medium heat to extract the flavor, then let cool before using it in the mocktail. NOTE 2: Avoid any herb in the onion family as well as cilantro, oregano and thyme, which are too savory)
- Shake all ingredients vigorously for a good 30 seconds. This will feel like an eternity but don’t short change the shaking; try setting a timer. Strain and serve over ice.
Alcohol version: add 1 ounce of vodka and 1/2 ounce of Triple Sec to the above ingredients before shaking.
Suggested combinations:
- Blueberry or multi-berry jam, lime juice, and basil
- Apricot jam, lemon juice, and mint
- Strawberry jam, lemon juice, and tarragon
- Orange marmalade, lemon juice, and sage
- Cherry jam, lime juice, and basil
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Greg Nelson Cooks 