The Schoolyard cocktail

As I mentioned in another post with more general information about wild chamomile, I used to smell and sample wild chamomile (Matricaria discoidea), otherwise known as "pineapple weed" on the schoolyard, hence the name for this drink. Now I forage it where I can (which is pretty much everywhere in the spring and early summer), wash it, and make a wild chamomile simple syrup with it to be used in cocktails. I played around a bit with this cocktail, including other liquor such as Salers or adding grapefruit bitters, but ultimately it was best to let the wild chamomile syrup shine by keeping it simple. Recipe below is for one cocktail.

• 1.5oz gin (Bar Hill gin or St.George Terroir would both be good choices)

• 0.5oz meyer lemon juice

• 0.5oz pineapple weed simple syrup

• Pineapple weed for garnish

Shake and serve up with pineapple weed flower.

Wild Chamomile Simple Syrup

Wild chamomile, or pineapple weed grows almost everywhere and is very distinctive.

Wild chamomile, Matricaria discoidea, has a wonderful fragrant aroma that makes for great cocktails. Learn more about this edible weed here. One simple way to incorporate the flavor into cocktails is by infusing a simple syrup with the flowers and leaves of the weed. Not only is this syrup fantastic in cocktails, such as The Schoolyard, but it's also lovely in lemonade, ice tea, drizzled over ice cream (or made into ice cream or gelato), cakes, tarts, etc. Below recipe is for about 1 cup of simple syrup.

• 1 cup washed pineapple weed flowers and tops of leaves: Flowers can be removed from the weed using scissors, some of the top leaves around the flowers are okay, but you want to make sure it's mostly flowers.

• 1 cup sugar*

• 1 cup water

Combine sugar, water, and pineapple weed in a small heavy saucepan. 

Use scissors to easily cut off pineapple weed flowers and leaves.

Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Let the syrup cool completely, then squeeze as much juice as possible from flowers, pour through cheesecloth into a jar or resealable container. Simple syrup will last 1 month refrigerated.

*You can also make a 2:1 (sugar: water) simple syrup that will last up to 6 months refrigerated. This 2:1 syrup is sweeter than most, so you will need to add less to recipes.