Even for those who don’t subscribe to the notion of seasonal drinking, there’s no denying the delight in enjoying the first Rhubarb Gimlet of the spring, or a fresh watermelon and pastis come summer. Peak-season fruit just hits different. That’s why bartenders are always looking for ways to extend the lifespan of fresh produce at its finest.
Often, this leads to an infusion—strawberries or pineapple in Campari, for instance. But what of the leftover fruit? Sure, some can be used as a garnish; a Campari-infused pineapple wedge lends a bright pop of color to any drink. But to stretch it further, some bartenders have taken to freezing these infused fruits to become a different sort of garnish, one that changes the flavor of the drink.
At Tokyo’s Bar BenFiddich, after being used to infuse an aperitivo liqueur, grapefruit wedges (which are themselves now imbued with the liqueur) are frozen and shaved over the top of a sour-style cocktail. The same approach could be used with the aforementioned Campari-infused pineapple—freeze the wedges to be shaved over a Daiquiri for an extra bittersweet edge, or even over a G&T for a drink that reads like a twist on Mexico City’s Campari-spiked Salmoncito.
The frozen fruit doesn’t even have to be infused for the technique to work. “We started using frozen fruit grated on top of cocktails a few years ago in order to give a cocktail extra aroma and heightened flavor,” says James Bolt, owner of The Gin Joint in Charleston, South Carolina. There, he and his team have done a G&T topped with peach, and currently offer a clarified milk punch made with Moletto Pomodoro gin and topped with tomato, called Sweet Victory. “The frozen grated fruit acts almost like a granita at first, and then as it starts to melt, it becomes even more integrated into the cocktail for an added punch,” explains Bolt, who notes that the method has the added benefit of reducing what might otherwise become waste. “All in all,” he says, “it’s a fun but easy way to utilize fresh fruit.”
