The Cumbertini

2 cocktails: skin of 1/2 cucumber, 8 cl gin, 8 cl vermouth, ice.

This is an experiment with the bitter-fresh taste of cucumber skin. It is said to contain curcurbitacines which serve the plant as herbivore deterrent but not us. We are keenly interested in these bitter and potentially 'interesting' tastes. That being said, as with literally everything else: the dose makes the poison. At the quantities used here, these bitters are completely benign for human consumption. The chemist will also recognize that these molecules belong to the group of steroids. I of course, had to look this up from wikipedia (thanks wiki).

To get to the bitter taste of the cucumber skin we scrape it off with a fine grater and drown the resulting mushy puree in vermouth. Let sit for a few minutes and strain through a paper kitchen towel. Try to squeeze most of the liquid out of the towel without breaking it. This gives our drink a wonderful greenish and misty tint that lends its wonderful refreshing taste to this Cumbertini.

I also tried disintegrating the skin in a kitchen blender but did not like the result at all. Perhaps it was the concentration or the blending process releases more unpleasant flavours from the skin. I don't know and suggest to do some experimentation with the maceration to find out what quantity and quality is right for you. As for the cucumber, I prefer organic-grade fruits in hopes of minimizing pesticide exposure.

The remainder of this drink with its 1:1 vermouth to gin mixture is essentially a wet Martini. Here I used 'Le Gin', a product by Christian Drouin, one of my favourite gin producers. Their main business is selling calvados but their gin is also superb, affordable and shipped internationally. What vermouth type to use is up to you. I tried and liked the combination with a Belsazar variety ('White' or 'Dry').

Zum Wohl, cheers, enjoy.