November Drink of the Month - Clash of Cultures or Southeastern

Our local Meijer store puts up a display every year of "scary" fruits for Halloween. This includes prickly rambutans, fearsome dragon fruits, and whatever the heck cherimoya is. It also includes buddah's hand citron, which looks (as the name suggests) like a gnarly, withered hand. Buddah's hand is a member of the citron family, just like lime, lemon, orange, and grapefruit. But unlike those other fruits, buddah's hand has no flesh, seeds, or juice. It is only peel and pith. Fortunately, the pith is not nearly as bitter as other members of the citron family, and the fruit itself is incredibly fragrant. It is used in some Asian cultures as air freshener, but in the Kiley household, it is used exclusively for drinks.

I found several recipes that made use of buddah's hand, and wound up turning the two buddah's hands that I purchased into five different products. I made flavored vodka, flavored simple syrup, flavored salt, flavored sugar, and candied buddah's hand. I won't use all of the recipes in this blog post (the candied citron makes a nice garnish, but I ended up using the salt instead), but three of these applications are featured below (no sugar either, since the simple syrup replaced it, but it would be good for doing a sugared rim). Most of the flavor of the buddah's hand comes from the peel - the pith is good for making candied citron, but it does add much to an infusion. For the vodka and simple syrup, use a vegetable peeler to cut long, thin strips of the peel, and allow them to steep - either in 1-1 simple syrup over medium heat or in a non-reactive container with vodka for 4-6 days. For the salt, use a microplane grater to zest the peel, and then place the zest in an oven at 200 degrees for 25 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons of zest to 1/2 cup of kosher salt, and use a mortar and pestle to combine.

BH salt garnish on the Clash of Cultures

I've tried two original drinks with the fruits of my buddah's hand creations. Below are the recipes. One features mezcal, in the mold of the Mezcal Bisou. The other is a daiquiri riff, which adds vanilla-flavored falernum as a compliment to the buddah's hand. Of the two, I prefer the rum drink (which I'm calling the "Southeastern"), but both feature the unique flavor of the buddah's hand in interesting ways. Here are the recipes, for you to choose from:

Clash of Cultures
In a Boston shaker, combine the following ingredients:
1 oz mezcal (joven)
1 oz buddah's hand vodka
0.75 oz buddah's hand simple syrup
0.5 oz lemon juice
pinch of buddah's hand salt
2 dashes of orange flower water

Shake over ice, strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a sprinkling of more buddah's hand salt.

Left: Clash of Cultures - Right: Southeastern

Southeastern
In a Boston shaker, combine the following ingredients:
2 oz white rum
0.75 oz buddah's hand simple syrup
0.5 oz lime juice
0.25 oz falernum

Shake over ice, strain into an old fashioned glass filled with ice.

I hope you enjoy one or both of the Clash of Cultures or the Southeastern!