Zero - Cereal Killer

Today kicked my butt. I am glad I get to sit down after a good day of cooking.

I didn’t think I was going to be able to produce another recipe but here we are with the first recipe of chapter 3. I am very excited.

All the recipes are really easy to make. The first of 3 parts was blackberry syrup with fresh blackberries. Very nice on it’s own. I used a small food mill to puree the blackberries, it is way easier than through a strainer.

Next I had to toast barley with cinnamon bark and allspice. It smelled really good. Then you add water, boil and make it steep for 1 hour. The yield was less than what the recipe required. I needed 475gr of juice, I got 390 only. I just went with it.

The rest of the recipe uses some strange ingredients such as carob syrup - I don’t know that I would invest in this again, it’s fine, hopefully I get to use it in another recipe, it is a flavorful sweetener. And a premade Seedlip alcohol free cocktail base, which seems a little strange to me since everything else in the book is so intensely home-made.

Tasting, I told all the staff not to hold back on their opinions, after all I am just trying to replicate faithfully. Anyway, this turned out to be a medium welcome. I liked it, it is fruity, not super spicy, nearly like a red wine, nearly. I made big ice cubes, which was nice for the tasting. Not everyone liked it though. Too much cinnamon came up a couple times.

We are not trying to be picky but we are open with each other. If it doesn’t taste or look good, someone is going to let you know.