the drunken botanist preview

. Sake began with a grain of rice. This title is bound to entertain imbibers as it informs.” —AudioFile, Amy Stewart has a way of making gardening seem exciting, even a little dangerous.” —New York Times, ©1997-2020 Barnes & Noble Booksellers, Inc. 122 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10011. "The Drunken Botanist" uncovers the enlightening botanical history and the fascinating science and chemistry of over 150 plants, flowers, trees, and fruits (and even one fungus). I love books like this, but they do tend to be A LOT and therefore I would only recommend this book to series nonfiction lovers; OR..people who love the idea of where their food and drink comes from. She includes archaeological finds such as the presence of barley beer on clay pot fragments dated to 3400 B.C.E. Stewart aims to educate readers about the botany and history of the many plants that find their way into human libations. Ans. Material was okay, I guess. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading The Drunken Botanist. She and her husband live in Eureka, California, where they own an antiquarian bookstore called Eureka Books. Her new book is The Drunken Botanist: The Plants That Create the World's Great Drinks. Nature seems to love making alcohol; take any plant with sugars present in it (any fruit and a lot of grains) and let it sit out where wild yeasts can land in it, give it a little time, and alcohol will appear. Each plant description includes history, propagation, and usage details. The Drunken Botanist: The Plants that Create the World's Great Drinks by Amy Stewart The Drunken Botanist" is a wonderful reference on plants associated with the world's favorite drinks. However, when my friend Sarah emailed to say that she'd won a charity auction that included copies of Drunken Botanist and the opportunity for the author to participate in a book club discussion, I jumped at the chance. Wayne Curtis reviews Amy Stewart's \ What cuisines are served at The Drunken Botanist ? Even the population of wild bats that pollinate agaves are diminished because the agaves are not allowed to bloom naturally. Amy Stewart's The Drunken Botanast conveniently on sale right now for $9 on Amazon I don't say this about many books, but this one is hands down one of the best things I have ever read. Scotch emerged from barley, tequila from agave, rum from sugarcane, bourbon from corn. Still, it is the perfect catalyst for turning agave sap to pulque. Once the roasted piñas are crushed, the juice can be siphoned off and fermented with water and wild yeast for a lighter-tasting mezcal, or the whole mash, including the crushed bits of agave, can be fermented, yielding a rich and smoky mezcal that would please any Scotch drinker. ", Over the last few centuries—and until the last decade or so—agavebased spirits were considered to be rough products that in no way compared to a good Scotch or Cognac. “This is a book you’ll want to drink up, making a point to remember the information tidbits you want to pull out to amaze and amuse your friends at the next wedding, dinner, or cocktail party. Pottery fragments, early tools, paintings, and actual remnants of digested agave all confirm this beyond a doubt. The Essential, New York Times–Bestselling Guide to Botany and Booze “A book that makes familiar drinks seem new again . Toast the plant in your favorite drink with tasty stories from Amy Stewart, author of The Drunken Botanist. Although some agaves reproduce vegetatively, producing "pups," offshoots that can regrow after harvest, the harvest process prevents them from blooming. In a typical cocktail book, you'd turn to the gin section for a Martini recipe. and the legal details that changed the course of birch beer, which started as a mildly alcoholic beer, morphed into a soft drink during Prohibition, and recently began to be produced as a liqueur. I'm not a big fan of cocktails and wasn't interested in recipes for them. It ferments quickly thanks in part to the naturally occurring bacteria Zymomonas mobilis that live on the agave and on other tropical plants that are made into alcohol, such as sugarcane, palms, and cacao. Many of the non-tequila spirits are made from wild agaves. Waaaayyyy back in my undergrad days, I fulfilled my science requirement in part by taking classes like Practical Botany and Environmental Plant Biology. And if it couldnt be turned into alcohol, it could be. The Drunken Botanist is a strange brew—part Ripley's Believe It or Not, part compendium on the order of Schott's Original Miscellany and part botanical garden tour, albeit with a curated cocktail party at the end…What Stewart's book lacks in narrative spine…it makes up in easygoing charm, sly wit and an eye for the telling anecdote… So, I know a thing or two about those things that grow in dirt. The author is at pains to tell us that her coverage is by no means exhaustive, but it is comprehensive. Part III AT LAST WE VENTURE INTO THE GARDEN, WHERE WE ENCOUNTER A SEASONAL ARRAY OF BOTANICAL MIXERS AND GARNISHES TO BE INTRODUCED TO THE COCKTAIL IN ITS FINAL STAGE OF PREPARATION.................... Sorted in a Similar Fashion: Herbs....................     320, Berries & Vines....................     340, Fruits & Vegetables including Recipes and Sufficient Horticultural Instruction....................     345, Some Final Business: Recommended Reading....................     357, Acknowledgments....................     361. I love this book - I keep picking it up and reading it over and over - there is always something interesting in it. The ambience is characterised by beautiful Dim lighting. Maybe that’s because I have a love-love relationship with liquors and most kinds of alcohol, who knows. It would have made a fine meal by itself. Scotch emerged from barley. Highly recommended." The wheel rolls around a circular pit, propelled in the old days by a donkey, although more sophisticated machinery is sometimes used today. Maybe thats because I have a love-love relationship with liquors and most kinds of alcohol, who knows. . —The New York Times, "Many boozy books have been published over the years, spilling over with fun facts about absinthe, grog and bathtub gin. The Drunken Botanist is making everybody’s year-end, must-have list. . a companionable reference and whimsical recitation of historical-botanical trivia, with a little tart debunking." An amusingly different way  into the subject. Once it begins flowing, the sap is extracted every day by means of a rubber tube or, in the old days, a pipette made from a gourd called acocote. You can view Barnes & Noble’s Privacy Policy. In the subsequent section, the many dozens of plants used for flavoring are discussed, including quite a few that will be familiar to most drinkers (i.e. The inclusion of rich history throughout will delight armchair historians and the naturally curious. This isn't just a gathering of dry facts though; when something is badly made. A book trailer for Amy Stewart's new book, THE DRUNKEN BOTANIST: The Plants That Create the World's Great Drinks. So grab a nice drink of your choosing and let me tell you a bit more about this book. 3.5 stars, rounded up. . We have not allowed the plant to reproduce in the wild. In fact, tequila and mezcal are made from entirely different species of agave than pulque. Instead of scraping out the center to force the flow of sap, as was the practice for making pulque, the agave leaves were hacked away, revealing a dense mass called a piña, which resembled a pineapple or an artichoke heart. Roasted agave is a gourmet experience; imagine a richer, meatier version of grilled artichoke hearts. This simple still consisted of a hollowed-out tree trunk (often Enterolobium cyclocarpum, a tree in the pea family called guanacaste, or elephant ear) perched above an inground oven lined with bricks. —NPR's Morning Edition, "Fascinating, well researched and instructive — with appealing recipes too." What makes Stewart's book different is her infectious enthusiasm for the plants, their uses, their history, and the botanists who roamed the earth finding them. Whatever its purpose, it works: do not pass up an opportunity to taste pechuga mezcal. Despite my love-hate relationship with potted plants (they keep dying), the title of this book immediately caught my attention. Canned, pasteurized versions are available, but the microbes die off and the flavor suffers. Right off the bat, let's get this out of the way: I recommend it. There went my sobriety. She delves into the botany of the plants and how different species can contribute different. It's wonderful! This is a great book, very interesting. Insanely informative, and the recipes sound amazing! . Refresh and try again. Cutting it forces the base to swell without growing taller; at that point, the wound is covered and allowed to rest for several months while the sap builds. And buy one for your friends, because they will steal yours when you aren't looking. —The Associated Press, "Amy Stewart has a way of making gardening seem exciting, even a little dangerous." . Stewart aims to educate readers about the botany and history of the many plants that find their way into human libations. I assumed I'd find a book about using seasonal ingredients to make cocktails, infusions, bitters, and the like. It turns out to be very difficult to put pulque in a still and get strong liquor from it. 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