Orange bitters.

Lewisburg.

I love a good martini:



As I make 'em, the recipe goes something like this:

Martini

Ingredients:

• 3 parts good gin (such as Hendrick's)
  
• 1 part dry vermouth¹
  
• Dash orange bitters
  
• Olives
  
• Ice

Directions:

1. Add three or four ice cubes to a shaker, then pour in the gin and vermouth. Add a drop or two of orange bitters, to taste. Cover and swirl about for a moment, or shake if you're really feeling it.
   
   
2. Strain into a glass, and garnish with a toothpick loaded with olives. Like, say, three. Taste and add another drop of bitters if it needs a sharper edge.

Pretty straightforward, as long as you can find orange bitters. Which, living in Pennsylvania, is something I can't do easily. Next best thing? Make my own, of course.

To be honest, I have no idea if this is what orange bitters are supposed to be like, though I rather like them. Enough that I add a drop here and there to give a cocktail a nice edge. In a margarita, for example, it adds an extra dimension to the sweet and salty character, and the orange aroma fits in nicely. Ain't so bad in a Manhattan, either, though the traditional angostura bitters suit best.

A little Google work turned up one orange bitters recipe in a handful of places. It goes like this:

Orange bitters

Ingredients:

• ½ lb. dried bitter seville orange peel
  
• 1 pinch cardamom
  
• 1 pinch caraway
  
• 1 pinch coriander seeds
  
• 2 cups grain alcohol
  
• Water
  
• 4 tablespoons caramel food coloring

Directions:

1. Chop the orange peel finely and mix it with the herbs and alcohol. Let it stand for 15-20 days in a sealed jar, agitating it every day.
   
   
2. Pour off spirits through a cloth and seal again.
   
   
3. Put the strained off seeds and peel in a saucepan, crush it, cover with boiling water and simmer for 5 minutes. Pour into another jar, cover, and let stand for 2 days. Strain this off and add it to the spirits. Add caramel coloring, filter again and let it rest until it settles perfectly clear. Target: 45% alc.

Sounds easy enough, except for a few minor details:

1. I can't get grain alcohol in Pennsylvania, and the drive to New Jersey, or whatever other state might have it readily available, is awfully hard to justify.
   
   
2. Dried bitter orange peel isn't cheap. At about $2.50 per ounce, it's better to pick up a pound ($12) at a homebrew shop.
   
   
3. Food coloring? Seriously? (Some versions of the recipe call for burnt sugar, i.e., caramel.) I don't like the way the angostura bitters pinken up a martini, and it seems like a concession to aesthetics.

So I swapped those out for Bacardi 151 and some fresh sour orange peel - why not? - from the grocery store. And skipped the caramel. At least this way, should it turn out nasty, I'm only out a few bucks. Fortunately, it worked out perfectly:



My modified recipe, for an aromatic, boldly orange-colored orange bitters is as follows:

Orange bitters

Ingredients:

• Rind of three sour oranges, finely diced
  
• 1 pinch cardamom
  
• 1 pinch caraway
  
• 1 pinch coriander seeds
  
• 1 cup Bacardi 151 rum
  
• ¾ cup water

Directions:

1. Pack the diced orange peel - with the white pith - into a pint glass jar with the spices. Pour in the rum to cover, seal the jar, and set aside for at least two weeks, shaking at least once a day. Smell and taste every few days to see how it's progessing; the aroma and bitterness really build.
   
   
2. Strain off through a fine sieve, then through a coffee filter, saving the peel and spices. In a pot, crush the peel and spices, cover with the boiling water, and simmer for five minutes. Strain this liquid through the sieve and another coffee filter, and add ½ cup to the spirits. Seal tightly.
   
   
3. Allow the cloudiness to settle. This will seem to take forever; this batch sat for about a month until the cloudiness had sunk to the bottom. Strain through a coffee filter, bottle, and enjoy.

* * * * *

¹Or, for a sweet martini, swap out the dry vermouth for sweet, and the olives for a twist of orange peel.