'With sustainability at the forefront of everything we do at Timberyard and Montrose, we are always working hard to use our ingredients to their full potential. With this recipe we would like to showcase one of many processes which can be used in day-to-day life to avoid food waste but also to simply make something delicious.
'Every autumn during plum season, when our chefs are busy preserving the actual flesh of the fruit, we always have a jar with some form of neutral spirit (vodka or new make) around and throughout autumn, we keep throwing leftover plum kernels in. Plum trees, just like cherry, apricot or peach, are from the same family as almonds - Rosaceae. Their kernels contain multiple compounds, mainly benzaldehyde, which smells like bitter almond. Over time, when we leave them in spirit for a couple of months, this aroma will become very pronounced. When we feel like the flavour is strong enough, we simply strain the liquid off the kernels and add sugar and water to taste.
'This very simple process of macerating leftover produce on different spirits is one of our most used techniques to avoid throwing tasty and usable things in the bin. We make a delicious ‘limoncello’ with leftover lemon peels, ‘galliano’ with vanilla husks left after ice cream making or ‘campari’ with blood orange pulp.
'The important part is that none of these require extensive prep time or a lot of constant attention. It is simply a jar sitting at your kitchen counter, slowly filling up and getting more and more delicious.'
INGREDIENTS
-
60ml plum kernel amaretto
-
70ml lemon juice
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1 tbsp of sugar syrup
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1 egg white (optional)
- Shaker, strainer, ice and a glass of your choice.
METHOD
Prepare your plum kernel amaretto spirit as described above.
Combine all ingredients in a shaker and dry shake (without ice) for about 30 seconds to whip up the egg white – if you are not using egg white, please skip this step.
Add ice to your shaker and continue shaking.
Strain your drink into a cocktail glass without ice or in a tumbler over ice.
In the restaurants we like to garnish our amaretto sour with a preserved cherry blossom, but it is also delicious with a glace cherry.
