The Drunken Botanist: The Plants that Create the World's Great Drinks (27 page)

Piper betle

piperaceae (pepper family)

T
his small, dark green vine, a close relative to the vine that produces black pepper, is best known as the wrapper in which the betel nut,
Areca catechu,
is placed. The two comprise a little bundle known as a quid or
paan.
The combination delivers a mild, addictive stimulant enjoyed by four hundred million people around the world, primarily in India and Southeast Asia. Unfortunately, the quid also causes cancer, turns teeth black, and produces a steady flow of red saliva that is often spat out on the street.

The betel leaf is also used to wrap other things. A “sweet
paan
” refers to a betel leaf filled with fruit and spices; it might be served to guests after dinner as a (nonstimulating) dessert. Betel leaves can also be filled with tobacco, another custom that alarms public health officials for the high rates of oral cancer it causes.

Paan
liqueur is made in Sikkim, a region that borders Nepal. While home brewers and commercial distillers are equally reluctant to divulge their recipes, locals are certainly under the impression that they are drinking a spirit steeped in or distilled with the betel leaf, and perhaps the nut as well. A few
paan
liqueurs are distributed internationally, and while the distillers make no claim about ingredients, it is unlikely that that the betel leaf is used in those versions. Neither the leaf nor the nut are approved food ingredients in the European Union or in the United States. In fact, both are included in the FDA's database of poisonous plants. (This is not to say that they are illegal to grow; a few tropical nurseries sell them.) In 1995, the
Los Angeles Times
reported on the launch of Sikkim Paan Liquor, which
apparently contained no betel leaf at all, but cardamom, saffron, and sandalwood, bringing to mind a combination of Drambuie and an Indian spice shop.

The leaf may prove to have some redeeming qualities. A 2011 medical study published in the journal
Food & Function
investigated several spices for possible protective effects against alcohol-induced liver damage. A number of Indian spices and herbs looked promising, including turmeric, curry, fenugreek, tea—and the leaves of
Piper betle.

BISON GRASS

Hierochloe odorata

poaceae (grass family)

T
his tough, perennial grass, also called sweetgrass, is prized for its vanilla-like fragrance. It is native to both North America and Europe and has been used by Native Americans to make baskets and incense. In Poland, it is an ingredient in a traditional flavored vodka called
zubrówka.
A wild stand of the grass still grows in the Białowieza Forest, between Poland and Belarus, where it feeds a herd of wisent, the endangered European bison.

A limited amount of the wild grass can be gathered every year to make
zubrówka.
Once harvested, it is dried and macerated in rye vodka. A single blade of grass floats in every bottle. The spirit has been unavailable in the United States since 1954 because the grass contains coumarin, a banned substance that can be turned into a blood thinner in the laboratory or in the presence of certain species
of fungus. While the conversion of coumarin to a blood thinner is easily avoided, the ban on anything containing coumarin remains. Recently Polmos Białystok, the makers of
zubrówka,
found a way to remove the coumarin, making it legal once again in the United States.

The traditional way to drink it is to mix one part
zubrówka
to two parts clear, cold apple juice. This recipe is simply a variation on that tradition:

CALAMUS (SWEET FLAG)

Acorus calamus

acoraceae (sweet flag family)

S
weet flag is a highly fragrant grass or rushlike plant that grows in marshy areas throughout Europe and North America. The rhizome has a complex, spicy, bitter flavor that lends itself to
amaro
s like Campari and herbal liqueurs like Chartreuse, as well as gin and vermouth. The flavor has been described as woodsy, leathery, and also creamy; perfumer Steffen Arctander described it as smelling like a milk truck or the inside of a shoe repair shop.

Some varieties of the plant contain a potentially carcinogenic compound called Β-asarone. For this reason, the FDA has banned it as a food additive. However, not all sweet flag is equally dangerous. The American variety, called
A. calamus
var.
americanus
or
A. americanus,
does not have any significant quantity of the potential toxin, and European strains also have relatively low levels. The European Union acknowledges that the plant is widely used in bitters, vermouths, and liqueurs, and has set limits regulating the amount of Β-asarone in alcoholic beverages and encouraging the use of less toxic varieties. In the United States, distillers sidestep the ban by producing liqueurs that contain undetectable levels of the toxin.

CARAWAY

Carum carvi

apiaceae (carrot family)