The Drunken Botanist: The Plants that Create the World's Great Drinks (30 page)

Turnera diffusa

turneraceae (damiana family)

I
n 1908, federal officials confiscated a bottle labeled “Damiana Gin” that was being shipped from New York to Baltimore. The label advertised the aphrodisiac qualities of the spirit, but the feds had their suspicions. Laboratory analysis turned up strychnine and brucine (both poisons derived from the strychnine tree) as well as salicylic acid, an aspirin-like compound extracted from willow trees that can be dangerous in large doses.

Given its toxic ingredients, the “false and misleading” claims of the drink's aphrodisiac qualities, and the fact that it was not actually gin, the bottle was deemed to be in violation of the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act. Its owner, a man named Henry F. Kaufman, was fined one hundred dollars for shipping a product that violated the act. But damiana's reputation persists.

This six-foot-tall, highly aromatic shrub produces tiny yellow flowers and small fruits. It grows wild in Mexico, where it has a reputation for stimulating the sexual appetite. In the nineteenth century, physicians prescribed it as a sexual tonic; one doctor writing in 1879 said that it could be given to female patients “to produce in her the very important yet not absolutely essential orgasm.”

Remarkably, there may be something to these claims. A 2009 study showed that the plant could speed recovery time in “sexually exhausted male rats,” allowing them to perform a second feat of lovemaking after a very short interval. (The method used to sexually exhaust the rats was not disclosed.)

In spite of this intriguing bit of research, no clinical trials have been conducted to determine the plant's effects on humans. It is a legal food additive in the United States, and the dried leaves and stems flavor Damiana, a Mexican herbal liqueur sold in a bottle shaped like—what else?—a fertility goddess.

DITTANY OF CRETE

Origanum dictamnus

lamiaceae (mint family)

T
he mysterious-sounding dittany of Crete is nothing more than an odd-looking type of oregano. The round, silver, fuzzy leaves and bracts of pinkish purple flowers make it a showstopper in Mediterranean gardens, which is why its habitat is no longer limited to a single Greek island. It has earned the name hop marjoram because the flowers resemble hops, but the plant's fragrance is more similar to thyme and other oreganos. The leaves have been used to flavor medicinal tonics since at least early Greek times, and today they are still used in vermouths, bitters, and herbal liqueurs.

ELECAMPANE

Inula helenium

asteraceae (aster family)

A
wild stand of elecampane could easily be mistaken for a bunch of overgrown dandelions—and in fact, the two plants are related. Although elecampane is native to southern Europe and parts of Asia, it now grows wild throughout much of North America, Europe, and Asia and is cultivated and sold as a medicinal herb to treat coughs. It reaches eight feet tall and sports small, daisy-shaped yellow flowers. The bitter, camphor-flavored root is a common ingredient in vermouths, bitters, absinthe, and herbal liqueurs.

EUROPEAN CENTAURY

Centaurium erythraea

gentianaceae (gentian family)

T
his pink-flowered annual herb is a relative of gentian. Native to Europe, it has spread to North America, Africa, and parts of Asia and Australia. The dried stems and leaves have historically been used externally to treat wounds and internally as a digestive tonic. Today the plant's bitter iridoid glycosides—powerful compounds that the plant uses to defend itself—make it useful as an ingredient in bitters and vermouths.

FENUGREEK

Trigonella foenum-graecum

fabaceae (bean family)

S
tarting in 2005, people living in certain parts of New York City would suddenly develop the strangest craving for pancakes. A distinctly maple syrup smell was wafting through town. It didn't happen very often, but when it did, people called the city to inquire as to the source of the unexplained, but not altogether unpleasant, odor.
Finally, in 2009, city officials had an answer: fenugreek. The seeds of this diminutive beanlike plant are ground and mixed into curry spices—but they are also processed by a company in New Jersey that sells industrial fragrances and flavors. The caramel or maple syrup note contributed by fenugreek is used as a flavoring in liqueurs as well as in imitation maple syrup and other sweets.

Fenugreek comes from the Mediterranean, northern Africa, and parts of Asia; it has been a traditional part of Indian and Middle Eastern cooking for centuries. While it never plays the starring role in a liqueur, it may be used in the background as a spicy, sweet bass note, and for that reason bartenders sometimes employ it in homemade infusions. Some fans of Pimm's No. 1, the gin-based liqueur used to make the classic British summer cocktail known as a Pimm's Cup, swear they taste fenugreek in its mysterious—and highly secret—spice blend.