Well hello guys, it’s officially blood orange season! My favourite thing about this time of year is the citrus. Here in the UK blood oranges are very widely and cheaply available right now and they look and taste so good. If you haven’t ever tried a blood orange, you must! The juice that they produce is a beautiful deep red and is most scrumptious when imbibed in cocktail form, obviously.

I’m going to be keeping this post short and sweet, just like the cocktail. See what I did there eh? Yet again, I find myself stuck in bed feeling super sicky. This flu just does NOT want to go. Nearly 3 weeks now. Gah. And I was supposed to start a new job today but thanks to my oh so lovely fever that isn’t happening. Hopefully I’ll be on form by Sunday and starting then. I’ll let you in on it next week and tell you how it all goes!

I suppose with it being flu season, citrus is literally the ideal choice right now, what with all the vitamin C. I’m sure I was reading somewhere that a certain amount of alcohol can actually boost your immune system, so cocktails all round! (Don’t quote me on that, I have… no source for that information…)

I started toying with the idea of the rosemary because it is such a gorgeous garnish, and next thing you know, we have a rosemary simple syrup. This makes plenty so you can keep it in the fridge and make cocktails to your heart’s content! Yessss!

For all of you out there who either don’t drink or are looking to cut down, you can totally make this non-alcoholic. Simply omit the gin and top it with a little sparkling water. Keep the garnishes though, because mocktails should feel just as fancy as their boozy siblings.

Recipe

• Serves: 1
• Time:
  • Prep: 5 mins
  • Cook: 10 mins
  • Passive: 20 mins

    Ingredients

• rosemary simple syrup
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup water
  • 5 sprigs rosemary
• cocktail
  • 1 1/2 oz dry gin
  • 1 3/4 oz blood orange juice
  • 3/4 oz rosemary simple syrup
  • 1 slice blood orange for garnish
  • 1 sprig rosemary for garnish

Instructions

rosemary simple syrup

1. Place all the ingredients in a small saucepan over a medium heat. Stir until the sugar has dissolved completely. Just as the mixture begins to bubble, turn off the heat and leave to infuse for 15 minutes.
2. Strain out the rosemary and pour into a bottle or jar and leave to cool to room temperature. Store in the fridge for up to 4 weeks.

cocktail

1. Shake the gin and simple syrup over ice, then strain into a glass filled with crushed ice. Slowly pour the blood orange juice into the glass so it creates an ombré effect. Garnish with the orange slice and rosemary sprig if desired. Serve with a straw to stir it up before drinking!