Tokyo’s Edible Garden Offers Cocktail Made with Roses

Apr 1, 2021 | Japan, NEWS, TASTE

Imagine going to a garden where you can eat everything – that’s exactly what you can do at Tokyo’s Edible Garden. Now, the famous establishment, together with Bar ben Fiddich, offers a tasty cocktail made using edible roses.

With their experimental creations, Edible Garden in Tokyo stands out among other establishments in the area. Aside from the unique experiences they offer, people are now raving about the newest cocktail in their arsenal – the Jack Rose, made by Bar Ben Fiddich.

About the Drink

The 100 percent chemical and pesticide-free edible flower specialty store supports farmers around the area who grow high-quality edible flowers. But instead of using the flowers simply for decorations, they step their offer up a notch by maximizing its potential. This vision led to the birth of Jack Rose. 

The flavorful drink uses fresh pomegranate and lime juice, unaged apple brandy, and roses. This makes the drink unique not only for its taste but also its fragrance. The roses they use for the drink are bright red, and its mellow scent is evident in the cocktail. 

Hiromi Takanashi puts the pomegranate, lime juice, rose, sugar, salt solution, and two types of brandy on a shaker. This will mix and crush the ingredients. 

Thanks to the pomegranate, the cocktail has a very refreshing sweetness with a hint of acidity. The base brandy has a very gentle taste that makes the drink more complex. The cocktail has no barrel scent, but the rose and pomegranate make up for it. Lime sugar from the Amami islands also adds to the drink’s richness, and the flavor is intensified even further by the salt solution.   

The makers of the drink serve it with rose ice and more roses as decorations. It is recommended to enjoy the scent of the cocktail before drinking it. 

Despite not gaining mainstream traction yet, Jack Rose is a classic cocktail that has been present since the early 20th century and is popular with both men and women. Usually, the drink is made with lime juice, grenadine syrup, and Calvados. However, the traditional drink lacks the distinct rose aroma offered by Edible Garden.

Other Rose-Based Drinks

This is not the first rose-based drink made in collaboration with Edible Garden. Mixologist Yuzo Nagumo from Memento Mori also offers rose spirits – a drink with more than 10 kinds of raw roses. To make this drink, petals from the fresh roses are carefully disassembled. Then, it is frozen in liquid nitrogen and then ground. By doing this, the volume of roses becomes smaller, but the mass remains the same. This process also ensures that the petals remain fluffy without deteriorating. 

After this process, the rose is combined with water then placed in a vacuum distiller, and the steam will distill it at a low boiling point. When the extracted solution is mixed with Grey Goose, the drink is complete. 

One of the best things about this process is it can be done with any fruit such as pear and strawberry, so it can be enjoyed year-round.

More about Edible Flowers

Aside from supplying Michelin-star and other revered restaurants and bars with edible flowers, the establishment also researches flowers scientifically to make them more delicious. This includes analyzing various cooking techniques to come up with something that would appeal to many people. Through this, chefs and mixologists are inspired to come up with delicious dishes and drinks. 

Using flowers as an ingredient for dishes and cocktails is not new. But despite its historical use, it’s still a largely undeveloped area and flowers are still mostly used as decoration because of its lack of taste. However, the goal of Edible Flowers is to come up with a brand new eating experience that will surprise people by bringing out the value of flowers.