We’ve teamed up with Mix Mann to create four zero-waste cocktail recipes to encourage the nation to use up their leftovers at home.Zero-waste cocktail and mocktail recipes
Monday, 13 May is World Cocktail Day and here at Too Good To Go, we’ve teamed up with Mix Mann create four zero-waste cocktail recipes to encourage the nation to use up their leftovers at home. The recipes include two alcoholic cocktails and two alcohol-free mocktails, with ingredients ranging from coffee grounds, to leftover almond croissants, to banana peel.
Our 4 zero-waste cocktail & mocktail recipes
Coffee Podgroni
Note from Mix Mann:
A great way to use leftover coffee grounds, or leftover pods from a machine - this could be the first podfusion that I’ve seen! The coffee works well with the bitter notes to create a delicious coffee themed Negroni.
The first step is to make a coffee pod infused Campari to reuse grounds from a pod or loose coffee grounds.
Makes 1
Infusion ingredients
- 1 coffee pod/10g of coffee grounds
- 150ml Campari
Infusion method
- Add 1 used coffee pod or 10g of coffee grounds to a jar, pour in 150ml of Campari on top, screw the jar lid on then shake
- Leave at room temperature overnight
- Finely strain the infusion using a sieve or better still, strain through coffee paper to remove any bits
Drink ingredients
- 30ml coffee-infused Campari
- 30ml gin
- 30ml red vermouth
- Garnish: dehydrated orange, or orange peel
Drink recipe
- Add all ingredients to tumbler glass filled with ice.
- If you like your Negroni strong, then one quick stir is enough. For more dilution, stir vigorously for 20 seconds.
- Finish with garnish. If you dunk your orange slice into the drink, the orange will start to infuse too.
Can You Peel It?
Note from Mix Mann:
We’re using up old banana skins for this recipe – don’t slip up and throw them away!
The older a banana, the riper, the sweeter and richer in flavour. This drink creates a banana syrup better known as an Oleo. We’re creating a Mai Tai inspired cocktail, but you can use Oleo or banana syrup in many ways, such as in an old fashioned or whisky/amaretto sour.
Makes 1
Oleo ingredients
- 50g banana peel
- 50g sugar
Oleo recipe
Based on one banana skin, makes around 50ml
- Chop up the banana peel into small pieces (5-10mm)
- Add equal weights of banana peel and sugar (e.g. 50g peel + 50g sugar) to a sealable jar
- Stir them well to start off the infusion process
- Leave for six hours in a warm room, stirring occasionally
- The sugar should dissolve and you’ll see rich dark syrup forming. Blend all of the ingredients to combine and complete the banana oleo / syrup
- Keep in jar and store in fridge till ready to use
Drink ingredients
- 30ml BananaOleo
- 60ml Good quality rum
- 20ml Dry white vermouth
- 20ml fresh pineapple juice
- 5ml honey
- 20ml lime juice
- Top with 50ml ginger beer
- Optional: A splash of passion fruit liqueur if you have it
- Garnish with a pineapple wedge and leftover pineapple leaves
Drink recipe
(Uses a highball glass)
- Add all of the ingredients (except ginger beer) to a shaker filled with ice
- Shake for 20 seconds, then strain into an ice-filled highball glass
- Top slowly with ginger beer, and stir 5-10 times
- Add garnishes and enjoy
Espresso Almontini (Mocktail)
Note from Mix Mann:
Anyone up for drinking a croissant? Yes you heard me, you can use those stale forgotten croissants, and better still you can do it with Almond Croissants to create a super delicious orgeat (almond and sugar) syrup.
Makes 1
Orgeat ingredients
- 1 almond croissant
- 300ml boiling water
- 220g sugar
Orgeat recipe
Based on one almond croissant, makes nearly 500ml
- Toast the almond croissant in the oven/air fryer first, for richer flavours
- Allow to cool a little, break it up into small pieces and place into a saucepan
- Add 300ml boiling water, and stir
- Then add around 220g sugar, and stir to combine
- Bring back to gentle boil, allow to simmer for 6-7 minutes, stirring often
- Remove from heat and leave for at least 30 minutes to infuse, the longer the better here!
- Strain liquid through a sieve and store in a jar (keep in fridge till ready to use)
Keep your leftover croissant curd aside to be used to spread on toast, waffles, or a topping on ice cream!
Drink ingredients
- 35ml previously-prepared Almond croissant syrup
- 130ml cappuccino – fresh is best, but recently leftover works too
- 30ml coconut milk (alternatives include almond milk, or add cream or vanilla ice cream for more indulgence!)
- If you still have leftover croissant, then add as a garnish. Make sure your glass can take the weight – you can dunk and drink at the same time!
Drink recipe
- Add your orgeat syrup, cappuccino and coconut milk to a shaker half filled with ice, and shake hard for 20-25 seconds
- As an optional extra, you could also add a teaspoon of your leftover croissant curd from the pan here too
- Double strain into a martini glass
Sustainable Sour (Mocktail)
Note from Mix Mann:
Shrubs are all the rage at the moment and a great way to use up old fruits is to extract the flavour in a different way. One such way is by creating a tart interesting flavour for drinks, this is particularly great for alcohol free cocktails.
I made this with some white wine vinegar that hadn’t seen the light of the cupboard door for a while, but the recipe can be amended to adjust for sour to sweet preferences. You can also use cider vinegar, and if such a thing as leftover week old wine exists, you can try that for milder, alcoholic shrub.
Makes 1
Sour Shrub ingredients
- 2 cups of strawberries
- 275ml water
- 275g sugar
- 1 vanilla pod (or 10 drops of vanilla extract)
- 5cm stick of cassia or cinnamon
- Black pepper
- White wine vinegar
Sour Shrub recipe
- Add 2 cups of sliced strawberries into a saucepan with the green leafy tops too
- Add around 275ml water and stir in 275g sugar, bring to gentle boil for 5 minutes, stirring often
- Reduce heat and gently simmer for 15 minutes
- Whilst it simmers you can add a spent vanilla pod using the leftover element, and add a 5cm stick of cassia or cinnamon, plus a small grind of black pepper
- Remove from heat, leave to infuse for 30 minutes minimum
- Then strain well using a sieve - make sure to squeeze what you can out from the strawberries
- Measure how much liquid is left then add half as much white wine vinegar (I had 120ml so added 60ml vinegar)
- Store in the fridge
Drink ingredients
- 30ml strawberry shrub
- 45ml pineapple juice
- 15ml lime juice
- 15ml leftover prosecco syrup (equal parts prosecco to sugar, can do it with sparkling grape juice too). Alternative: a simple honey syrup (2 parts honey: 1 part warm water)
- Aquafaba to create a foam (instead of egg white) – this is the leftover liquid from a can of chickpeas - simply strain the chickpeas, retain the liquid and shake it.
- Garnish: strawberry
Drink recipe
- Add all your ingredients to a shaker filled with ice, shake well for 20 seconds, and double strain into a pre-chilled coupe style glass
- If you find this a bit too tart or sour, then add a little more pineapple juice and prosecco syrup
Feeling ready to get shaking and stirring? Download the Too Good To Go app to rescue Surprise Bags of surplus food.
Credit: Too Good To Go Partners with Mix Mann to create sustainable cocktails using leftovers at home for World Cocktail Day 2024
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