Spirit of the wild: how foraged foods are finding their way into London's top cocktails

Foraged berries, herbs, hedgerow and even Japanese knotweed are all vying to invigorate your cocktail, says Susannah Butter 
Sea Buckthorn Daisy: Sea Buckthorn infused gin mixed with lemon juice and homemade wild berry syrup, topped with soda water and garnished with sea buckthorn stalk
Matt Writtle

Hix mayfair is at the smart end of the restaurant spectrum, all white tablecloths and suited staff. But today it has gone wild. The bar is obscured by berries and leaves while seaweed is being caramelised. Everything has been foraged, and these spoils of nature aren’t only being used in food — they’re being turned into cocktails too.

Head barman Dustin MacMillan is making me a King Cob — smoking the glass with heated peppercorns and filling it with cobnuts and vermouth from The Collector, which makes the spirit out of botanical ingredients from Somerset.

“The kitchen provides inspiration,” says MacMillan. “If I don’t know what to do I’ll go see the chefs.” Mark Hix adds that foraged ingredients add intrigue to an evening: “When I cook for a dinner party, I try to balance the menu with some ‘can’t buy in the shops’ ingredients. It’s always a good conversation point.”

The beginning of autumn means blackberries and herbs are in season — perfect for cocktails. MacMillan has added homemade syrups, good for using all year round. Foraging is also all the rage at Amy’s Kitchen supper clubs, The Shed restaurant in Notting Hill, and Poco, opening soon in Broadway Market.

Snake charmer: The Serpent uses Black Cow vodka and marjoram syrup with caramelised seaweed on top
Matt Writtle

Poco has a saison beer on the menu, which is made from foraged elderflowers and wild English hops. It’s dry and not too floral. Cocktails will be made with foraged ingredients, including burdock from the banks of the River Lea, which drinks chief Ben Pryor says “is a nice robust addition to an aperitif”.

Spirits and herbs are an excellent double act, says Pryor. “We might do a rosemary and thyme gin fizz. Steeping the thyme in gin extracts a lot of flavour very quickly, then if you shake the cocktail with fresh rosemary, which I have growing in my garden, that balances beautifully with the gin.”

For Pryor, foraging is about experimentation. “There’s an abundant free resource of interesting flavours but sometimes things don’t work and you get unexpected results. I made a rock samphire tincture that ended up tasting like carrot but might be nice blended into a vermouth or botanical bitter.”

At Poco, Amalfi lemons are the only ingredient imported. The skin is used for maramalade, steeped in vodka, or made into lemon essence — a couple of drops pep up a martini. Pryor says he trying to minimise “wanton consumption”.

At Hix Mayfair in Brown's Hotel, the cocktails will be available from September 28 until October 4 as part of the Hix goes Wild festival. Ingredients come from Miles Irving’s company Forager. He says: “Foraged ingredients provide a new palette of flavours, giving access to things like aromatics or sweetness in wild damsons and heat from members of the cabbage family.”

MacMillan went on a foraging trip to Cornwall in preparation and ate dishes like Japanese knotweed crumble. “It’s delicious. I picked seaweed and the forager took us to a secret bar made of fallen trees in the middle of nowhere.”

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Foraging is not a complete free-for-all. Pryor says: “You need the landowner’s permission if you’re digging. John Wright, who writes the River Cottage foraging handbooks says it’s not allowed but he says it with a glint in his eye. Something like burdock is a rampant weed that’s not in danger of dying out.”

There’s a newly launched app called Forager’s Buddy if you want to have a go. If you come across a glut of ingredients you can log it on a public map so that others can share.

Pryor started foraging as a child.

“I remember sitting in the car in lay-bys while mum was off picking blackberries. Whenever we’d go walking we’d pluck things and eat them. Now, working with the seasons gives you a sense of connection with your surroundings.”

At Hix, MacMillan uses berries in his Sea Buckthorn Daisy drink. It’s gin infused with sea buckthorn (an invigorating orange colour, tangy and apparently worth more than gold by weight) and homemade wild berry syrup, topped with soda water. His other favourite is called The Serpent. It uses Black Cow vodka, made from the milk of grass-grazed cows in Dorset and marjoram syrup. But the star is a piece of salted caramelised seaweed on top. It’s time to settle in for a night of wild drinking.

Hix Goes Wild is on from 28 September to 4 October at Hix Mayfair, Brown’s Hotel. Visit roccofortehotels.com for more information.

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