Farm-to-glass drinks: Make a cocktail with ingredients from the farmers market

As the weather warms, the desire for a fruity concoction on a breezy beach grows.

We don’t always have the opportunity to take off to where the ocean meets the sand, but with spring here we can make great cocktails with fresh ingredients found at the local farmers market.

There’s plenty to love about farm-to-cocktail: the health benefits of using natural ingredients versus artificial additives and the fact that fresh can sometimes mean less expensive.

By using fruits and vegetables that are in season you get ingredients that didn’t have to travel as far, and you can taste the difference.

I talked with Frances Jones, a bartender at Davidson Street Public House in NoDa, and she gave me her take on her favorite ingredients and how we can make a cocktail at home deserving of an umbrella.

Jones loves flavors from citrus fruits, mango and guava, but she also appreciates spice. There’s a drink on the DSPH menu called the Local #7 which features fresh jalapeños.

Jones has modified the Local #7 so you can make this fruity concoction at home.

Modified Local #7

– 1.5 oz Milagro Silver Tequila

– 1.5 oz of fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice

– .5 oz Solerno Blood Orange Liqueur

– .5 oz agave nectar

(1) Add all the ingredients to a shaker, fill with ice and shake well.

(2) Strain into a tall glass and garnish with a grapefruit wedge … and don’t forget the umbrella.

Photos: Jodi Phillips

Heather Chaney is a bona fide cocktail expert and curator of boozinqc.com. She’s also a proud southerner who knows how to use the word y’all properly in a sentence.

This story was originally published May 21, 2015 at 12:48 AM with the headline "Farm-to-glass drinks: Make a cocktail with ingredients from the farmers market."