What is an aging bartender to do with a bunch of lacto blueberries except put them through the trusty robo, load them onto a tray, and then throw their weird salty little asses into the dehydrator? These puppies were placed into 2% brine and left to sit, by the way, and the big idea here is blueberry salt for use as a rim. I love rims on cocktails. Yes, they’re a bit overdone and maybe cheesy but I still think they’re great. I mean, what’s better in the summertime than a margarita with salt?

Funny how we’re all just getting back to the originals. Daiquiri, Manhattan, Old Fashioned, Mudslide. I’ve thought about doing a menu like that before. Just all well done classics but you’ve got to inspire something in people, plus there’s the whole seasonal thing we do, it’s a lot of goddam extra work but rewarding. Plus, it is the way things should be. Right? I mean, didn’t the cavepeople ferment and distill citrus in the winter to accompany their roasted mammoth?

The classics still ring true. Think about it, food is this way too. We always go back to the originals. Bread and butter. Roasted chicken. Grilled steak. Ham sandwich. Enchiladas. Mashed potatoes. The multitudes of different ways to eat pasta. Sauces, shapes, etc. I had a dream last night I was at some crazy deli that served their turkey clubs with four pieces of bread instead of three.

Anyway, here’s the result of the dehydration. Flaky, salty. I pulled this out with the expectation to buzz it in the spice grinder and found out that there was no spice grinder anymore. I mean, the thing was on its last legs, but someone (I’m guessing some dumbass in the kitchen) finally killed it. Ok. A minor inconvenience. I had to pulverize the blueberries the old fashioned way.

Yup, the trusty molcajete.

The result was the nice little powder you see here. I do prefer the mortar and pestle’s production of a more inconsistent texture, by the way. I also mixed in some Maldon salt which are the big flakes you see in the picture there.

I guess the thought was since fruits and vegetables are 90% water and the brine is 2% that the result, once the water disappeared a nice flavored lacto salt would be left behind. It did occur, in theory. But I’m thinking for the next go around to include more flavor somehow as the blueberries have a great color but the taste was lacking a bit.

I added some lime zest and ancho chili powder to give it more spunk.

The above cocktail was just a tester. I’d give it a C-. Tasted ok, but didn’t blow my hair back. I had this great idea that just didn’t come together. Oro blanco, toasted cashew orgeat, gin, manzanilla sherry, sichuan peppercorn bitters, fresh lime and lemon. Pretty meh. I don’t think I can make a cocktail without rum. Gin used to be the go to and we used to have great whiskey cocktails, now I’ve got the feces touch. I’ll have to let Denise and Angel have a go at it. I’ve become a bartending saucier, great at making ingredients but terrible at putting then together for a final product. Maybe having covid twice ruined my taste buds forever and only rum pulls them out of the darkness.