The Drunken Botanist: The Plants that Create the World's Great Drinks (29 page)

Erythroxylum coca

erythroxylaceae (coca family)

N
o plant is more symbolic of our endless war on drugs than this small, dark green Andean bush. When the leaves are chewed, they act as a gentle stimulant and may offer protection against altitude sickness. Archeologists have found evidence that Peruvians used the plant in this manner as early as 3000 BC, and they were still using it when the Spaniards showed up in the sixteenth century. The Catholic church tried to ban it but quickly realized that enslaved Peruvians could be made to work harder if they had their coca, so it remained a part of the culture.

Europeans, always on the search for a new plant that could be put to some medical or recreational use, found a way to extract the pure cocaine alkaloid, creating a drug with a much more powerful effect than the leaves alone. Cocaine became a pain reliever, antiseptic, digestive tonic, and all-around cure. Freud liked it; in 1895 he wrote that “a cocainization of the left nostril had helped me to an amazing extent.”

The leaves were used in wines and tonics as well, the most famous being the French Vin Mariani, whose advertisements promised that it was an “Effective and Lasting Renovator of the Vital Forces.” In 1893, the company published a charming illustrated book of testimonials for its product that began with an introduction about the coca plant (“Not Cocoa or Cacao,” it emphasized), in which it claimed that “the most effective form of administering Coca is the vinous one.”

The commendations came from celebrities like Sarah Bernhardt, who declared that the wine “helped to give me that strength so necessary in the performance of the arduous duties which I have imposed upon myself.” The French cardinal Charles Lavigerie, who oversaw missionaries in Africa, wrote that “Your coca from
America gives to my ‘White Fathers,' sons of Europe, the courage and strength to civilize Asia and Africa.” The best endorsement came from controversial French politician Henri Rochefort, who said that “Your precious Vin Mariani has completely reformed my constitution; you ought certainly offer some to the French Government.”

Coca continues to flourish in its native range in the Andean mountains. The shrubs grow to about eight feet in height, producing small white flowers and seeds. Only the young, fresh leaves are harvested, usually three times a year, beginning with the rainy season in March. There are seven species in all, including at least one other,
Erythroxylum novogranatense,
that also contains the cocaine alkaloid.
E. rufum,
or false cocaine, is entirely free of the alkaloid and is grown by some botanical gardens in the United States.

Although wine, tonic, and soda manufacturers are no longer allowed to include cocaine in their formulations, they can still use a cocaine-free flavor extract from the plant. The FDA has approved “Coca (decocainized)” as a food additive, and one American manufacturer, the Stepan Company in New Jersey, has been granted the license to legally purchase the leaves from Peru's National Coca Company. It separates the cocaine alkaloid for use as a topical anesthetic, and sells the remaining flavoring to companies like Coca-Cola. Not to be outdone, the Bolivian government has funded the creation of a number of coca-flavored sodas and other products, arguing that it is hypocritical for the United States to sanction the use of the leaves in American soft drinks while frowning on local products made from the same plant.

Although it is entirely legal to flavor liquor with the decocainized extract of coca leaves, few distillers do so. One notable example is the herbal liqueur Agwa, which is widely sold in the United States and Europe with a dramatic label announcing its controversial ingredient. (Other ingredients include guarana seeds, a South American vine with a caffeine-like compound, and ginseng.) In coca-producing countries,
licor de coca
and
vin de coca
are also sold in local markets.

CORIANDER

Coriandrum sativum

apiaceae (carrot family)

C
oriander is a favorite ingredient among distillers. It's found in almost all gins and in many herbal liqueurs, absinthe, aquavit, pastis, and vermouth. But anyone who has ever eaten the leaf of a coriander plant—called cilantro in the Americas—might wonder why they so rarely encounter that distinctive flavor in any of these drinks.

The reason is that the fruit—round, brown seeds—undergo a chemical change as they dry, shedding that bright cilantro flavor completely. The essential oil found in the fresh leaves and on the surface of the unripe fruit is instantly recognizable and not to everyone's liking, owing to genetic differences in how people perceive flavors. Some people call it fetid; others say it smells of bugs. In fact, the Greek word for bed bug,
koris,
is the root of its early Greek name
koriandron.

But deep inside the fruit is another oil that is easily extracted once the fruit is dry and the characteristic cilantro flavor has evaporated. That oil, which is dominated by linalool, thymol, and geranyl acetate, a compound found in geraniums, is the perfect blend for booze. It combines the woodsy notes of thyme, the rich perfume of geranium, and the bright, floral, citrus flavor of linalool. It tastes, in other words, like very good gin.

Two varieties turn up in the spice market: the high-quality Russian coriander
C. sativum
var.
microcarpum,
which is smaller but higher in essential oil, and the larger-fruited
C. sativum
var.
vulgare,
sometimes referred to as Indian, Moroccan, or Asiatic coriander. The latter is grown for its leaves and is more widely available to gardeners. (Many varieties sold to gardeners have been bred to resist bolting, or setting seed, so they will produce more leaves for cooking.) The best-quality oil seems to come from plants grown in areas with cool, wet summers, which is why both Norway and Siberia supply top-notch coriander to the world market.

CUBEB

Piper cubeba

piperaceae (pepper family)

T
his climbing, woody Indonesian vine produces a fruit that was once more popular than its better-known relative,
Piper nigrum,
or black pepper. Although the dried fruits look like black pepper, they are usually sold with their stems attached, making the two easy to tell apart. Its pungent bite comes from a compound called piperine, although it actually contains even higher levels of limonene, that ubiquitous flavor found in a wide range of citrus and herbs. This may help explain why cubeb is so popular as an ingredient in gin, where spice and citrus enjoy a happy marriage.

In the Victorian era, “medicated” cubeb cigarettes were sold as asthma treatments. Modern cigarette companies who have published their ingredients still list it as a flavor. Seventeenth-century Italian priest Ludovico Maria Sinistrari, who wrote extensively on the use of plants to perform exorcism, prescribed a brandy-based tonic flavored with cubeb, cardamom, nutmeg, birthworts, aloe, and other roots and spices to keep the demons away.

DAMIANA