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Japanese Knotweed Cocktail anyone? It’s the plant that everyone loves to hate, but knotweed stalks actually taste pretty good and they’re completely edible. The raw shoots taste quite a bit like rhubarb, with a tart fruity flavor. That makes them perfect for a wildcrafted knotweed gin and tonic!
So why gin and tonic? Simple…it’s a drink that was originally crafted as a way to get reluctant patients to take their medicine. And knotweed, believe it or not, is showing remarkable medicinal potential. Herbalists are excited that certain compounds in Japanese knotweed may help in the treatment of lyme disease, or at least co-infections that tend to come along with lyme (source). There’s even a few peer-reviewed studies trying to come at it from a more clinical point of view (source).
So will a knotweed gin and tonic help with lyme? Maybe, maybe not. Honestly, I think it’s fun to consider, but it’s not my main goal. I just love how it tastes.
The tart rhubarb-ish flavor works really well combined with gin, and then it’s balanced nicely by a bit of sweetness in tonic.
Start by foraging a bit of knotweed from an unsprayed location. That can be a bit tricky to find, and it may be good to check with your town if you’re harvesting from a roadside or public space. If you have a patch in your back 40, that’s perfect.
Chop up the knotweed shoots and cover them with gin of your choice. I’m using Tanqueray because that happens to be my favorite. We did a blind gin taste test a few years back, and it beat out several other fancier brands according to my taste buds.
After about a week, the flavor had infused nicely. You can give it longer, a month or more, for a more pronounced flavor. When you’re ready, strain the knotweed stems out of the gin and use it to make a gin and tonic with your favorite tonic.
Though it’s not generally a straw drink, I love the idea of using a fresh knotweed section as a straw, since they work so well for that purpose.
While you may be tempted to skip the week-long infusion process and try to make a Japanese knotweed cocktail with an infused simple syrup, I’d caution you against that. Once cooked, the flavor of Japanese knotweed changes a bit and it tastes a bit more like asparagus instead of rhubarb. I love asparagus, I just don’t think it makes the best-mixed drink.
Stick with knotweed infused alcohol for best results.
Knotweed Gin and Tonic
Ingredients
- 2 ounces knotweed infused gin, see note
- 4-5 ounces tonic water
- a few ice cubes, ideally made with tonic water
Instructions
- Mix the ingredients in the glass and give it a stir.
- Garnish with fresh knotweed stalk (optional).
- Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Hi there,
I live in a small village in BC, Canada and we have a patch of knotweed that no one disturbs due to its uncanny ability to spread like wildfire. I would love to try some of your listed recipes especially since I’d say most people do not know you can eat it. However, if you disturb any part of the plant just the tiniest fragment can picked up unknowingly and transfer to where it can take hold and spread again. How do you harvest this plant without disturbing it?
Thanks,
Corinne
That’s not exactly true. While a tiny piece of it tossed raw into compost or dropped somewhere can take root, you just use what you cut and it’s fine. In this recipe, the alcohol kills the knotweed during the infusion, but still, when you strain it, toss it in the trash rather than compost just for extra caution. But in harvesting, cutting it normally is fine.
My sister and I did a taste test of all the miniature gin bottles one time when we were traveling together, and we found Tanqueray to be by far the best tasting gin of all the major brands…and Feverfew is my tonic of choice as well. Every recipe I have tried on your site here has been just up my alley. We have the same taste buds!
Thank you so much, Meredith! We’re taste bud twins!
I doused my Japanese knotweed with roundup (one treatment at the beginning of the growing season). I have since learned the beneficial uses of Japanese knotweed. Is it possible to reestablish and safely consume this edible weed?
Since I’m abundantly stuck with it, I’d certainly enjoy putting it to good use.
I personally wouldn’t consume anything sprayed with roundup for at least a few years.