If you’ve ever made a proper Mai Tai, you’ve found yourself in the situation of either buying or making orgeat. The syrup — traditionally made with almonds, sugar, and orange flower water — is a staple in tropical drinks culture. It provides a creamy texture and nutty flavor that pairs beautifully with rum, lime juice, and myriad spices.
The downside of orgeat is that, unless you’re running a bar program, you’re probably not using an entire batch of the stuff at once. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Orgeat can be a secret weapon, a way to elevate typically orgeat-less drinks, and even an addition to non-alc beverages and baked goods. To discover how to seize orgeat’s full potential, we consulted with Stefan Was, owner of Cleveland’s Porco Lounge & Tiki Room.
Play With Other Cocktail Templates
For any hobbyist, the home bartending journey tends to begin with recreating classics. Once acquainted with those specs and learning why they work, the next step for most is the tinkering phase. Just like when cooking a dish, there are no strict rules preventing bartenders from incorporating ingredients into drinks that don’t necessarily require them.
“Take a look at any recipe that calls for simple syrup, and ask yourself, ‘How would this benefit from almonds or nuttiness?’” Was says. “Take a Daiquiri. Instead of using simple, try some orgeat in it.” Just like simple syrup, orgeat can be cross-utilized as a sweetener in otherwise orgeat-less drinks. The most important thing to consider is whether or not orgeat’s nutty flavor and creamy texture will tango well with the other components at play.
“Coconuts and almonds go great together,” Was says. “If you’ve got a Painkiller, it’s gonna be a crazy-sweet cocktail anyway, but you’re gonna be garnishing it with cinnamon and nutmeg. Add almonds, and you’ve got a cake right there.”
Despite orgeat’s established place in tiki culture, Was points out that orgeat doesn’t have to be restricted to rum-based cocktails. Consider Jerry Thomas’s Japanese Cocktail, which employs a base of brandy. If you’re a whiskey drinker, put that orgeat to use in Joe Scialom’s Roman Twist cocktail, which calls for bourbon, orange, lemon, orgeat, and coffee. Better yet, take any cocktail recipe that uses amaretto and swap in orgeat instead. “It’s a great sub for amaretto,” Was says. “Just mind balancing the orgeat’s inherent sweetness when taking it into consideration.”
Make a Falernum
Like orgeat, falernum is another crucial ingredient for building tropical drinks. It’s a liqueur made from white rum, ginger, limes, clove, star anise, and — wait for it — almonds. While falernum isn’t traditionally made with orgeat in its build, one can easily swap almonds for orgeat to make a homemade batch. Plus, it’s simply a great way to be resourceful with that orgeat before it starts to turn — Was says orgeat’s flavors start to die out after roughly two weeks.
Was recommends steeping cloves, star anise, lime zest, and fresh ginger in Jamaican overproof white rum such as Wray & Nephew, and then straining out the solids. “We’ll make a batch of that concentrate, and it’s 100 percent shelf stable once it’s strained,” he says. “When we want to make a batch of falernum, that’s when we incorporate orgeat and fresh lime juice. It keeps for about two weeks.”
Get Baking
Orgeat has plenty of uses beyond the cocktail realm. Essentially anything that incorporates an almond flavor, be it a sweetened Starbucks coffee or a baked good, can benefit from a bump of orgeat.
“Just think of it as a stand-alone sugar syrup with a unique, nutty flavor,” Was says. “If a recipe calls for added sweetness, give it a try and you may be surprised.”
The only caveat is when it comes to baking, one must be mindful of the fact that orgeat is a liquid component. It can function beautifully as an almond extract substitute, but given that baking is such an exact science, it can be a tricky swap.
“If you’re baking something that calls for nuts, a liquid like milk, water, or egg, and sugar, you’re substituting all three of those things when you’re adding orgeat,” Was says. “You’re going to have to adjust the other components at play to make sure whatever you’re making is going to bake properly.”
Make Small Batches
There are many ways to apply the “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade” mindset to stretching out a batch of orgeat. That said, any recipe can be scaled down.
“People think they have to break out a stock pot and buy 10 pounds of almonds when you can literally do all of this in a saucepan,” Was says. “If you keep a package of almonds in your pantry, you could make a small batch on the fly. Just as with the citrus and juices used in the cocktails, it will always be better and brighter the fresher it is.”
*Image retrieved from alfredoravanetti via stock.adobe.com
