Ugly Tomatoes: A savoury beauty with Hapusa Himalayan Gin
Ugly Tomatoes, a cocktail that celebrates imperfections of ugly fruit - and the epitome of “shape doesn’t matter”. But first, what is an ugly fruit?
Our obsession with beauty in the modern world extends to the food that we pick and consume. It’s a subconscious behaviour of many, as we instinctively reach out for the prettiest fruits and vegetables when we visit the supermarket. Also hidden from consumers are the high cosmetic standards of supermarkets and grocery stores worldwide. Behind the scenes, each misshapen, discoloured, or slightly blemished fruit is rejected and left unsold - not even making it to the shelves while remaining perfectly edible, nutritious and delicious on the inside.
This behaviour is not without consequences, as we see a sharp rise in global food wastage from simply discarding “ugly” fruits and vegetables. And beyond that lies a multitude of environmental problems, including the increase of carbon footprint and the threat to biodiversity.
As we start to understand the impact that it has on the environment, sustainability in bars has become an increasingly important consideration for both bar owners and patrons alike. Tackling the issue as a high volume bar, the implementation of conventional ideas of sustainability would pose great difficulty, as recycling and upcycling leftover ingredients or using farm-to-glass ingredients has its own operational challenges. Without a one-size-fits-all approach, we looked towards a sustainability methodology with a desire to take concrete, measurable steps and make a real impact.
Enter a producer next door, located in Genting Highlands in neighbouring Malaysia which supplies high quality heirloom tomatoes to establishments around Malaysia and Singapore. When we discovered that many of Genting Farm’s heirloom beefsteak tomatoes often go to waste due to their imperfect looks - such as size specifications, slight scuffs and irregular body - the cocktail now known as Ugly Tomatoes took a life of its own.
Ugly Tomatoes: Hapusa Gin, ugly tomatoes, kummel, Seedlip Spice
The opportunity not only gave us a way to reduce carbon footprint since the fruits were trucked in instead of air freighted, but it also meant that we could assist in their biodiversity efforts in encouraging the planting of a variety of fruits and vegetables. To tie the effort together, we sought out an Asian gin with unique characteristics that would complement the full, savoury notes of the beefsteak tomato.
We found it in Hapusa Gin, which sources entirely within India for their distillation, including the rare Himalayan juniper berry. The gin sings with the appeal of mango, Gondhoraj lime, ginger and spices, while the backbone of the cocktail is built on kummel which contains caraway seeds, cumin, and fennel - traditional bedfellows in tomato dishes.
A luscious blend of juicy, lush tomato and melding spices, lovers of savoury cocktails will delight in Ugly Tomatoes, a cocktail with the perfect contrast of salty and sour. And what other way to deliver the message that shape doesn’t matter? We picked the Kimura Crumple glass for its wavy silhouette, giving it that dishevelled, throwaway look, much like the ugly fruit we are spotlighting here.