A Forager's Floridian Bounty

People in other parts of the country will think about Florida as a summery sort of place: a vacation state with sunshine and beaches year-round. People who live here know that the real Florida season is called “the season” and we’re in the height of it right now, from mid-October to mid-December. It’s the time of year when the storms subside, the humidity lifts just a little, when we plant tomatoes and go swimming, when the sweat subsides and it feels safe to enjoy just a bit of that natural splendor that supposedly attracts all these newcomers to up stakes and move here. It’s nice outside.

Drinking is usually thought of as an indoor activity, or at least a poolside activity – there are literally laws against doing it outside on the streets. But anglers and yachties alike know the joys of an ice-cold something coming out of the cooler under the open sky. This is how the Miami pioneers did it on land, too, back in the day when Homestead had not yet been homesteaded. And for a not-entirely-domesticated Biscayne tippler, there are still plenty of wild spaces here in the Biscayne Corridor that can be bountiful sources of refreshing beverages … if you know how to look, and what to do with what you find.

Here’s a brief guide to get you started down the unmarked path of a Miami cocktail forager.

YAUPON HOLLY: ILEX VOMITORIA

“Black drink” is not the way most menu planners would start a cocktail selection, but the name is, as the hard rockers say, Metal. And Miami has never held back from embracing the hairier side of the Florida lifestyle.

Black drink is where the plant known as “yaupon holly” got its decidedly unappetizing scientific name, but that isn’t really the plant’s fault – it’s because human beings used to consume so much of it, they’d get wired, throw up, and fall down. It was a traditional beverage made by the Timucuans, the first Floridians, who apparently served it as a welcoming ritual, which often escalated into a contest to see who could put the most of it away. The Miccosukee and Seminoles picked up the brew’s recipe after them, if not the tendency to go overboard with it. The kick came from caffeine, and tea made from yaupon holly was prized as a regular pick-me-up by the first European settlers here.

Today, yaupon holly and its close cousin dahoon holly are common landscape trees with dark green leaves and bright red berries.

INFUSION: “BLACK DRINK” GIN OR VODKA

A faintly herbal drink with more caffeine than black tea, this is not really the ultra-strong “black drink” once served by the Timucuans. It does have the same flavor from the same plant, though, and makes for more pleasant sipping.

2 Tbsp yaupon holly leaves, dried

2 cups gin or vodka (Can increase in same proportion as needed)

Roast dried leaves in a skillet over low heat until fragrant. (If you’ve ever roasted matcha, it’s the same process). Infuse in spirit for 2–3 days on countertop or in fridge. Strain. If you like, sweeten with a little honey to taste.

SLASH PINE: PINUS ELLIOTTII

Evergreens have long been prized by distillers. What makes gin gin is juniper berries. During Prohibition, bartenders in Coral Gables reportedly used wax myrtle (Myrica cerifera, formerly Morella cerifera) to flavor homemade gin while the real stuff was off limits.

But even further back, Florida pioneers relied on slash pines for vitamin C and as an easy way to make numerous refreshing drinks, some less alcoholic than others. The white base of a newly grown needle is where you’ll find most of the vitamins … and the tangy, citrus-like flavor.

INFUSION: PINE‑TIP RUM

If this drink seems reminiscent of Greek mastica, it’s because they’re both flavored with pine. This one, though, has more tart vitamin C and works beautifully in mojitos or with tonic.

1 loosely packed cup young pine tips

2 cups light rum

1 tsp honey per cup (optional, for sweetness)

Pick new tips from slash pine or jack pine, remove bark and rinse away any debris or unwanted passengers. Steep 1–2  weeks, strain and serve.

FERMENT: PINE SODA

This is an unlikely Tik Tok craze that relies on natural yeasts from pine needles. (You can also find wild yeasts on pineapple skins and, conveniently, unsterilized grapes.) It’s surprisingly refreshing, and essentially non-alcoholic. Make sure you’re using real slash or jack pines and not invasive “Australian pines,” which are not actually pine trees at all.

1 cup young pine needles or tips

¾ cup sugar

1 quart non‑chlorinated water (or just let tap water sit in pitcher for two days)

Optional: 4 or 5 raisins

Optional: 1 lemon, sliced thin

Rinse the pine tips without scrubbing them. Mix sugar with water in a jar until dissolved. Add pine tips, lemon, and raisins if wanted (they encourage fermentation and indicate when the soda is bubbly). Let sit at room temperature out of the sunlight for 1-4 days. When the raisins have sunk and then begin floating again, the brew should be fizzy (alternately, you can just start tasting after the second day). When it’s ready, strain out solids, pour into smaller bottles with tight caps (Grolsch beer bottles are great for this), and refrigerate for 1-2 days to encourage carbonation. Note: furiously fermenting bottles may need “burping” to avoid popping their tops! Serve cold. There may be sediment at the bottom of the bottles; that’s natural yeast, and nothing to worry about. If it starts to smell like sulfur, though, it’s best to chuck the batch; you’ve got one of the less tasty wild yeasts taking advantage.

BEAUTYBERRY: CALLICARPA AMERICANA

Like the wild Florida elderberry (Sambucus canadensis, as mentioned in September’s column on St-Germain), beautyberry was a native berry prized by early Floridians. Today, it’s mostly grown as an ornamental for its striking clusters of small, light-purple berries that are the color of lavender. Birds love them, squirrels feast on them, but for humans, they’re not particularly juicy and the seeds can be somewhat bitter for eating straight off the bush. Prepared, though, is a different story. Jams, jellies, and syrups bearing the floral flavor and lilac color of beautyberry were widely enjoyed 200 years ago.

INFUSION: BEAUTYBERRY LIQUEUR

This recipe creates a vivid pink‑purple cordial akin to crème de cassis, with a delicate rose flavor not unlike Turkish delight. In the 1930s, botanist John Kunkel Small wrote of South Floridians enjoying a “native cordial from ‘Callicarpa’ berries, very sweet, almost purple as ink, of mild potency.”

2 cups ripe beautyberries

2 cups vodka or white rum

½–¾ cup sugar syrup (to taste)

Zest of ½ lemon

Remove stems and lightly crush ripe, light-purple berries. Combine with spirit and lemon zest in a jar. Steep in a dark place for two weeks, shaking every few days.

Strain through cheesecloth and sweeten with sugar syrup. Age another week before serving.

MUSCADINE GRAPES VITIS ROTUNDIFOLIA OR V. MUNSONIANA

One of the first plants the Spaniards noticed when they landed here was wild grapevines, a joyous sight for people who knew and loved wine. The grapes here are smaller and more astringent than European domestic grapes (Vitis vinifera) but they can be just as delicious and, as some Floridia wineries might attest, are much less finicky to grow – making them useful for creating commercial hybrids.

The original wild varieties are still common enough that some gardeners (gasp!) treat them as weeds. You’ll also find them growing in the pine uplands surrounding the Everglades, twining around trees like the saw palmetto (Serenoa repens). (That plant itself bears smaller, darker berries that doctors use to create prostate medicines and Florida crackers once used to create cocktail bitters, as memorialized in Marjorie Kinnan Rawling’s “The Yearling.”)

FERMENT: MUSCADINE WINE

Muscadine wine is a more elaborate affair than the above simple recipes, but the work does yield rewards, which is why wines like these were so popular on early Florida homesteads. You can also use this recipe with elderberries for different, but equally delicious, results. By the time you’ve made your first muscadine wine, you can take pride in knowing you’re more than a few steps down that trail that starts with field-foraged drinks and ends … well, right here in Miami.

4 lb wild muscadine grapes or elderberries

3 lb sugar

1 gallon non-chlorinated water

1 packet wine yeast (or a yeasty starter) (Note: you should always use the whole 5-gram packet, whether making one gallon or five; a packet is the minimum to start a healthy yeast colony.)

Sanitize a large bucket, rinse well, mash fruit in it (barefoot stomping optional). Add sugar and water, sprinkle with yeast, cover loosely. It will produce CO2.

Ferment 7–10 days, strain out solids, and transfer to a fermentation jug with airlock (this can be home-improvised with plastic cups, just look on YouTube).

Finish fermenting for approximately 4 weeks, siphon off, and bottle. Age several months.

A FEAST FOR FORAGERS

For most of these places, you should call and ask about foraging; some hold classes and some offer permits to pick what you’ll use.

Crandon Park/Bear Cut Preserve

6747 Crandon Blvd.

Key Biscayne

305-361‑5421

Amelia Earhart Park

401 E 65th St.

Hialeah

305-685‑8389

Deering Estate

16701 SW 72nd Ave.

Miami

305-235‑1668

Matheson Hammock

9610 Old Cutler Rd.

Coral Gables

305-665‑5475

Oleta River State Park

3400 NE 163rd St.

North Miami Beach

305-919‑1846

A.D. “Doug” Barnes Park & Nature Center

3401 SW 72nd Ave.

Miami

305-666‑5883

Fruit & Spice Park

(Foraging classes)

24801 SW 187th Ave

Homestead

305-247‑5727

You can also call the Miami‑Dade County Parks, Recreation & Open Spaces Department about guided foraging walks: 305-755‑7800

Or follow Dean Greene at eattheweeds.com for classes held weekly at parks across Florida.

Grant Balfour is a Miami Beach native, writer, editor, traveler, musician, bon vivant and our official Biscayne Tippler.