Our Guest:
Kat is a former clinical herbalist, who lived in a permaculture community for almost a decade. She loves to “yarden” with medicinal herbs, ‘weeds’, berries, and fruit trees at home, where she forages for her creations for delicious mocktails and cocktails focusing on local, organic, and sustainable.
Her non-alcoholic aperitif inspired bitters are blended with the elements of herbalism in mind, and continue an historical tradition of both shrubs and bitters, as a way to preserve the bounty of the season. She loves offering both mocktail and cocktail options and finds that many customers are excited about mocktails these days. 12 Bones Brewing recently collaborated with her for an “on-tap mocktail” for “Dry January.” Her brand, SAVOR, is about dropping in and savoring the moment with a tasty beverage, that is crafted from years of focus on “food as medicine” as an herbalist.
Listen in and learn:
- Meeting Ralph Kessleberg and learning a lot about herbs and herbalism
- Marrying an herbalist and starting an herbal school
- Getting to know her herbal community
- Being inspired by her grandfather and having a personal relationship with plants
- What an aperitif is, some traditional recipes, and what it is used for
- Shrubs and bitters and the Savor Shrub inception
- Ways to mix the shrubs
- The Shrub Bitters flavors currently offered:
- Blueberry Lemon Lavender
- Tart Cherry Pie
- Orange Mango Spice
- Lemon Spruce
- Peach Hibiscus Rose (mentioned later)
- Harvesting ingredients
- The wonderful dandelion
- Non-alcoholic aspect and benefits
- Probiotics in the products
- How to get a flight – SavorShrub.com – and in Asheville farmers markets, as well in some NC stores
- Learning from a failure
- Her greatest success – her son
- Her big why is her family, her love of plants is her big passion
“Don’t fight the weeds, embrace them!”
Book Recommendations:
How to contact Kat:
UrbanFarm.org/SavorShrub
