The Olive is the fruit of the olive tree – a common species in Italy, Greece and other countries along the Mediterranean Sea. This is a small oval fruit, green when unripe and black when ripe, used for food and for oil. It’s a main component of the so called agriculture but also the gastronomy along the Mediterranean; in Europe, North Africa and also the Middle East. And now we can see the role olives play, by tracking the history of olives in martini.
Martini is made by mixing unequal portions of gin and dry vermouth. The ingredients are mixed in a ratio of somewhere between 2:1 and 15:1. The drink is served chilled, garnished with either a green olive or a lemon twist. Nowadays this is one of the most famous cocktails in the world. This cocktail is associated with nightlife and going out with friends. There are many variations such as Dirty Martini, Chocolate Martini, Gibson Martini etc.
Eggnog is quite a popular drink in the U.S and Canada and it’s usually associated with winter celebrations such as Christmas and New Year.People enjoy it at parties and make it with beaten eggs, milk, sugar and different alcoholic beverages like rum, whiskey, etc. But it seems that martini lovers were not satisfied enough and invented the Eggnog Martini, which is not traditional, but it’s a very tasty beverage for the winter holidays. Eggnog Martini is rather sweet than salty like the original one.
The history of olives in martini is very interesting and quite mystic. During the 19th century, and its second half in particular, cocktails used to be garnished with a cherry, but instead of it, people decided to prepare the cocktails with olives, mainly because of their saltiness. Nowadays Martini with a cherry garnish is very rare and could be said that it doesn’t even exist.
Before considering the history of olives in martini, we need to comprehend why it has got this name- a cocktail. There are lots of different stories, but no one knows the right answer to our question. Some people think it’s because of the different ingredients of the drink, which symbolize the variety of colors in the beautiful bird tail. Others think that cocktails got their name, because they were originally morning drinks and people connected them with the birds, which were also a symbol of the morn.
You can often see or hear about the martini in movies and books.The famous fiction character James Bond likes his Martini “shaken, not stirred”. World-famous highly placed officials, among which, Ernest Hemingway, Winston Churchill, Truman Capote and even the president of U.S- Roosevelt enjoyed drinking Martini.
We do not know how people started to make this cocktail, but we know it’s delightful! Although there are various recipes for it, the standard Martini contains mainly gin and dry vermouth. The recipes, which are supposed to be among the first Martini preparation instructions, don’t have anything to do with the one that exists nowadays. The most common garnish is the olive, but in some cases lemon twist or cocktail onions are also used to decorate the beverage.
There are many different kinds of Martini, as well as different ways of preparing and drinking it. Undoubtedly, it is one of the most elegant cocktails. So whatever your cocktail is garnished with, you should know that martini will always be stylish.
Martini recipes are great, especially when they are fruiting and exotic. Check out the Martin Guide for an awesome recipe for the dry martini as well as a large selection any martini recipe you seek.