To make creative Canadian cocktails, try foraging for these common wild ingredients

Want to take your backwoods cocktail bar up a notch? Try adding foraged ingredients to your spirit of choice to make homemade infusions. Not only do wild edibles add delicious flavours, they can also provide medicinal benefits and improve the taste of cheaper brands. Here’s how to start making your own infusions…

FORAGING

If you’re new to foraging, your first step is to pick up a good guidebook to help you properly identify edible wild ingredients (Edible Wild Plants from Peterson Field Guides is a good choice). Start with ingredients you’re familiar with, such as raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, wild grapes or wild cherries; avoid anything you can’t confidently identify. Wild juniper, sumac, highbush cranberries and needles from spruce and fir trees also make great ingredients.