Or, welcome to the party!


A doll in traditional Polish costume.

If you've been hiding under a rock or lost in the desert and don't know, this weekend is the celebration of two years of Weekend Herb Blogging run by the excellent Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen. Because I think there will be plenty of party food, the drinks are on me. Or should I say, my beautiful Polish friend and me. Now you might be wondering how a bottle of spirits is relevant to WHB. Well, this particular bottle easily qualifies as an entrant.

If I turn the bottle sideways, like this, you can see a blade of grass inside.





You see this is no ordinary vodka, this is zubrowka, which translates to bison grass vodka and is very highly regarded in Poland. Bison are in fact native to Poland as they were in most of Europe before being wiped out over the centuries. The last herd was in the legendary Bialowieza forest, now a national park, and the last survivors of the once great herds were killed and eaten for meat just after the end of the First World War by starving villagers. However a scheme to revive them has seen the establishment of some new herds in several countries, from bison that were kept in zoos.

European bison or wisent as they're known in Poland are distantly related to American bison and are different in that they are forest dwellers, rather than roaming the open prairie. Their food of choice is bison grass, Hierochloe odorata, which is also used to flavour vodka and gives a mellow, herbaceous character along with a yellowish tinge. This grass contains coumarin, a compound that was banned in the USA, so the distillers came up with a way to retain the character of the grass but without this compound.

It is said that zubrowka makes men virile, but I think we can ignore that old chestnut and enjoy it just for itself. It can be drunk neat, icy cold, or, it can be mixed, apple juice is reputed to be good. It also make a wonderful martini, mixed with a splash of vermouth, which enhances the herb flavour without overwhelming it.



Here the vodka is served ice cold with a zakaski of marinated mushrooms. Zakaski is the Polish word for tapas or meze and this particular one goes extremely well with vodka. So we say Sto Lat (Happy Birthday) and raise our glasses for a traditional Polish toast - Na Zdrowie Kalyn!

A Kalyn's Kitchen fact: When I first started out entering WHB and reading Kalyn in general, I never spelled her name right, even in the link I gave her. I'm surprised to this day that the school teacher in her didn't give me a well deserved smack across the knuckles!