Local Vendor Profile – RED ROOT & CO.

Hi, there! I’m Corey. I started Red Root & Co to create herbal goods that support mind and body, bringing botanical goodness to our community through foods, beverages and herbal remedies. Since I was a small child, I’ve been drawn to preparing kitchen goods for loved ones. As an adult, my love for plants and the natural world grew. The confluence of my background in sociology, permaculture, and herbalism, inspired the creation of Red Root & Co, a place to craft botanical goods with great care and thoughtfulness for both the environment and social world. I’m excited and encouraged as we continually refine our herbal craft processes and explore new ways to incorporate more regionally grown produce, flowers, and herbs with wild harvested botanicals.

Bring more botanical goodness into your holiday season this year. Locally crafted in Harrisonburg, Red Root & Co make herbal goods that are perfect for holiday meals and beverages, while their health tonics make trusty travel companions.

Oxymel is a sweet and sour herbal preparation: raw apple cider vinegar with a touch of raw honey infused with fruits, vegetables and herbs. Oxymel can be used as culinary vinegar. Add to foods, as a way to enhance assimilation of food nutrients, bringing both lovely plant flavors and additional health benefits. Experiment with Oxymel, add a bit to your daily water intake, top your roasted and sautéed veggies with a sprinkle, and dash it into rice dishes, soups and stews.

Try Oven Baked Pears with Allspice or Persimmon Cranberry Sauce as tasty side dishes for upcoming holiday meals (recipes below).

Shrubs are drinking vinegars crafted with whole botanicals, raw organic apple cider vinegar and raw honey. Red Root & Co Shrubs offers lively alternatives for tasty drinks that bring plant goodness to your cup. Mixed with quality spirits they lend themselves to topnotch flavor pairings and crafty mocktails benefit from fruity and herbaceous flavors of the botanical world. Pear Maple Cardamom Cider, made with or without spirits, is a festive brew for get-togethers.

Bitters add desirable dimensions to food and drink and have numerous health effects on the body.  Red Root & Co crafts their Bitters in herbal tradition, meaning whole plant material is infused in alcohol, creating a tincture. Tinctures are formulated to create their Bitters recipes. Not only do flavors from the botanicals impart to the Bitters, but the medicinal properties are transmuted as well. Bitters blend easily in this light and elegant beverage, Sparkling Rose Lemonade.

Elderberry Syrup enhances immune function while high flavonoid qualities make it anti-inflammatory; the Red Root & Co. mild formula is pleasing to most every palate. Packed full of sunshine and antioxidants with ingredients of Calendula, Turmeric, and Black Pepper, their Turmeric Tonic supports anti-inflammatory action in the body and aids joint health. Berries & Shrooms Immune Tonic has a berry-tart flavor with deep immune sustenance from the fungi and herbal world, building resilience and giving day-to-day support. Fire Cider is a traditional folk remedy for staving off ailments such as cold and flu. Try taking this potent brew for respiratory congestion, use as a gargle for an irritated throat and vitalize your digestive and circulatory system.

Whether making festive meals and beverages, staying healthy during the holiday season or planning gift-giving, Red Root & Co products offer botanical goodness and flavor handcrafted in Harrisonburg.

 

Persimmon Cranberry Sauce

3 ½ c fresh or frozen cranberries
¼ c dry red wine
2 TBS water
½  TBS RR&Co Cranberry & Spice Oxymel
Pinch of sea salt
½ star anise
½ to ⅔ c honey or sugar
3 ripe, but firm, Fuyu persimmon, peeled and cut into ¼ inch dice

Bring cranberries, wine, water, RR&Co Cranberry & Spice Oxymel, star anise, honey, and a pinch of salt to a boil in a 2-quart heavy saucepan. Stir, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Add more sweetener, as needed and discard star anise. Fold in persimmons. Place sauce in a bowl and serve at room temperature or chilled. Recipe adapted from epicurious.com.

 

Pear Maple Cardamom Bourbon Cider

½ ounce RR&Co Pear Maple Cardamom Shrub
2 oz ginger beer
4 oz dry hard cider
1 oz bourbon
Fresh rosemary sprig

Measure bourbon and RR&Co Pear Maple Cardamom Shrub into a rocks glass. Add ice, as desired. Pour hard cider and ginger beer into glass. Blend drink with rosemary sprig (important to impart the essence of rosemary in drink). Leave rosemary in the drink for both flavor and garnish. *For a sans spirit option, try substituting sparkling apple cider for hard cider and lemon sparkling water for the bourbon.

 

Oven Baked Pears with Allspice

3 Pears, peeled, halved and cored
1 TBS RR&Co Cranberry & Spice Oxymel
1 ¾ TBS Maple Syrup
1 TBS Butter, melted
¼ tsp ground Allspice
Pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Arrange pears cut side up in an 8 inch glass baking dish. Whisk together RR&Co Cranberry & Spice Oxymel and maple syrup. Sprinkle in a pinch of salt and whisk in butter until blended. Pour sauce over pears (filling cored area with sauce). Sprinkle pears with allspice. Bake until the pears are tender and beginning to brown, basting occasionally with pan juices. Bake for about 35 minutes.

 

Sparkling Rose Lemonade

Spoonful of rose sugar, plus extra for glass rim
Juice of large lemon
7 drops of RR&Co Damiana Rose Bitters
Bottle of Topo Chico

Place a spoonful of rose sugar and juice of lemon in shaker and muddle. Mix in RR&Co Damiana Rose Bitters. Add ice and top with Topo Chico. Moisten rim of rocks glass with lemon wedge and evenly dip the rim into rose sugar. Fill rocks glass with ice. Strain shaker mixture into rocks glass.