Farm to Glass

A self-described farming herbalist, Jessyloo Rodrigues aims to rescue herbs from relegation to everybody’s grandma’s dusty spice cabinet, where dried oregano went to die in 1987. Born and raised on Aquidneck Island, she spent the last decade in Vermont honing her herbalist craft before returning to Rhode Island this past year. Once here, she set up a cluster of all-organic herb gardens within Providence city limits, and went about bringing tiny green plants with funny names into everybody’s daily lives. Over the past year, she ventured into one of the last places one might expect to find a wellness advocate: the land of booze and barflies.

“I started out as a fan,” she says. “As a farmer, I appreciate bars and restaurants that use local produce. I just began going into those kind of places in Providence as a general supporter and advocate.” Over time, she began to sense that some places had a reciprocal interest in her craft, and collaborations fell into place.

Joseph Haggard of The Grange on Providence’s West Side was an early buy-in. Rodrigues began working with him to grow herbs that he was unlikely to find anywhere else, and to produce bespoke infusions, tinctures and the like. Why settle for run-of- the-mill basil, for example, when there’s Sacred Basil, which is bright and floral with a bubblegum twist? Its fabled place in Hindu culture doesn’t hurt, either. One of the best ingredients in a well-mixed drink, after all, is a damn good story.

Of course, in some ways, trying to gain a foothold in Providence’s booze scene is an uphill battle. Herbs haven’t yet become a mainstay on bar backs, apart from a handful of forward thinking, cocktail-centric places.

Unfavorable odds don’t make Rodrigues blink, however. As she points out, not long ago the idea of knowing a farmer, pickle-maker or fishmonger on a first-name basis seemed wackadoo. Shrink-wrapped iceberg was the sole lettuce in everyone’s salads. Reaganites didn’t have to work hard to convince people that ketchup counts as a vegetable. And nowadays, we practically show up at our local farmer’s daughter’s dance recital as if it’s no big thing, and artisanal vegetables have been mainstreamed to the point that even fast food joints are hawking them. So maybe, just maybe, it’s herbalism’s turn. Even at the bar.

To that end, Rodrigues takes what she calls her “traveling medicine show” to bars around town, fostering conversations about how herbs make for better drinking. And “better” in her view is a twofold thing: not only can herbs enhance drinks and diversify what a bar o!ers, but they can also improve a drinker’s wellness.

Seem too new age-y? Not when you consider that the classic, herb-based liqueurs and bitters – which form the foundation of cocktails – were intended to line  medicine shelves, not bar shelves. Apothecarists were very fond of hooch as a delivery system.

I ask Jessyloo about herbs for early spring cocktails. What will the season offer, and what will our bodies want? “Spring is about rejuvenation,” she offers, “and cleaning out the system.” She recommends dandelion as a detoxifying agent, and rattles off ways to make a cocktail with it. “I’m sold,” I tell her. Detoxifying while I toxify is my kind of multitasking. Learn more here.