Last Saturday evening Dr B and I enjoyed two delicious aperitifs with kale juice as the main ingredient.

I love eating greens and I’m particularly a fan of kale (homemade spaghetti with kale pesto is a true ‘hug in a bowl’). Kale is such a versatile leaf and I’ve loved the recent trend for using it in cocktails.

We made a Kale Collins with kale juice, gin, soda water, agave syrup, cucumber and celery leaves poured over ice. The kale juice was made by blending a bunch of kale leaves, a little cucumber and a stick of celery with a cup of water and then passing it through a sieve to remove the unneeded fibrous parts.

It’s an incredibly refreshing tipple, surprisingly light and great for an early summer evening. We make a mocktail version the following morning simply by leaving out the gin and substituting the soda water with sparkling mineral water. It really works a treat.

We then whipped up a lovely Kale daiquiri by shaking kale juice, freshly squeezed lime, ice, white rum and ginger syrup, pouring into a coupe and garnishing with mint leaves and lime slices.

It was gorgeous. Very moreish. Too moreish in fact!