At Viking, we are passionate about good food and we’re thrilled to be sponsoring the Feast Theatre at RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show from 30 June to 5 July 2015.

If you’re looking for culinary inspiration, the Feast Theatre is the place to find it. Enjoy lively cookery demonstrations and entertaining talks from the likes of James Wong, Lottie Muir, Rachel Allen and Greg Wallace. It's the place pick up tantalising recipes, foodie ideas and bring out the incredible in your edibles!

Lovely mixologist Lottie Muir talks Woodland Martini's and Chocolate Ming Juleps.

What's your top tip for growing and making your own ingredients for cocktails?

Grow something you can't buy. We use masses of chocolate mint which smells like an 'After Eight'. It's ridiculously easy to grow and goes beautifully in a Chocolate Mint Julep with some bourbon over crushed ice and a dash of chocolate bitters. A cocktail is a feast for all the senses so grow beautiful plants that have beautiful blossoms as well as fragrant leaves. For example blackcurrant sage has leaves you can use in a blackcurrant mojito as well as stunning scarlet flowers for a garnish. Have a few year round plants as well to keep some structure and shape in your flowerbeds. Staples like lavender and rosemary will provide year round flavour and scent.

Where can you forage for local herbs and edible flowers?

Cities like London are teeming with a surprising amount of green spaces and diverse habitats, from parks and commons to heaths, woodlands, gardens, car parks, railway sidings, hedgerows, roadside verges and neglected building plots. There are plenty of experienced foragers now who run guided foraging walks which is a great way of discovering the incredible array of edibles on your doorstep. It’s also really important to know what you are picking because plants can kill as well as cure you. So always make sure you go with an expert or are doubly sure you have correctly identified your bounty.

How do you think this adds to the flavour profile of your cocktails? 

Adding extremely fresh bursts of flavour from ingredients that have been picked only a few hours or minutes before they are served gives a fantastic edge to our cocktails. They are bursting with nutrients from the plants as well as flavour. If you take a plant like wild fennel or wild rocket, it really packs a punch compared to the limp alternative in a supermarket that may have been force-grown under plastic with loads of chemicals and be almost tasteless. We are also able to introduce new and exciting flavours to guests...from the divine almondy/honey notes of meadowsweet syrup, to coconut-tasting gorse blossoms and lemon and pine scented douglas fir needles. 

What's your favourite flavour combination?

I love a combination of tastes, scents and looks that can conjure up a memory, for example a walk in the woods. The Woodland Martini is one of my favourite cocktails. We infuse vodka with douglas fir needles which have a glorious lemony pine flavour and scent. We then set fire to some wild sage to literally char the leaves. These are dropped into a honey syrup to provide a smoky sweetness. Finally we add some bitterness with some dry, wild vermouth. Shop-bought dry vermouth will work just as well. A dash of lemon provides just a hint of sourness to lift the cocktail. Perfect!

Read also our interview with botanist James Wong >>