The “juice of a few flowers” is a cocktail created by Gerald Murphy (of Mark Cross, half of the Gerald and Sara who inspired Fitzgerald’s Nicole and Dick Diver in Tender is the Night). He would mix various freshly-squeezed fruit juices together with gin. When asked by his guests what the cocktail was called, he would simply reply, “just the juice of a few flowers.” Ina Garten records this recipe in her book, Barefoot Contessa’s Back to Basics; though she uses vodka in her recipe, I prefer the original gin.

(recipe from Barefoot Contessa’s Back to Basics Cookbook)

Makes 4 drinks

• ½ cup freshly squeezed orange juice (2 oranges)
• ½ cup freshly squeezed pink grapefruit juice (1 grapefruit)
• ¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (1 lemon)
• ¼ cup freshly squeezed lime juice (2 limes)
• 1 cup good vodka (Grey Goose or Ketel One) or 1 cup good gin (I use Bombay Sapphire)
• Extra lemon juice
• Granulated sugar
• Fresh mint sprigs

Combine the orange juice, grapefruit juice, lemon juice, lime juice, and vodka in a pitcher. Dip the rim of 6 martini glasses first in a dish with lemon juice and then a dish with sugar. Set aside to dry.

When ready to serve, place ice cubes in a cocktail shaker, add the cocktail mixture to fill the shaker three-quarters full, and shake for about 30 seconds. It’s important to shake for a full 30 seconds to get the drink very cold and dilute it slightly with the ice. Pour into the sugared martini glasses and garnish with a sprig of mint. Continue filling the shaker with ice and cocktail mixture until all the drinks are poured. Serve ice cold.