A London Design Studio Will Teach You to Get Drunk on Your Own Tears

This holiday season, turn bitter tears into delicious bitters. London culinary design studio Bompas and Parr (they specialize in fancy jelly) is hosting an upcoming workshop where participants will create alcoholic bitters out of their own pasteurized tears. 

At the December 15 workshop, there will be several available tear-inducers, from the menthol sticks used by actors to a special corner where you can go and think your saddest thoughts. The aim is to collect all three of the types of tears: psych (emotional tears), basal (the kind that keep your eye wet on a daily basis), and reflexive (like from chopping onions). Then, participants will add spirits, spices, and herbs to create a tear-infused tincture. The workshop also includes a lesson on how to make memento mori jewelry from your hair, in case one kind of bodily souvenir was not enough. 

Tear bottles have an ancient history, one that dates back to Biblical times. In ancient Greece and Rome, bodies were buried with lachrymatories, small terra cotta vessels whose name derives from the Latin word for tear. Whether these tear vials were actually filled with tears shed in mourning is debated, however. They might have contained medicine or oils.

Nevertheless, the idea of bottling up your emotions—and then drowning them in a delicious cocktail—is a tempting proposition.  

Next week’s event is sold out, but check back here for additional sessions. 

[h/t: Vice]