Sponsored Links
Fabled Caipirinha
Caipirinha is the Brazilian national drink and cocktail. It′s used to be Brazil′s best-kept secret, but its simplicity and tangy sweetness has made it popular all over the world. The Caipirinha cocktail blends cachaca, limes, sugar and ice cubes. Now, everybody knows what are limes, sugar and ice. But I′m sure that most of us don′t know what cachaca is.
Cachaca is Brazilian liquor made from distilled sugar cane juice. It is also known as Aguardente. While rum is distilled from molasses, cachaca is distilled directly from the juice of the unrefined sugar cane. Before distillation, the juice ferments in a wood or copper container for three weeks, and is then boiled down three times to a concentrate. Cachaca is always distilled in such a way that the scent of sugar cane and inimitable flavor typical of rum are retained.
Now we all know what caipirinha is made of. Let′s start to prepare it.
Wash the lime and roll it on the board to loosen the juices. Cut the lime into pieces and place them in a glass. Sprinkle with the sugar and crush the pieces - pulp side up - with a pestle. Just enough to release the juice, otherwise it will get bitter. Add the cachaca and stir to mix. Add the ice and stir again.
If you can′t find cachaca in your country, choose good vodka instead. The drink will then be called caipiroshka. If you will use white rum instead of vodka, you will have a caipirissima. And more, a caipifruta is prepared in the same way, replacing or complementing the lime with any other fruit (always fresh, never juices). Popular fruits include passion fruit, kiwi, lemon, pineapple, and strawberry.
Here are some specific foods that you can eat with caipirinha: fried manioc, codfish balls and caldinho de feijao (soupy black beans served in a tall glass or a small bowl).
You can use cachaca to flambe bananas and other food, you cand add it to hot chocolate and even to coffee. You can used also for marinate pork loin and pork chops, etc.
Brazil, Brazil...nothing compares to this country - the beaches, the girls, its music...and not in the last its traditional Caipirinha, which is considered to be one of the 50 greatest drinks of all time.
[Author]
Alexandra Popa