Caipirinha- Brazil’s national cocktail
It may not come as much of a surprise that the World Cup involves a a lot of drinking. Check out those cutaways of the crazy fans. Just looking at their get ups and make up is proof enough the cocktails start early.
It’s time to try a Caipirinha– pronounce ki-pe-REEN-ya. The key is to get the right main ingredient, which is Cachaca, a rum made from distilled sugar cane.
If you vacation a lot in the islands, listen to Jimmy Buffet, or just like rum, you might know that most rum is made with molasses. Cachaca came to Brazil in the 16th century when the Portuguese brought over sugar cane from Madeira.
Enough with the history lesson- here is the recipe.
Put one teaspoon coarse brown sugar in bottom of a glass. Add 3-4 lime wedges and “muddle” it together. In other words “mush” it. It’s always best to have a muddling stick- if not use a fork, or other blunt object that fits in the glass.
Add crushed ice and two ounces of cachaca. The secret is the brown sugar. (Starbucks has it in packets- for the price of the coffee grab a couple extras.)
Feel free to express yourself by adding lemon or honey.
Saude! (cheers in Portuguese) pronounced: Sah-oo-jee.
Wonder if this is one of Giselle‘s favorites?
