CAIPIRINHA, THE ESSENCE OF BRAZIL

Pablo Giudice tells RABAT readers about his version of the famous cocktail that he serves up at the SUBESTADA RESTAURANT in Madrid.

Although caipirinha can be found in all the world's best bars today, its origins are humble. It is made from garapa, the unfermented juice of pressed sugar cane, boiled to kill off bacteria, which was drunk by slaves in Brazil in the 19th Century. During certain fiestas and rituals, garapa was mixed with the popular cachaça, a spirit also made from sugar cane, along with fruit juices and spices. This was the origin of batidas, which are found everywhere in Brazil. One of these, the batida de limão, which contains chunks of lime with their peel still on, can be seen as the forerunner to caipirinha, which finaliy took off when ice became commonplace, a wonderful contribution of the industriai revolution to the world of cocktails. Where would our favourite tipples be without these simple little refreshing cubes?

Like every other country in the Americas, Brazil is a young nation, and it didn't think twice about embracing the caipirinha as the symbol of its identity, since this cocktail represents all the elements that went into forging its history - slavery, its enduring rural background, rapid industrial development... and irrepressible happiness!

The drink's name is a combination of two terms: "caipira", which is the name of the peasants who lived in the forest regions of north east Brazil, and "curupira", which is the name of a mythical demon said to inhabit the jungle in these regions, which has the diminutive name "curupirinha", a word also used to describe the state of drunkenness.

Whether or not demonic possession had anything to do with it, caipirinha became so popular in the first decades of the 20th Century that the Brazilian authorities even recommended it as a remedy for fever during the flu epidemie that ravaged the country in 1918.

Since then, caipirinha has not only become Brazil's trademark but has also spawned a range of variants, such as the caipiroshka (which substitutes the cachaça for vodka) and caipifruta, which incorporates ali sorts of crushed fruits: pineapple, kiwi, bananas, etc.

In Madrid, you won't find the most famous caipirinha in a specifically Brazilian restaurant, but in a to Asian cuisine: SUDESTADA. Here, Argentineans Pablo Giudice and Estanis Carenzo have perfected the traditional recipe by adding panela, solid cane sugar, and using organic cachaça (Abelha Gold) to create a delicious and utterly addictive potion. Some of the restaurant's clientele do without wine, beer or other drinks to accompany their nems, dim sum and curries, preferring to down one caipirinha after another until they attain a state of nirvana.

Anyone who still isn't convinced should try this recipe.

RECIPE

Equipments

Pestle and mortar
Spatula or teaspoon

Ingredients

Freshly crushed ice
1/2 a juicy, ripe, thin-skinned Brazilian lime.
1 1/2 spoons  of organic cane sugar
5 cl of Abelha Gold organic cachaça
5 juicy pomegranate seeds.

Preparation

Cut off the top and bottom of the lime, cut lengthways and widthways into between 6 and 8 segments. Place them in the bottom of the glass.
Add the sugar and gently crush the lime to squeeze out the juice, which will dissolve most of the sugar.
Fill the glass with ice and then add the cachaça.
Stir the mixture gently but continuously "until your hand gets tired'"
Use two spoons to gently squeeze the seeds and place them on the drink.

Advise

Add a straw and enjoy at your leisure.

By Federico Oldenburg in "Rabat Magazine" n. 26, Winter 2013, Barcelona, Spain. Typed, adapted and illustrated to be posted by Leopoldo Costa.

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