Strawberry Caipirinha

This is one of those cocktails that’s perfect for a hot summer day. It’s sweet, icy cold, fresh and fruity and with weather in the nineties here in Plant City and around the country, now’s the perfect time to give it a try. And considering it’s the official cocktail of the fifth largest country in the world, it must be pretty darn good!

The Strawberry Caipirinha definitely wins the award for most difficult recipe title to pronounce on this site. It’s pronounced kie-purr-REEN-yah and translates to something close to “country bumpkin.” Rumor has it that it started out as a modification to a common treatment for the Spanish Flu in the early 1900s.

This recipe calls for a liquor called cachaça, pronounced kuh-sha-suh, which is sometimes called Brazilian Rum. However, unlike rum, which is typically made using molasses, cachaça is made from sugarcane. And while rum is an aged spirit, cachaça does not require aging. Every year around 1.5 billion liters of cachaça are produced in Brazil with about only 1% ever being exported. Brazilians individually consume around two to three gallons of the stuff each year!

Florida Strawberry Caipirinha

• 1/2 cup sliced fresh Florida strawberries
• 1/2 lime sliced
• 2 1/2 teaspoons superfine sugar
• 1/4 cup cachaça (or white rum)
• 1 cup ice

In an old fashioned glass, muddle sliced strawberries and lime with sugar until juices are released, leaving some pieces of fruit intact.

Add cachaça and stir to combine. Fill glass with ice, stirring to chill. Garnish with more strawberry and lime slices and enjoy!

Notes: Since there is no mixer in this cocktail, using a high quality cachaça is  important to ensure a delicious and smooth cocktail. Here are a few solid choices to start out your cachaça experience. You can find a list of the top twenty cachaça brands and an extensive history on the spirit here.

Boazinha Cachaça, Cachaça 51, Pitu Cachaça and Leblon Cachaça.

If you choose to use white rum instead of cachaça be sure to add a little more sugar to taste since rum isn’t as sweet at cachaça. Puerto Rican rums are normally a better substitute for cachaça since they are both made with a sugarcane bas. If you’d like an alcohol-free version of this cocktail, switch the cachaça out with a citrus soda like 7-UP or Sprite and skip the sugar.