Mamajuana - what is this? "Mamahuana" - the traditional alcoholic tincture of the Dominican Republic

Mamajuana - what is this? In this article we will try to tell more about this alcoholic beverage. Of course, when you look at the bottle of "Mamahuana", it can be called a drink with a stretch. It is full of some sticks, branches, pieces of bark ... But just try sipping this infusion of the Caribbean forest, and your attitude to the drink will change. The first thing to give a tourist a drink to adapt to the unusual climate in the Dominican Republic is, of course, Mamahuana.

If a man is well over forty, but he wants to look (and be) a real macho, he is also prescribed this national drink of the Dominican Republic. Yes, and the ladies "Mamahuana" also does not hurt: it is not only an aphrodisiac, but also treats many diseases, from influenza to oncology. At least in this the people of the Dominican Republic believe. Well, if it is an elixir, then, as in any medicine, it is important to know the dose. But "Mamahuana" is not only drunk in pure form. Many Caribbean cocktails are prepared from it.

Composition of "Mamahuana"

Despite the consonance with the name of the drug, there is nothing criminal in the drink. These are harmless, but very useful roots, trees and grass. But the composition of the drink is rather complicated. It will take at least twenty-four ingredients to make the Mamajuana tincture. What are these components? There are among them and those that are available to any hostess in the kitchen: basil, rosemary, tubby (or star anise), lemon balm, bitter ginger, lime. But the rest are species of trees, shrubs and lianas that grow only in the Caribbean basin. These include Jamaican pepper malagueta, chiococcus (its Indians used as an antidote for snake bites), the bark of the guaiac tree, the plant "cat's claw" and many other exotics. Therefore, you need to live somewhere in the Dominican Republic to enjoy and be treated with a drink of "Mamahuana".

The recipe for cooking

At home, this type of alcohol can be bought as a finished product, in a bottle, and a bag with all the necessary ingredients - that is, roots, lianas, bark, spices. If we buy this mixture and, in addition to it, a bottle of rum (whether light or dark), we can successfully prepare a Mamajuana drink at home.

After all this process is very long. During the holiday in the Dominican Republic, it is unlikely that you will be able to prepare a drink. It should be noted that most of the rootlets and herbs in the kit are very bitter. The first infusion necessarily poured. You can add it to the bath water. Therefore, the glass jar is filled with wood half and pours all the container with some cheap distillate. After that they let them brew for at least six weeks. During this time the bitterness from the wood must go away, and the pathogenic bacteria - die.

Let's finish the business to the end

Draining the first liquid, we are ready to make the actual drink. It's up to you to decide. From the manufacturer depends on what it will be. What will Mamajuana do, what is it: tincture, liqueur, dessert liqueur? Healing properties will have any alcoholic beverage. And its fortress depends on what you pour into the jar of alcohol-impregnated wood for the second time.

You can also manually adjust the sweetness of the drink. So, how does the "tuning" of Mamajuana occur? Do you want to get distillate? Uncork the stored bottle of dark or light rum. Do you want to get a pleasant taste of liquor? Add a mixture of this (thirty percent) with red wine (70%). Sweetness is regulated by natural honey, but not sugar. After that, the mixture is shaken and insisted for a couple of days.

How to buy alcohol Mamajuana

Dominican Republic offers tourists several options. The first is a bag of dry ingredients. It is worth it inexpensively. But in this case, you are waiting for a long process of insisting on strong alcohol (not vodka, which can spoil the taste). In addition, there are a lot of fakes on the market. It is not excluded that you will get useless roots of a palm tree.

Sold in the Dominican Republic and ready-to-drink refined drink. It is produced by several official distilleries of the country. There are several types of "Mamahuana": sweet, with spices, bitterish, dark or light (this depends on the type of rum already poured for the second time). The minus of buying a refined drink is that the emptied bottle will have to be thrown out.

The best way to purchase "Mamahuana"

Sold in the Dominican Republic and containers filled with a drink with wood. This is the best option for acquiring the "Mamahuana" tincture. The recipe for the preparation of the drink is already known to us. We drink liquid, we fill in a new one. And the taste of the elixir only gets better. After all, the secondary liquid can still be bitter. Tannins contained in wood do not easily leave the bark and roots. The third and fourth tinctures will be much softer, nobler.

There is an opinion that the raw materials for "Mamahuana" can be poured thirty times, until the wood in the bottle becomes anthracite-black. But there are drink lovers who believe that the roots and lianas from the Dominican Republic are truly undying. They can be used not thirty, but countless times.

The action of "Mamahuana"

The first thing an expensive guest from Europe, tired of a long flight, offers a glass-shot of the amber drink Mamajuana. "What is it, rum?" - Tourists often fear that a strong distillate will not hit the head and does not thaw the already weakened body. But the action of "Mamahuana" is special. Within five minutes there is no trace of fatigue. The head remains clear, the legs also do not stumble, but the mood improves noticeably. Feels such a spiritual uplift, which can draw on sexual feats - and representatives of both sexes.

This drink can be consumed as an aperitif - it, in addition, also increases the appetite. But at night it is not recommended to use it, except that you have plans to spend it vigorously. At the first symptoms of a cold, indigestion and such ailments immediately drink a glass of "Mamahuana." Indians in the Caribbean used this elixir long before Columbus arrived.

Mamajuana: how to drink, features of the national culture of consumption

If you are vacationing in the Dominican Republic, you can purchase a ready-made refined drink. It began to be produced relatively recently, since 2005. The leader in popularity is "Mamahuana Kalembu", a product of the J & J Spirits factory. How to use this drink? You can pour it into a glass-shot (fifty grams). Well savor it also with ice, but for this you need a glass of larger volume.

In the Dominican Republic, "Mamahuana" is often included in cocktails. With her make "Bloody Mary" (add instead of vodka), "Caiparinha" (replace rum) and even "Mojito". This tincture is perfectly combined with juices: passion fruit, coconut, pineapple and orange.

Who invented the "Mamahuana"

Although this elixir is considered a national pride of the inhabitants of the Dominican Republic, the honor of its invention belongs to shamans from the island of Haiti. For a long time they prescribed it to women suffering from infertility. Arrived in the West Indies, the Spaniards adopted the recipe for the preparation of tinctures, and highly appreciated its effect as an aphrodisiac. And they prepared a drink in special bottles: wide, but with a narrow neck. In Spain, this capacity was called "Juan's mother". It is ideal for making tinctures from Caribbean trees and spices. So the name of the bottle became the name of the drink. Interestingly, at first the Spaniards did Mamuhuana on the basis of port and much later they began to replace it with rum.