RECIPE - Seriguela Caipiroska (Caipriroska de Seriguela)

The first few times I returned to North America from a visit to Brazil my raves about the cocktail called caipirinha drew blank stares - and when I explained that the caipirinha was a drink made with crushed whole limes, sugar and cachaça the stares grew even blanker. No one had heard of the cocktail, or even of the sugar-cane liquor that fueled it, except for others who had been to Brazil, and who raved along with me.

Now, of course, the increasing fame of the caipirinha and the world-wide availability of cachaça means that I usually don't have to explain what a caipirinha is. Almost any upmarket bar in North America or Europe will serve you a caipirinha, and cachaça can be found in many liquor stores (although at astronomic prices, by Brazilian standards).

What isn't so well known outside Brazil is that the caipirinha has engendered a whole family of cocktails, all based on the same formula of crushed whole fruit + juice, sugar and distilled liquor. In Brazilian Portuguese, if the fruit used in not the original lime, but the drink still includes cachaça, then it's called a caipifruta. However, when the liquor used changes, so does the name. The two most popular variations on the caipirinha are the caipiroska, which substitutes vodka for the cachaça, and the caipirissima, which employs white rum. If neither the fruit juice nor the liquor is the one used in the caipirinha, then the name changes, as in the recipe below, to something else - caipiroska de tangerina, caipiroska de caju, caipirissima de manga.

This recipe is one that I found on the website Petitchef, a great source of recipes from the blogosphere. As the name caipiroroska de seriguela would indicate, it's made with vodka not cachaça and the fruit used is seriguela. I've not yet tried it, but since it's currently seriguela season here, and my fridge is full of them, I'll have to give it a try. From the photo on the site (above) it looks wonderful.
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RECIPE - Seriguela Caipiroska (Caipriroska de Seriguela)
Makes one drink

2 oz. (60 ml) good-quality vodka
1-2 Tbsp. granulated sugar, to taste
4-6 fresh seriguelas
roughly smashed ice cubes
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In an old-fashioned glass, put the skin and pulp of 4-6 feshly washed seriguelas, discarding the central seed. Add sugar to taste, then using a mortar or the end of the handle of a wooden spoon, crush the pulp until the juice has released and the sugar has dissolved. Add the vodka, then fill the glass with ice. Stir thoroughly to chill the drink and serve immediately.

(Note, this recipe can easily be turned into a caipirinha de seriguela or a caipirissima de seriguela by substituting cachaça or rum, respectively, for the vodka.)

FRUITS OF BRAZIL - Seriguela

For such a small fruit, the seriguela (Spondias purpurea )has an astonishing number of names - besides the most commonly-used seriguela, there's siriguela, ciriguela, ciruela in Portuguese, and in other languages we have jocote (Spanish) and red mombim, purple mombim, hog plum and sineguela (English), prunier d'Espagne, mombim rouge, cirouelle (French) and even Момби́н пурпу́рный in Russian. What it's called in Farsi I don't know!

The seriguela is a well-loved fruit in the northeastern part of Brazil, where I live, and when seriguela season rolls around in mid-summer (December to February south of the equator) I'm likely to have some in my fridge - as I do right now. The state of Ceará where I live, and in particular the semi-arid interior of that state is the largest seriguela-producing area in Brazil, although the market is largely restricted to Brazil's northeast - the fruit is not well known in other regions of the country.

This vitamin-packed fruit is a small and round or oval, with a yellow-orange skin that is often mottled with red. It's most commonly eaten as-is, raw, and that's the way I like it best. During the harvest season, vendors sell seriguelas from carts throughout the city, and at traffic lights, people sell net bags of seriguelas to drivers and passengers in the cars waiting for the light to change. I usually buy from these sellers, as I find buying fruit from them a refreshing way to hold off the army of squeegee kids that also populate busy intersections in Fortaleza.

I find that seriguelas keep best in the fridge, floating in cold water in a bowl. Every time one opens the door to the refrigerator there's an automatic excuse for popping a seriguela in the mouth, skin and all. The soft skin surrounds a not-too-sweet but very aromatic pulp that melts in the mouth and is very juicy. The flavor has hints of mango and cajá, which is not surprising as these three fruits are all from the same botanical family. In the center of the fruit is a single seed that takes up at least half of the volume of the fruit, but which is surprisingly light. I've never opened one, but I think the seeds must be hollow, they're so light.

Besides snacking and nibbling, other uses for seriguela are in fresh juice, and as a flavoring ingredient for ice creams and popsicles. But, for me, nothing beats a icy-cold, juicy seriguela "straight up." They're only available for a couple of months, and that's one more reason to gorge while the gorging is good.