Originally written as part of the World Cup 2014 cooking project.
Introduction:
There’s one more day to go before the World Cup starts – well the unofficial World Cup of Food that is. To get right in to the swing of things crack out the cachaça for the national drink of Brasil – Caipirinha.
Cachaça is a clear sugarcane spirit, the essence of Brasil, and one that can be found from Scandanavia to South America. It’s been called a rum but technically rum comes from molasses whereas cachaça is derived from sugarcane, making it unique. Its status in Brasilian culture puts it right up there with the national football team, the Mardi Gras and the Samba. Its most common use is in the Caipirnha where it becomes incredibly intimate with lime to produce a wickedly fresh and globally loved cocktail. Caipirinha can be found all over Brazil from the hardcore of the favelas to the glitterati of the clubs of Ipanema.
It’s transcending in to winter here in Melbourne, but today has been full of sunshine and thus the mood is high and the cachaça is plentiful – the mood is, funnily enough, getting better and better the more I partake in this Brasilian delight. So, before I am completely engulfed in this spirit-ual high and can no longer type I will take you through the making of a Caipirinha. Boa saúde!
