Tag: holiday drinks

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Keepin it Festive … the historic and brilliant cranberry … in a cocktail!

Few fruits are as iconic of the winter holidays as the brightly colored, small, firm, ridiculously tart, cranberry. Strung along a thread and paired with popcorn, they've decorated trees for generations. They've served as eyes for snowmen, instant home décor inside otherwise empty vases and accents for wreaths and evergreen floral arrangements. We use them to make relish and sauce, a holiday meal staple in many homes. Its juice is the core of many a holiday punch recipe and mixed with ginger ale, children are amused to sip it like a grown-up cocktail. Even a few berries to garnish a cake or dropped into a cocktail or glass of champagne provides an instant holiday "pop". They are the little balls of color amongst the drab winter backdrop and when you see them, you instantly think of the holidays.

Not only do these little pops of bright-red carry a welcome visual appeal amongst the bare winter scenery, beneath that colorful skin, they carry a powerful punch of vitamins and antioxidants. Whilst almost unbearably tart when eaten alone, when cooked, mashed or even dried, and then sweetened, they are not only nutritionally beneficial but quite delicious!

You could almost say that the cranberry's presence is an American tradition. One of only three fruits native to North America, they are most commonly grown in the north-east of North America; (but they can also be found in the midwestern state of Wisconsin, the Pacific Northwest, as well as Chile – heeeeyyy!) Native Americans used these tiny fruits for their medicinal value as well as for dye. Colonists ate them for their high vitamin C content as it helped prevent Scurvy. Their high antioxidant content combats free radicals. And they've long been used for urinary tract health as they protect against certain bacteria, namely E.coli.

Although their nutritional benefits have long been known, it wasn't until the 1800s that cranberries were first farmed on a large-scale. Perhaps that's because the berries, which grow on long-running, low-lying vines, are cumbersome to harvest. That is, until the farming technique of "flooding" was discovered. Cranberries, which grow naturally in sandy bogs and marshes, are naturally buoyant. By flooding the plant area, the berries float to the top of the water and are much easier to harvest. Ocean Spray is one such company who saw the value in this and became the trade-mark cranberry company in North America. You can learn more about them here: http://www.oceanspray.com/Who-We-Are/Heritage/Cranberry-History.aspx

While I have some bangin' recipes for cranberry relish and sauce, this is a libation post. So below I have two cranberry cocktail recipes for your next holiday gathering. Both use unsweetened cranberry juice to cut down on sugar and preserve nutritional value. It can be hard to find but if you don't find it in your local grocery store, check an organic market. Or, just use the sweet stuff and know that you may need to compensate for it somewhere else. The first recipe is a martini, my favorite in the world of cocktails. The second is a mule, a very trendy option with a spicy kick.

 

Cranberry-Amaretto Martini

  • 2 cups unsweetened cranberry juice
  • 1 cup vodka
  • 1/3 cup amaretto
  • 3 TBS triple sec
  • 1 fresh clementine (wedges used as garnish)

Combine juice and alcohols in a shaker with ice. Strain into a glass and garnish with an orange slice. Makes 4 martinis.

 

Spicy Cranberry Mule

  • 2 oz unsweetened cranberry juice
  • 3 oz ginger beer
  • 1 1/2 oz spiced rum
  • 1 oz simple syrup (you could also follow my recipe for spiced simple syrup found here:

https://lifelibertyandlibations.com/2017/10/08/the-pear-martini/

Serve over ice and garnish with sugared cranberries. Makes one mule.

 

Happy Holiday season … like the cranberry … may your days be merry and bright and might your tartness be sweetened so that your infectious spirit can be drank by those around you.

 

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Vino Navegado…. A warm Chilean sangria

wine glasses

I’ve mentioned a Chilean sangria drink, “Borgonia,” in a previous post. It’s a combination of sugar and diced/mashed fruit with wine that is best enjoyed in the sweet, summer months. Today, I wanted to discuss a different one, a sort of winter version called Vino Navegado. If you are familiar with the German drink “Glühwein“, Vino Navigado is very similar.

As many of you know, my husband is Chilean and one of my most favorite goods from Chile is their wine. While this post is essentially a recipe for an affordable and delicious holiday drink, I thought it would be helpful for the fact-loving readers, to provide some background on Chilean wine.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the geographical size and shape of Chile, it is one of the most unusual in the world. It is a long and skinny country which spans more than half of the entire west coast of South America. Due to the geographical make-up of Chile, the country naturally has the perfect conditions for making wine. It has an arid climate with soil that is rich in minerals. The dryness of the climate allows for a higher concentration in the juice of the grapes. Grapes with a high water content don’t make good wine. And the minerals in the soil directly influence the  flavor of that juice. In fact, Chile has such a high mineral content in their land that one of their leading exports are minerals.

Because of the shape of the country and it’s placement in the South American continent, Chile has a lot of ‘natural protection’. Every side of the country has a natural border which protects its land and crops from pests and plights that could intrude from other countries. The northern part of the country is occupied by the Atacama Desert. This is the driest place on earth and obviously very hot, not a habitable environment for pests. Along the eastern border of the country run the Andes Mountains. Not a whole lot is going to come blowing into the country over those bad boys. The southern portion of the country sits adjacent to the Antarctic and is covered in glaciers. Unless fruit-eating pests start behaving like penguins, not a whole lot of threat is coming from this side either. And the entire western side of the country is bordered by the Pacific Ocean, a cold and deep body of water which separates Chile from other land masses for thousands of miles. This yields a very protected central region with incredibly fertile soil that is flat and easily irrigated.

And what’s even better … because Chile has such favorable grape-growing conditions and the labor there is cheap (a characteristic of the country: goods, especially imports are expensive, but labor is cheap) … they can produce massive amounts of wine and sell them at affordable prices. When my husband and I visited there, we found bottled water was often times more expensive than wine!

If you haven’t discovered Chilean wines, I suggest you do so. Our favorites tend to be the Cabernets, Carmeneres and the Sauvignon Blancs; although I’m really an equal opportunity wine-o and love them all! Frontera is a very affordable brand produced by Concha y Toro. My husband and I visited this vineyard during our last trip to Chile. Concha y Toro has been in production since 1883 and is now, the second largest wine producer in the world. Their wine is fabulous! One of their most infamous brands is the “Casillero del Diablo” line. Casillero is a mid-priced bottle best enjoyed as-is. And while Concha y Toro certainly sells aged-varieties for $50/bottle, they also make very drinkable ones for $10/1.5L. Frontera is one of those brands. Only amateurs think you have to pay top dollar for good wine;)

Ok Amanda, “What’s the point…?” “How does this relate to Vino Navigado?”

Vino Navigado is a warm wine drink that involves heating wine for a short time with sugar, spices and citrus fruit. When you start adding these ingredients to a wine, you change the wine. Therefore, while I love this drink, I wouldn’t want to waste an expensive bottle of wine on it. So, go to the store, look for a 1.5L bottle of Frontera, a red variety, and make yourself and your guests some Vino Navigado. I’m quite sure you won’t regret it!

In Chile, Vino Navigado is prepared and enjoyed in the winter months. In the United States, it’s a perfect drink for the holidays. (Chile has opposite seasons from the U.S) It is similar to a sangria, however because heat is used, it doesn’t require the long sitting time that traditional sangria does. The flavors of the orange and spice transform the wine into a Christmassy, wintery goodness and the warmth of the alcohol warms your bones on cold days.

 

Vino Navegado

  • 1.5L bottle of red wine ( I recommend Frontera cab or merlot but any inexpensive but tasty red will work!)
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 navel orange sliced
  • 2 cinnamon sticks
  • 10 whole cloves
  • 2 whole all-spice (optional)

Pour the entire bottle of wine into a large saucepan and stir in sugar to dissolve. Add the orange slices and spices. Turn heat onto low-medium and simmer approx 15 min, stirring occasionally. Do not allow the wine to boil! Boiling it will impair the wine and burn off the alcohol. You only want it to simmer long enough to heat the liquid and to release the flavors of the citrus and spices and for the sugar to finish dissolving.

Serve in coffee mugs or wine glasses with a slice of orange in each cup for presentation. (If you choose to serve in wine glasses be sure to run the wine glasses under hot water prior to filling so as not to crack the glass with the hot liquid.) Enjoy!

wine barrels