RECIPE: Guava Cocktail
Enjoy this sunny cocktail from one of our favorite restaurants, Fogo de Chão, a Brazilian churrascaria with locations worldwide (and many in the U.S.—send someone a gift card!). It’s called Guava do Sul, guava sunshine. You can stop in for a cocktail or have it as the beginning of an entire wonderful dinner. We liked it so much, we had two! Ingredients Per Drink |
Guava purée, vodka and honey topped off with prosecco. What could be sunnier? (Photo courtesy Fogo de Chão.) |
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1. RIM the coupe glass with sugar. (Moisten the rim of the glass 1/4″ in water, and twist in a plate of sugar.) 2. COMBINE the vodka, lemon juice, honey, gum syrup, guava fruit purée, and ice in a cocktail shaker. Shake vigorously for 20 seconds. Strain the drink into the glass. Top with prosecco. 3. GARNISH and serve. You might think from the ingredients that the drink is very sweet, but it’s simply…sweet. Gum syrup, spelled gomme in the U.K., is a sweeter simple syrup. Instead of the 1:1 proportion of sugar to water, it is 2:1, and is combined with gum arabic, an all-natural resin (gum) harvested from the acacia tree. The gum, which is comprised primarily of fiber and protein, adds weight and silky mouthfeel. It acts as an emulsifier in the syrup and subsequently in the cocktail. Bartenders like it because it means that all of the drink components are uniformly blended. Gum syrup is also used in sweet non-alcoholic drinks such as sweet iced tea and the Arnold Palmer; and is also used in baking. Commercially, it is made by Lieber & Co and other brands.
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