The airport officer opened my luggage and told me it couldn’t go, pointing to the glass jug full of roots and herbs. He continued to inspect my bag and spotted the 300 Dominican pesos I had placed next to the container, anticipating this scenario. He grabbed the money and sent me on my way. I’ve learned that influencing an airport official at Punta Cana International is usually easier than finding the traditional ingredients for mamajuana in the U.S.
Often referred to as Dominican Sangria, mamajuana is an infused and aged DIY cocktail made with tropical bark and herbs—bohuco pega palo, alo de Brasil, and uña de gato, to name a few. Sure, you can purchase packaged mixes of the ingredients on Amazon and Etsy, but since I can’t vouch for their quality or authenticity, I use my own mix of star anise, hibiscus petals, allspice, cinnamon sticks, dried basil leaves, whole cloves, chicory root, eucalyptus, and ginger to approximate the flavors.
My memories of strange brown stuff in clear bottles go back as far as I can remember. I recall conversations and parties quickly forming whenever there was a bottle around. It turned domino tables into stages, my cousins into professional merengue dancers, and made an excellent chaser for my favorite uncle’s stories. My family rarely left me out of the action because tradition took precedence over underage drinking rules. “Give him a little.
But the mamajuana wasn’t always a boozy cocktail. Its roots can be traced back to the Taínos, the Caribbean’s indigenous people, who used the same mix of herbs to create a medicinal tea before European explorers added alcohol to the elixir. It was later banned under Rafael Trujillo’s oppressive regime in the mid-1900s when the dictator discovered it was being used as an aphrodisiac. This only added to mamajuana’s mysticism and popularity.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.