Mamahuana - the national drink of the Dominican Republic. According to local legends, his recipe gave the residents a voodoo witch, so that they could improve their health and prolong their lives. Locals do not use Mamahuana as a drink, they use it as a healing medicine, calling it “the elixir of life.” Tincture on 16-20 herbs, roots and fragrant wood helps to quickly recover from a cold, strengthen the immune system, get rid of problems with digestion, and is also considered an aphrodisiac. Here it is available in every home, but the finished drink is not exported. Mamahuana can be purchased only as a dry mixture or as a primary infusion that is not intended for consumption. Of them Mamahuana can be made at home. Independently create an aromatic bouquet for the manufacture of Dominican tincture is problematic, as the composition of the herbal mixture includes plants growing in the Dominican Republic. The finished composition can be purchased during a tourist trip or ordered via the Internet.
Cooking Features
The original technology of cooking Mamahuanas is this: dry raw materials are placed in a dark glass bottle, poured with rum, infused for several days, rum is poured and poured with a new portion of the drink, sometimes with the addition of honey, insisted for some time and used for its intended purpose. In the manufacture of Mamahuanas at home, you must strictly follow a few basic rules, otherwise, instead of a healing elixir, you will prepare a bitter swill.
- Insist Mamahuana on an alcoholic beverage. Dominicans use rum for this purpose, but it can be replaced with brandy, whiskey, gin or high-quality moonshine, as well as red wine. Vodka specialists do not recommend insisting Mamahuana, considering that the tincture of vodka turns out to be too bitter.
- The first infusion is poured. It turns out to be bitter and contains toxic substances elongated from dry raw materials. Despite the fact that the first infusion is poured out, only alcoholic beverages can be used for it, and the lower the alcohol content, the longer it is necessary to insist on herbs and wood.
- When preparing the second and subsequent infusions, honey is often used. It makes the taste of the drink more enjoyable and enhances its healing power.
- The mixture for Mamahuanas can be used repeatedly - as long as the wood in its composition begins to look charred. Experience shows that up to this time it is possible to insist on a medicinal raw material 25-30 times, but some are even luckier, and they use the raw material up to 150 times.
- Each subsequent time the infusion time of the drink should be increased by 1-3 days, depending on the strength of the alcohol used.
- The tincture can be stored for up to 3 years, but only in a dark glass bottle in a place protected from the sun and in a sufficiently cool place. To insist drink should be in the same conditions.
Cultures of drinking Mamahuanas as an alcoholic drink did not work out. Most often, it is served chilled to a temperature slightly below room temperature, spilled in stacks with a capacity of not more than 50 ml, or drink it in one gulp, or in small sips.
Classic Mamahuana Recipe (on rum)
Composition:
- dry mix for Mamahuana - 1 pack;
- rum (not necessarily quality) - 1, 4 l;
- honey (preferably floral) - 0, 3 l.
Method of preparation:
- Place the dry mixture in the bottle, pour 0, 7 liters of rum.
- Close the container, put in a shaded cool place for 5-7 days.
- Drain the rum through a sieve. Pour the used drink. Some suggest using it for lotions and compresses, but the healing effects of the tincture in this application have not been confirmed.
- Pour the remaining rum into a clean jar or bottle.
- Melt the honey to a liquid state. It is better to do this in a water or steam bath in order to preserve the maximum beneficial properties of this beekeeping product.
- Add honey to a container of rum, close it and shake.
- Fill the resulting mixture with medicinal aromatic raw materials.
The drink should be infused for at least 2 weeks, after which it is ready to drink.
A popular recipe for mamahuana on red wine
Composition:
- mix for Mamahuanas - 1 package;
- red wine (any) - 1, 4 l;
- rum or high-quality moonshine - 0, 3 l;
- honey - 0, 3 l;
- Cinnamon (optional) - 1 stick.
Method of preparation:
- Dry the mixture for Mamahuana with a liter of wine. Capacity close, put in a cool, dark place. Insist on for a month. If you use a fortified wine to make a drink, the infusion can be reduced to 25 days.
- Drain the wine through the strainer into the sink.
- Melt the honey, pour into a clean jar.
- Pour the remaining wine and rum into it. Rum can be replaced with high-quality moonshine double distillation. It will affect the taste of the finished drink, but its healing properties will not diminish.
- Shake up the contents of the jar, having tightly closed the lid.
- Pour the alcohol-honey mixture into a container with medicinal raw materials. You can add cinnamon sticks.
- Close the bottle. Leave at room temperature for 5-7 days.
- Strain, pour into clean bottles, refrigerate.
This variant of Mamahuana is liked by the ladies, since the tincture is not too strong, but sweet and fragrant.
Mamahuana “Nui-Nui”
Composition:
- dry mix for Mamahuana (for secondary tincture) - 1 pack;
- rum - 1 l;
- lime - 1 kg;
- grapefruits - 0, 5 kg;
- ginger root - 20 g;
- sugar - 0.5 kg;
- vanilla - 1 pod;
- cinnamon - 1 stick.
Method of preparation:
- Wash the fruit, cut the zest, put it in a bowl. Pulp for cooking Mamahuanas is not required, you can squeeze out juice from it or cook jam.
- Sprinkle zest with sugar, cover with a potato masher, put in a jar.
- Pour the mixture for Mamahuana into a jar, after placing it in a bag of thin fabric. Put in a jar.
- Add rum, close the jar, shake it vigorously several times.
- Add the peeled and chopped small ginger root, cinnamon and vanilla. Shake again.
- Insist at room temperature for 3 days, protecting from light.
- Remove cinnamon and vanilla, continue to infuse for 3-5 days.
- Strain, pour into clean bottles, store in refrigerator.
This recipe is used by residents of one of the places in the Dominican flare. Its lemon-vanilla aroma and citrus flavor can make a Mamahuana fan even those who do not like the classic version of this tincture.
Mamahuana is not so much a drink as a healing tincture. Despite the fact that it has a pleasant taste and a unique aroma, it is not recommended to drink it in large quantities. After drinking more than 100 ml of drink at a time, you can do more harm than good to the body.
