Piña Colada
The Piña Colada [ ˌpɪɲa koˈlada ] (from Spanish piña ' pineapple ' and colar ' sift through') is a sweet, creamy cocktail made from rum , coconut cream and pineapple juice. It is named for a whole group of cocktails, the coladas . The piña colada became popular in the 1950s and is one of the world's most famous cocktails. The alcohol-free variant - without rum - is called Virgin Colada , Baby Colada or Piñita Colada .
preparation
A piña colada is usually made from white Caribbean rum , cream of coconut , a viscous, fatty and slightly sweetened mass made from the meat of the coconut , fresh pineapple or pineapple juice and crushed ice in an electric blender . Often cream is added and occasionally the white rum is completely or partially replaced by a stronger golden or brown rum.
In bars, inexpensive coconut syrup is often used instead of cream of coconut , i.e. sugar syrup with coconut aroma that does not contain coconut oil and is therefore easier to process than the viscous cream, so that it can be prepared in a cocktail shaker . Coconut syrup, however, is much sweeter and has to be dosed differently, and a creamy drink can only be achieved with additional cream. Unsweetened coconut milk or coconut water are not suitable as a substitute for Cream of Coconut, but they occasionally come in variants. In the Lesser Antilles , the piña colada is often sprinkled with a pinch of nutmeg on top of the foam.
The standard recipe of the International Bartenders Association for a Piña Colada provides 3 cl white rum, 3 cl Cream of Coconut and 9 cl pineapple juice, when prepared in a blender with crushed ice and a pineapple slice and a cocktail cherry as decoration. At German bar schools, preparation with cream is usually taught, e.g. B. with 4 cl of white rum and Cream of Coconut, 8 cl of pineapple juice and 2 cl of cream, so that the drink is even creamier, but also milder and less distinctive in terms of taste.
The company Coco López , whose founder brought the first industrially produced coconut cream onto the market in the 1950s, has been promoting a version made from 2 oz for decades . (corresponds to approx. 6 cl) Coco López Cream of Coconut, 1.5 oz. (approx. 4.5 cl) white rum from Puerto Rico , 2 oz. (approx. 6 cl) pineapple juice; Preparation also in the blender with cracked ice (crushed ice).
For the “fiftieth anniversary” of the Piña Colada, the Hotel Caribe Hilton , in whose bar the now famous Piña Colada is said to have originated in 1954, published a recipe with 2 oz under the name “Caribe Hilton's Piña Colada” . white rum, 1 oz. Coconut Cream and cream ( heavy cream ), oz. 6 fresh pineapple juice and 1/2 cup crushed ice. Prepare in the blender until everything is creamy (approx. 15 seconds) and as a garnish a pineapple wedge and a maraschino cherry.
history
The "invention" of the Piña Colada is mostly associated in the literature with the Caribe Hilton's Beachcomber Bar in the Caribe Hilton hotel complex in Puerto Rico, which opened at the end of 1949, and the hotel itself dates it to August 15, 1954, with both the exact date and the further circumstances and the original recipe are controversial among the living witnesses who the American cocktail historian Jared Brown questioned in 2005.
According to another version, the "Piña Colada" was created in 1963 in the La Barrachina bar in San Juan , Puerto Rico . A plaque on the building still reminds of this "invention" by the bartender Don Ramon Portas Mingot.
In fact, drinks with pineapple, coconut and rum were known much earlier. The pirate Roberto Cofresí (1791–1825) from Cabo Rojo is said to have served a mixture of these ingredients to his sailors at the beginning of the 19th century. Whether the legend is true can no longer be ascertained today, but it is plausible: at that time, the rum distilled in the Caribbean was not only served by the British Navy but also by pirates to their crews, and preferably diluted; Coconut water, the liquid contained in a coconut, has always served as a substitute for drinking water in the absence of natural sources, and pineapples were grown in most tropical countries before the end of the 16th century. However, Cofresí's drink will have done without ice.
The name “Piña Colada” was not new in 1954 either: in numerous sources from the first half of the 20th century, chilled, sweetened pineapple juice is spoken of as piña fria , piña fria colada (literally: chilled, sieved pineapple juice ) or simply piña colada . A rum cocktail with pineapple juice called Piña Colada was described in 1922:
“ But best of all is a piña colada, the juice of a perfectly ripe pineapple — a delicious drink in itself — rapidly shaken up with ice, sugar, lime and Bacardi rum in delicate proportions. What could be more luscious, more mellow and more fragrant? "
"But the best of all is a piña colada: the juice of a ripe pineapple - a delicious drink in itself - is shaken vigorously in the right proportions with ice, sugar, lime juice and Bacardi rum."
In 1937 the Middletown Times Herald mentions a coconut and pineapple mixture called Piña Colada ( "cocoanut [sic] and pineapple mixture called Pinacolada [sic]" ). An article in the New York Times shows that a cocktail of the same name made with rum, fresh pineapple and coconut milk was already popular in Cuba in 1950:
“ Drinks in the West Indies range from Martinique's famous rum punch to Cuba's pina colada (dark rum, pineapple chunks and coconut milk). Key West has a variety of lime swizzles and punches, and Granadians use nutmeg in their rum drinks. "
“Mixed drinks from the Caribbean islands range from Martinique's famous rum punch to Cuban piña colada (brown rum, pieces of pineapple and coconut milk). In Key West there are lots of lime swizzles and wishes, and in the Grenadines rum drinks are seasoned with nutmeg. "
In addition to the availability of the ingredients, two other factors were decisive for the creation of the Piña Colada in its current form: the development of industrially produced coconut cream and the electric mixer.
Coconut cream (English: Cream of Coconut or Coconut Cream ) was a well-known and widespread ingredient in Caribbean cuisine in the middle of the 20th century, but it was quite difficult to produce: The flesh of fresh coconuts had to be ground or grated and boiled with water (or coconut water). The mass was then pressed through a cloth, sometimes several times, the resulting liquid was left to stand for several hours and finally the desired coconut cream was skimmed off.
In the early 1950s, the food chemist Don Ramón López-Irizarry succeeded in producing this product automatically for the first time. In 1954 he brought his Cream of Coconut onto the market in a sweetened form under the Coco López brand in Puerto Rico. The Caribe Hilton is said to have been one of its first customers, but Irizarry was not interested in alcohol or even cocktails throughout his life. Initially only about 300 coconuts were processed daily. Later, a cooperation began with the beverage manufacturer Norman Parkhurst, who bottled canned fruit juice nearby and finally took over production entirely from Irizarry. The new coconut syrup was advertised intensively with the help of special “Piña Colada sets” and was also launched on the US market by David Ballachow.
Electric mixers (English blenders ) became popular around the same time as the Piña Colada became known. Steven Poplawski, who owned The Stevens Electric Company in Racine, Wisconsin, is considered to be the inventor of the blender . He was the first to place a rotating knife at the bottom of the blender jar and patented his invention in 1922. However, the product was not yet fully developed. It wasn't until years later, after the company was sold to John Oster in 1946, that an improved model, the Osterizer , became commercially successful. But already in 1937 the musician Fred Waring, who had acquired the corresponding rights from Fred Osius, presented a working blender at the National Restaurant Show in Chicago . In the years that followed, these Waring Blenders were increasingly sold to bars, where they made the preparation of frozen daiquiris much easier, for example . In 1954, when the allegedly first Piña Coladas were being mixed at the Caribe Hilton, Waring was able to sell the millionth machine. In the mid-1950s, when almost 50 employees worked in the bar of the Caribe Hilton, they only had three to four electric mixers, so that a number of piña coladas were still prepared in the shaker.
Which of the bartenders employed at the Caribe Hilton in the 1950s ultimately mixed a piña colada there for the first time is not certain. The hotel mentioned Ramón "Monchito" Marrero Pérez from Aguas Buenas (Puerto Rico) alone for 50 years, who is said to have worked on the drink for several months, and celebrated the 50th anniversary of this event in 2004. His colleague Ricardo Gracia In an interview in 2005, who had worked at the Caribe Hilton since 1952, claimed that he developed the Piña Colada spontaneously when he bought his popular Coco Loco drink (made from rum, coconut water and coconut cream, which is in a hollowed-out coconut was served) the coconuts ran out. Instead, there would have been plenty of fresh pineapple available, in which he finally served the drink. A little later, Gracia answered the question who invented the Piña Colada:
" We did. Monchito, me, Hector Torres, Carlos, Roger Lopéz, Enrique. We did. The Caribe Hilton crew was like a family. "
“We did it together. Monchito, me, Hector Torres, Carlos, Roger Lopéz, Enrique. We all. The Caribe Hilton team was like family. "
Outside of the Caribbean, the Piña Colada was first used mainly in the USA. However, the cocktail has only been mentioned in mix books since the early 1970s. In Germany, the piña colada was especially popular in the 1980s when bar culture revived. Contributing to this was Charles Schumann , who had created various coladas such as the Swimming Pool (Cocktail) (1979) and served them not only in his legendary Schumann's Bar in Munich, but also to them for the first time in bar books such as Schumann's Tropical Bar Book (1986) dedicated a separate category. Schumann prepared his Piña Colada with crushed ice in a blender or in a shaker and took 6 cl white or brown rum (or half white and brown), 6 cl pineapple juice and 2 cl coconut cream and sweet cream.
meaning
The piña colada is counted among the most influential cocktails and, like the martini , albeit in a completely opposite way, has gained importance far beyond the bar . A Piña Colada symbolizes vacation, beach, sun, a tropical lifestyle and the Caribbean par excellence. On July 17, 1978, Governor Rafael Hernández Colón declared the Piña Colada the national drink of Puerto Rico .
No other flavor of a cocktail has been copied as often as "Piña Colada". The aroma has already been used in "incense sticks, scented candles, soaps, shampoos, room fragrances, air humidifiers, ice cream, sorbets, Lifesavers (note: an American chewy candy), sweets, jelly beans (fruit dragees), diet foods and dietary supplements for bodybuilders, Cosmetics, soft drinks, teas, popcorn, spreads ('peanut butter'), perfumed bowling balls, medicines for humans and animals, mouthpieces for saxophones and pipe tobacco ” .
The cocktail was also taken up in music. In 1979 the singer and composer Rupert Holmes landed a hit with the song Escape (later renamed The Piña Colada Song ), which even made it to number 1 in the US hit parade on January 12, 1980 . His very first recording was released because later recordings no longer achieved the spontaneity of his first recording, originally intended only as a scratch track . By his own account, Holmes had never tried a piña colada before. In the original version of the text he had formulated “If you like Humphrey Bogart”, but then decided on “If you like Piña Coladas” because he had used film references too often in his texts and he associated the cocktail with vacation.
American country singer Garth Brooks also had a No. 1 hit in the United States in 1998 with the title Two Piña Coladas .
However, the cocktail is not without controversy. The author Wayne Curtis classified the Piña Colada as "among the worst examples of the tiki cocktail" ("one of the worst examples of a tiki cocktail"):
" Pineapple and coconut are the linebackers of the taste world, and can flatten the harshest of rums. It's no great surprise that it was invented in Puerto Rico, where so much rum was meant to be hidden rather than heralded. "
“Pineapple and coconut are tasty“ defenders ”and can neutralize any rum, no matter how hot it is. Unsurprisingly, it was invented in Puerto Rico of all places, where many types of rums should be hidden rather than advertised. "
In contrast to other rum drinks like Mai Tai , according to Curtis, a high-quality rum in a piña colada cannot come into its own at all. In upscale bars, ordering a piña colada is sometimes considered bad taste. In addition, the drink is usually disparagingly referred to as a “women's drink” because it is sweet and creamy and you can hardly taste the alcohol.
literature
- Jared Brown: If you Like Piña Coladas. The History of the Piña Colada . In: Mixologist. The Journal of the American Cocktail . Mixellany, New York 2005, ISBN 0-9760937-0-7 , pp. 89-111 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Contemporary Classics (English), accessed on August 2, 2018. After the revision and restructuring of the Official Cocktails at the end of 2011, however, at times - until 2016 - Coconut Milk (coconut milk) was read instead of Cream of Coconut : Piña-Colada Recipe 2011 still with Cream of Coconut ( memento of November 10, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), 2012 with Coconut Milk ( memento of January 2, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), 2016 with Coconut Milk ( memento of August 1, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) and again with Cream of Coconut ( Memento from August 20, 2016 in the Internet Archive ).
- ↑ Certified bartender. Framework plan with learning objectives , Chamber of Commerce and Industry for Munich and Upper Bavaria in cooperation with various other IHKs, Munich 2007, p. 22.
- ↑ Jared Brown: If You Like Piña Coladas. The History of the Piña Colada . In: Mixologist. The Journal of the American Cocktail . Mixellany, New York 2005, ISBN 0-9760937-0-7 , p. 102.Brown quotes an advertising brochure by Coco López from 1977.
- ^ Website of Coco López Inc., Florida , Recipe for Piña Colada, accessed January 27, 2010.
- ↑ Caribe Hilton flyer from 2004 (freely translated), quoted from: Jared Brown: If you Like Piña Coladas. The History of the Piña Colada . In: Mixologist. The Journal of the American Cocktail . Mixellany, New York 2005, ISBN 0-9760937-0-7 , p. 91. Cocktail cherries were not used as decoration in the Caribe Hilton in the 1950s, and the cream as an ingredient in the original recipes of the Caribe Hilton is controversial , see. ibid. p. 111.
- ↑ Jared Brown: If You Like Piña Coladas. The History of the Piña Colada . In: Mixologist. The Journal of the American Cocktail . Mixellany, New York 2005, ISBN 0-9760937-0-7 , pp. 90ff.
- ↑ Con diez cañones por banda ... y una piña colada en la mano . El Nuevo Diario , EFE. July 9, 2008. Archived from the original on May 10, 2009. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved January 27, 2010.
- ^ Wayne Curtis: and a Bottle of Rum . New York 2006, ISBN 1-4000-5167-3 , pp. 58f.
- ↑ Piña Colada at Webtender.com (English) with numerous quotations, accessed on January 27, 2010.
- ↑ Jared Brown: If You Like Piña Coladas. The History of the Piña Colada . In: Mixologist. The Journal of the American Cocktail . Mixellany, New York 2005, ISBN 0-9760937-0-7 , p. 105.
- ↑ Caribe Hilton flyer from 2004, quoted from: Jared Brown: If you Like Piña Coladas. The History of the Piña Colada . In: Mixologist. The Journal of the American Cocktail . Mixellany, New York 2005, ISBN 0-9760937-0-7 , pp. 105f.
- ↑ Jared Brown: If You Like Piña Coladas. The History of the Piña Colada . In: Mixologist. The Journal of the American Cocktail . Mixellany, New York 2005, ISBN 0-9760937-0-7 , p. 103, citing Hector Torres, bartender at the Caribe Hilton in the 1950s, according to which a piña colada made from 1/2 cup of shaved ice , 4 oz. Pineapple juice, 1.5 oz. white rum and 2 oz. Coconut Cream passed when no blender was available. The ice from the shaker was also poured into the glass after straining.
- ↑ jury Alexandra Diedwardo: Coastal Character: Ricardo Gracia . In: Coastal Living , March 2005.
- ↑ Jared Brown: If You Like Piña Coladas. The History of the Piña Colada . In: Mixologist. The Journal of the American Cocktail . Mixellany, New York 2005, ISBN 0-9760937-0-7 , p. 94.
- ↑ For example in Trader Vic's Rum Cookery and Drinkery of 1974, p. 138.
- ^ Charles Schumann: Schumann's Tropical Barbuch , 3rd edition Munich 1986, ISBN 3-453-36021-4 , pp. 108-111.
- ↑ Jared Brown: If You Like Piña Coladas. The History of the Piña Colada . In: Mixologist. The Journal of the American Cocktail . Mixellany, New York 2005, ISBN 0-9760937-0-7 , p. 110. Translation by user: Mangomix .
- ^ Escape (The Pina Colada Song) at www.songfacts.com (English), accessed January 27, 2010.
- ↑ Wayne Curtis: and a Bottle of Rum. New York 2006, ISBN 1-4000-5167-3 , p. 228. Translation by user: Mangomix .
