When Ahron, africanmeat, came for supper the other night he brought us a gift from South Africa. It was a bottle of Amarulu which is cream liqueur and is made from the fruit of the marula tree. I had never heard of it but I found it is the second largest selling cream liqueur in the world.
The marula tree is medium sized and grows throughout Africa and Madagascar. The fruit is yellow skinned and has white flesh with a stone inside. The fruit is an important food product and parts of the tree are used for medicines.
Some may remember elephants and monkeys eating fruit under a tree in the movie “Animals are Beautiful People”. The tree was a marula tree.
The only liqueur I have used is Kahlua. Usually I have some at Christmas and I like white Russians, vodka, Kahlua, and milk. My wife loves them but would rather not have the vodka in hers, she prefers virgin mixed drinks. It’s kind of a family joke here that the last few Christmases or holidays we have a family dinner she makes a big deal about having Kahlua and has it and all the glasses out and sometimes no one wants one so she doesn’t have one.
Our daughter in law and I tried the Amarula the night Ahron was here and liked it. My wife tried a sip and said it was too strong. It is sweet and fruity but straight you can taste the alcohol. There are a lot of recipes for mixed drinks using Amarula and a lot of uses for desserts.
I found one recipe last night that sounded good, for a Brown Elephant #2, 1 ½ oz. of Amarula, 1 oz. of Kahlua, added to a 10oz. glass, 3 ice cubes topped with milk. I just happened to have some Kahlua left from last Christmas so I made up one. I added the Amarula and Kahlua to an Old Fashion glass, two ice cubes and about 3 oz. of half and half. It was delicious; I let my wife try a sip and she said oh yes that’s good!
Thanks Ahron for a great gift and a new taste! I think my wife has found a new holiday drink!
Smokin Don
