Central America: The most noteworthy rum producers in this region are Guatemala (Ron Zacapa), Panama (Ron Abuelo), and Nicaragua (Flor de Caña).

South America: Noteworthy producers here include Guyana (El Dorado, which is sometimes also called Demerara rum and called for in tiki recipes) and Venezuela (Pampero). Brazil’s cachaça is a sugarcane based spirit that’s often called a rum—and is even legally considered such by the United States government—but as it is unaged, we will not consider it a rum for the purposes of this post. I’ll have more about cachaça in a future post.

New England: More significant for historic reasons than for modern. New England once had a thriving rum trade, especially in Medford, Massachusetts, and Newport, Rhode Island. Rum is once again distilled in New England, but not in the colonial New England style. (I consider the role that rum and molasses trading played in the history of slavery to be well beyond the scope of this post.)

Africa: The only African rum I’m aware of is Starr African Rum, from the island nation of Mauritius. Distilled from molasses, Starr is a delicious clear, but richly flavored, rum. Cool bottle, too. Certain areas of Africa are perfect for growing sugarcane, so Africa may become a region to watch for future rum production and an evolution of rum styles.

White/Light/Silver: Light bodied, crisp, and subtle in flavor, these rums are highly mixable. They marry very well with fruit flavors, so they’re excellent for daiquiris and piña coladas. A common misconception about white rum is that it’s unaged. White rum is aged in oak barrels for a short period of time to smooth out the flavors; it’s then charcoal filtered to remove color. Bacardi is the best known example of a white rum; other brands include Don Q, Flor de Caña, and Banks Five Island.

Gold/Oro/Ambre: Medium bodied and a little stronger in flavor than light rums, gold rums are aged in oak barrels. Like light rums, they mix well into fruity cocktails. Bacardi, Don Q, and Ron Rico are commonly available brands.

Dark/Black: Full-bodied, with rich caramel flavors, these rums are usually pot-stilled and aged for long periods. Used in tiki preparations such as the Mai Tai, the best of these rums are also sippable on their own, neat or on ice. Mount Gay, Appleton, Gosling’s, and Ron Zacapa are common brands.

In modern times, most distillers purchase molasses rather than make it themselves. Yeast and water are added to the molasses to create a “wash,” which is then allowed to ferment. Some distillers use wild yeasts, but others use specific cultivated strains. We’ll look a little later at the role yeast plays in the flavor and character of finished rum.

Fermentation, of course, is the process by which yeasts convert sugars into alcohol. In modern spirits production, this process generally takes place in large metal tanks and is carefully monitored. Fermentation lasts from twenty-four hours to several weeks, depending on the type of rum being produced. We’ll look more at these variables a little later.

Depending on the type of rum being produced, distillation can proceed using either a pot still or a column still. Pot stills are more traditional and less efficient—more expensive—than column stills. Generally, heavier rums are produced in pot stills and lighter rums in column stills, although some rums are a blend of pot and column.

Strength of Rum at Distillation and Bottling

Most rums on the market are bottled at 80 proof, or 40% alcohol by volume (ABV), but they’re distilled to a higher proof—anywhere from 85 to 95% ABV—and then diluted with water to achieve bottling proof. The rums with the richest flavors and bodies are those distilled to a lower proof—say 85% abv—and then diluted to a higher proof—say 43 to 45% abv.

Why is this so? When spirits are distilled to higher and higher proofs, they lose the esters and congeners that build flavor; a rum that comes off the still at 95% ABV will retain fewer flavor compounds than one distilled to 85%. Remember, a spirit distilled to 95% ABV is 95% alcohol and 5% other things. Some part of that 5% is flavor molecules. A spirit distilled to 85% ABV has 15% other things, and therefore more room for flavor molecules.

When you take a rum distilled at 95% ABV and dilute it down to 40%, you need to add a lot of water, which, being water, carries no flavor. So you end up with a lighter tasting rum than if you start with a more flavorful spirit and add less water.

Rhum agricole: Full-bodied rums, made from sugarcane juice instead of molasses. As with molasses-based rum, agricoles range the color spectrum, from white to gold to dark. Agricoles are often funky and have floral and vegetal aromas and flavors. Brands include Rhum Clement, Rhum J.M., Neisson, and La Favorite.

Other Terms
You may encounter other terms when shopping for rum. Here’s a grab-bag glossary of rum words:

Naval rum: A dark, full-bodied rum in the style of that formerly given to members of the British Navy. Normally proofed at 50% abv or higher.
Single barrel: Most rums on the market are blended products. To achieve consistency in taste from release to release, manufacturers blend rums from different barrels to get the balance of flavors right. A single-barrel rum comes from just one barrel, and the rum may taste different from barrel to barrel.
Overproof: Refers to rums with an ABV over a standard value, usually 120 proof, or 60% ABV.

Type of Still

Another factor that affects rum styles is the type of still used. Pot stills generally produce heavier rums, richer in the congeners and esters that create flavor. Column stills produce lighter rums, stripping out more of the flavor compounds. Column stills are more efficient and therefore less expensive to operate, but it’s important to remember this isn’t an either-or proposition. Some rums are started in pot stills and redistilled in columns, and some rums are a blend of pot and column.

Type of Barrel

The kind of barrel used for aging rum affects its flavor, too. Some rums are aged in new charred-oak casks; some are aged in used whiskey barrels. Some are aged in sherry casks; some in cognac barrels. All these contribute different flavors to the finished product.

Length of Time in Barrel

This is simple: The longer a rum ages in a barrel, the more flavor compounds it will pick up from the oak.

Yeast Type

Some rum distillers use wild yeasts, whereas others use specific cultivated strains. Using natural yeast will impart certain characteristics of the local environment into the rum, characteristics that can actually change from batch to batch. To control such variables, some companies use specific cultivated strains that retain the same characteristics from generation to generation. The Los Angeles Times recently wrote about the yeast used by Bacardi, detailing how the Bacardi distillery smuggled its yeast out to Puerto Rico when its original Cuban facilities were nationalized by the Castro government in 1960.

Length of Fermentation

The other variable that yeast introduces is fermentation speed. Some yeast strains convert sugar to alcohol more quickly than others. Bacardi, for example, has bred its yeasts to ferment molasses so quickly that it forms fewer esters and congeners—the chemical substances that create flavor compounds. So one reason Bacardi tastes so light and mild is thanks to its yeast and the speed at which it works.

Modern pot stills are a variation on the original stills invented by Islamic perfume makers in the Middle Ages.

Factors that Influence Rum Styles
Source of Sugar

The source of sugar used in rum production matters less than you might think. Most modern rum is produced from molasses made in Brazil, so for these rums, the sugar source isn’t important, and other factors have greater influence on the style and flavor. In the case of rhum agricole, however, the sugar source carries a certain amount of terroir. Fresh sugarcane juice is prone to oxidation, so it needs to be produced near the distillery, and fermentation needs to begin straight away. Agricole manufacturers say that the use of local sugarcane carries some character from its growing environment into the finished rhum.

Whether you’re trying to reproduce that mad good curried goat that’s been haunting your memory like a fiery first kiss, or you have the nearly impossible task of pleasing Jamaican in-laws, or you’re expecting a visit from Usain Bolt in the immediate future, this piece is for you.

From coconut milk to thyme, from Scotch bonnets to scallions, you’ll learn what you need to reproduce the flavors that anchor a diaspora and be able to conjure “Yard” wherever the storms of nature or life may find you.

Solera: An aging process used in the production of some rums, sherries, and ports, to provide a consistent product from year to year. The solera system involves a pyramid of casks. The top tier is the young stuff, fresh off the still. The bottom layer of casks is mature and ready to bottle. Middle tiers are the middle children. A limited amount is drawn off and bottled from the bottom tier. Rum from the second-lowest layer is moved into the bottom layer, to blend and meld with the older product. Rum then “cascades” from higher layer to lower, each level blending with the older layer below.
Historic and Modern Rum Regions
Caribbean Basin: The birthplace of rum. Styles vary throughout this region, from light and crisp rums to rich, vegetal agricoles.

Mexico: Rum is a relatively new spirit in Mexico; Bacardi has a growing presence there, and you may be able to find an independent brand named Ron Los Valientes.

If I had to summarize the culinary reality of Jamaica in a single sentence, or indeed any of the Caribbean islands, I’d say this: It’s a kaleidoscopic synthesis of colonial, enslaved, native, and diasporic culinary traditions as bold and eclectic as anything from Singapore or Sicily.

We have a staggering variety of starches; we have street food that demands deep inquiry into proper crumb-to-meat-to-sauce-to-spice ratios; and we have an entire under-the-radar vegan diet called “ital,” courtesy of the Rastafari Movement.

And yet, minus a few breakout stars, such as Christmas black cake and jerk chicken, Caribbean cuisine has remained largely sidelined, even as Mexican, Indian, Chinese, and other cuisines have shouldered aside French dominance to assert themselves upon the North American food imagination. Well, this Jamaican thinks it’s high time the overlooked cuisines of the Western hemisphere start doing some shouldering and asserting of our own. (In Patois: A fi we turn now!)

Two key ingredients are all that’s needed to tame the bracingly sour flavor of unripened green mango: fresh lime juice, and alguashte, a ground condiment made from roasted pumpkin seeds.
Fresh lime juice meets green mango’s intensity with its own tart bite.
Rich and nutty alguashte (ground roasted pumpkin seed seasoning) adds earthy depth.
Mango verde, or mango tierno as it’s known throughout El Salvador and Central America, is green mango that’s been cut from its branches before it ever gets the chance to ripen. In contrast to its more mature orange counterpart, this pale green mango is crunchy—somewhere between a carrot and a cucumber in firmness—and packs a sharp, sour punch.

Salvadorans and Central Americans know the tingling feeling that mango verde provokes. The sight of it starts us involuntarily salivating. On its own, green mango’s flavor is perhaps too intense, so Salvadorans reach for two key ingredients to help balance it out. The first is, counterintuitively, fresh lime juice, which somehow manages to quell some of that sour intensity. On top of that goes a generous sprinkling of nutty and toasty alguashte, a ground seasoning made of roasted pumpkin seeds and salt.

The resulting dish is eaten practically everywhere: as a street food, a festival snack, an after-school snack, or at a bar alongside a cold beer.

Green mango can sometimes be hard to find, but don’t let that put you off from trying alguashte: it’s also popular on other fresh-cut fruits, including ripe mangoes, jicama, oranges, and other tropical fruits and seeds, as well as stirred into savory dishes.

4 green (6-ounce; 170g) mangoes (see note), peeled, halved, and pitted
Fresh juice from 1 lime
Alguashte, for sprinkling
Kosher salt

Directions
Arrange the peeled mango halves on a plate. Squeeze lime juice all over, then generously top with alguashte. Season with salt and serve.

Mixto
A good fraction of the tequila brands you’ll find at your local are mixto, or mixed, tequilas. Mixto is a blend of 51% agave tequila with the remaining 49% from other sugars, normally cane sugar. The shots you did in college were mixto.

Joven tequila is also sometimes known as gold tequila. Cuervo Gold and Sauza Gold are jovens. With only a couple of exceptions, gold tequilas are mixtos with a little caramel coloring thrown in. Jovens are unaged; don’t let the coloring fool you.

The exceptions to this rule mix blanco (unaged) tequila with a bit of reposado tequila. You’ll know them; they’ll say “100% Agave” on the label.

Mixto
A good fraction of the tequila brands you’ll find at your local are mixto, or mixed, tequilas. Mixto is a blend of 51% agave tequila with the remaining 49% from other sugars, normally cane sugar. The shots you did in college were mixto.

Joven tequila is also sometimes known as gold tequila. Cuervo Gold and Sauza Gold are jovens. With only a couple of exceptions, gold tequilas are mixtos with a little caramel coloring thrown in. Jovens are unaged; don’t let the coloring fool you.

The exceptions to this rule mix blanco (unaged) tequila with a bit of reposado tequila. You’ll know them; they’ll say “100% Agave” on the label.

Snobbery?
Is it snobbery to prefer 100% agave to mixto? Perhaps. Keep in mind, if you order a margarita in most bars, you’ll be getting mixto, unless you order a specific tequila or a brand is named on the menu. And if you order a round of shots, you’re probably getting mixto—unless you have more money than sense, of course, and you’re getting rounds of top-shelf brands to shoot. (If that’s the case, invite me along next time.)

For cocktail use, you enter a land of diminishing returns if you go too far upmarket with your tequila choices. For most cocktails, blanco or reposado will be just fine. If you prefer blender margaritas, mixto is probably fine, honestly, because the icy-coldness of the drink will obliterate any subtleties from more upmarket tequilas.

Furthermore, raicilla is made almost entirely within Jalisco, the cradle of tequila. This legislation would prevent raicilla and other agave spirits from even being produced in Jalisco, which could cause raicilla to entirely vanish from production.

The Diner’s Journal blog at the New York Times covered this controversy in more depth. Proponents of the legislation say they’re preventing confusion and fraud. Opponents think the regulation is a tool by which large distilleries are trying to crack down on small companies.

Tequila may be aged in used American oak barrels; Jack Daniels casks are common. It may also be aged in French or Spanish barrels, previously used for cognac or sherry, for example. Tequila may also be aged in brand new barrels. Some distillers use new barrels for a portion of the aging process, before transferring the tequila into older casks.

Most distillers barrel their tequilas at about 110 proof (55% abv), and then dilute with water to about 80 proof just prior to bottling.

Just as Scotches, bourbons, and rums are blended prior to bottling, so too with tequila. Distillers will take barrels of similar age and blend them to create a consistent product from batch to batch.

When shopping for tequila, you’ll see certain terms that refer to its age. Here’s what those words mean:

Reposado: Also referred to as rested, reposado is aged from two months to just shy of a year.
Añejo: Aged one to three years, añejos are smooth and rich, with more flavor contributions from the barrel.
Extra añejo: Aged at least three years. Extra añejos are dark like brandy and old Scotches, and very rich tasting.

Once the agave juice is fermented, distillation can begin. Most tequila is made in pot, or alembic, stills. The first distillation produces something called ordinario, which is about 20–25% alcohol by volume. The ordinario is distilled again in a pot still, to about 55% abv.

The second distillate is tequila. All tequila at this point is clear. Color is added later, either during the aging process or by the addition of caramel coloring (this is allowed only in mixto tequila, not in 100% agave tequila.)

At this point, the tequila can be diluted to bottling proof (usually 80 proof; 40% ABV) or pumped into barrels for aging. If it’s diluted and bottled, it becomes blanco tequila, also known as white, silver, or plata. (I’ll talk more about types of tequila later.)

Aging
Blanco tequila is generally unaged, as is joven (young) tequila. Blanco can be immediately bottled after distillation, or it can go into storage for up to two months. Blanco, when it’s “aged,” is usually stored in stainless-steel vats; this, at most, allows the tequila to mellow out a bit, but obviously it doesn’t add the flavors, aromas, and color that wood-aging provides. A small few blanco tequilas are aged in wood, but those are the exception.

Reposado, añejo, and extra añejo are aged in oak casks. Whereas whiskeys such as Scotch and bourbon have specific legal regulations that dictate the type of barrel that must be used, tequila has no such restrictions.

The juice (and sometimes some of the pulp as well) is placed into large vats, mixed with water and yeast, and allowed to ferment. Depending on the distillery, the yeasts can be commercial brewer’s yeast or cultivated forms of the wild yeasts that grow on and around agave plants. In some cases, the vats are left open to the air, to attract wild yeasts that develop complex flavors in the ferment. In other cases, the vats are closed off, to promote a more efficient fermentation. Closed vats, however, seal out wild yeasts, and many tequila lovers prefer the complex flavors that develop in open vats.

If sugar is added during fermentation, the tequila is a mixto, or a mixture of agave and sugar. I’ll talk more about mixto in a bit.

Over a century ago, piñas were cooked in pits, dug into the ground, over wood fires. The deforestation of Jalisco, however, forced a change, first to coal- or gas-fired ovens, and then to the steam-powered ovens used today. Some distilleries use traditional ovens made of stone or clay; others use stainless-steel ovens.

Piñas are slow-baked at around 140 to 185o F for about 50 to 72 hours. Slow-baking ensures that the starch molecules break down into sugars, but doesn’t allow the sugars to caramelize, which can introduce off notes into the agave flavor. (Some larger distilleries pressure-cook the piñas, at higher temperatures for a shorter period, but aficionados decry this practice, saying it makes for a less flavorful tequila.)

Agave is harvested by field workers known as jimadors. (The tequila brand El Jimador is named for these workers.) Traditionally, jimadors would harvest the agave according to an intuition bred from centuries of experience, handed down from one generation to another. Today, though, harvesting is more scientific. The jimadors test the piña to achieve a sugar content of at least 24%. The higher the level of fermentable sugar, the more alcohol a harvest will yield.

When a piña is ready for harvest, a jimador separates it from its stalk using a long handled tool called a coa, and then removes the leaves. The piñas are loaded onto a truck and taken to a factory to be baked. Unlike grapes and many other crops, which are harvested in the fall, agave harvesting is a year-round endeavor.

Cooking the Agave
20120416Jose_Cuervo_ovens.jpg
Workers load agave hearts into ovens at the José Cuervo Distillery in Tequila, Mexico. Wikimedia Commons
When I discussed Scotch production, I mentioned that barley needs some initial processing to unlock the starches inside it, to make them fermentable. In Scotch production, that process is called malting. Likewise, tequila production needs a first step, one that unlocks the starches. Here, that means cooking the agave piña to transform the carbohydrates into simple sugars that can then be fermented.

Growers are not looking for the heart to reach a certain size, specifically; instead, they’re looking for a sugar content of at least 24%. The longer the piña matures, though, the riper and more flavorful its sugars become, and yet there’s a short window before the agave becomes overripe, so they have to choose just the right time to harvest.

Agave for tequila is usually harvested after 8 to 10 years. Reportedly, some larger distillers are now harvesting immature agave plants, which results in tequilas that lack the flavor and character that arise from mature plants.

Agave cultivation traditionally is highly labor intensive because the plants must be tended and harvested by hand.

Once the piñas have been cooked and softened, they’re mashed to separate the juices from the pulp. Traditionally, they were crushed with large wooden mallets, and then, later, large stone grinding wheels. Some distilleries still use the grinding wheels, but most now use mechanical crushers.

Notes
Green mangoes are different from merely underripe mangoes: They’re picked from the tree while still crisp and fully sour. They are often sold at markets that specialize in Central American ingredients, though depending on where you live and shop, they may be hard to find. If you can’t locate true green mangoes, try to find the most underripe mangoes you can. Also note: Green mangoes are typically a smaller, palm-sized variety, not the huge one-pound Tommy Atkins mangoes that predominate at most American markets. If you do use a Tommy Atkins, just one or two fruits should suffice.

Tequila Production
By Mexican law, tequila can be made only in the Mexican states of Jalisco, Guanajuato, Michoacán, Nayarit, and Tamaulipas. Most of it, however, is from Jalisco, near the towns of Tequila and Arandas.

Just as cognac is a brandy from the French region of Cognac, tequila is a mezcal from in and around the Mexican town of Tequila.

Agave Cultivation
Agave is grown in cultivated orchards called potreros. The shoots on commercial plants are removed when the plant is young, so that its heart (piña) will grow larger. The shoots are replanted to grow new agave plants, but this practice has led to the creation of a monoculture. The lack of genetic diversity in blue agave has caused certain problems, including diseases and parasites.

Each plant can be used only once, which means agave, unlike grapes and many other crops, needs to be planted anew every year.

Plants are pruned while they grow, to encourage growth of the piña. The goal is to encourage the agave to concentrate its starches in the heart, rather than using those starches to reproduce.

Tapioca starch breaks down at relatively low temperatures, eliminating the starchy aftertaste associated with traditional cornstarch-based recipes.
Powdered sugar dissolves more readily in a low-moisture dough, leaving no trace of grit.
Egg yolks bind the dough while keeping the overall water content to a minimum, so the cookies are easy to roll yet tender after baking.
Vanilla bean keeps the dough flavorful but dry, so it’s easy to handle.
A food processor minimizes aeration of the dough while keeping it nice and cold, so the dough doesn’t need to be chilled and the cookies won’t puff or warp with pockets of air.
Flecked with vanilla seeds throughout the dough, alfajores are the perfect excuse to whip up a batch of vanilla bean cajeta—a goat’s-milk variation on dulce de leche. The combination of gooey toffee sauce and buttery shortbread can’t be beat, but it can be improved upon. My recipe replaces traditional cornstarch with tapioca starch, keeping the alfajores tender and light, with a clean finish that truly melts away. Pair them with a mug of strong black coffee, or a nip of Rainwater Madeira.

Tender, Melting, Gooey Alfajores Are My Cookie Obsession
Recipe Facts
Active:25 mins
Total:45 mins
Makes:25 sandwich cookies

Ingredients
Save Recipe
1 vanilla bean, preferably Mexican
4 ounces all-purpose flour (3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon; 115g)
3 ounces tapioca starch (3/4 cup; 85g)
2 ounces powdered sugar (1/2 cup; 55g), plus more for dusting
1/4 teaspoon (1g) Diamond Crystal kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon (1g) baking powder
4 ounces cold unsalted butter (1 stick; 115g), cut into 1/4-inch pieces
2 large egg yolks, cold
1 recipe Cajeta Casera (see note)

Directions
Split vanilla bean lengthwise with a paring knife and scrape out seeds with the flat of the blade; reserve empty pod for cajeta or another use. Combine vanilla seeds with flour, tapioca starch, powdered sugar, salt, baking powder, and butter in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse to form a fine and sandy meal, then add egg yolks and continue processing until the dough balls up around the blade. Divide in half and proceed to step 2, or wrap tightly in plastic and refrigerate up to 1 week.

Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat to 350°F (180°C). Turn a portion of dough onto a powdered sugar–dusted surface and dust more powdered sugar on top. Roll dough until roughly 6 inches across, then dust with powdered sugar, flip upside down, and dust again. Continue rolling until dough is just shy of 1/4 inch thick. Slide a thin offset spatula under dough to loosen any places that might have stuck and cut dough into 2-inch rounds. Arrange cutouts on a parchment-lined aluminum half-sheet pan, leaving about 1/2 inch between cookies. Gather the scraps, briefly knead, and re-roll and cut as before. Repeat with remaining dough, for a total of 50 pieces. Bake until just beginning to brown around the edges, about 15 minutes, and cool to room temperature directly on sheet pan.

Transfer cajeta to a pastry bag fitted with a plain 1/4-inch tip. Flip half the cookies bottom side up and pipe a generous dollop of cajeta into the very center, up to 1/2 ounce (4 teaspoons; 14g), or less if you prefer. Alternatively, this can be done with a spoon. Top with remaining wafers and press gently to secure. Dust with powdered sugar and serve. In an airtight container, alfajores will keep 24 hours at room temperature or up to 1 week in the fridge.

Tequila’s next U.S. invasion came during the Second World War. U.S. distilleries had converted to wartime production, making military supplies, leading to a dearth of American spirits. Further, imports from Europe dropped, thanks to production problems in Europe and restrictions on European imports. By 1948, however, the liquor industries in Europe and the U.S. had recovered, leading to another slump in tequila’s fortunes.

Tequila finally conquered the U.S. market in the 1980s, during an era of economic growth in the United States that encouraged a surge of American tourists to visit Mexico, bringing back a love for Mexico’s native spirit. Premium and ultra-premium brands began to hit the U.S. market, and the tequila category has been healthy ever since.

“I think people are really committed to making hudutu a household name,” says López Oro, referring to the dish and the urgency many Garinagu feel about preserving their history, in part, through their

Tequila, as most know, arises from agave, specifically the blue Weber agave, botanically known as Agave tequiliana. Agave is a perennial, flowering plant, primarily found in Mexico, but some species grow in the southwestern US and parts of South America, and even as far north as Alberta, Canada. Agave is a succulent—a water-retaining plant that stores water in leaves, stems, and roots. Cacti are also succulents, but the agave is not a cactus. The agave is more closely related to the lily family.

The plant used in tequila, the blue Weber agave, is a species native to Jalisco, Mexico. It’s also known as blue agave (agave azul), tequila agave, mezcal, or maguey. The blue Weber can reach over two meters in height. The word piña is used to describe the heart of the agave plant, refers to the idea that the heart resembles a pinecone or pineapple.

Regional Differences
Highland agave plants are large and sweet, with piñas of 90 to 125 kilograms. Lowland agaves are more herbaceous and smaller, with piñas of 60 to 80 kilograms. These flavor differences continue on into the tequilas made from the different agaves; a fun way to run a tequila tasting might be to compare lowland tequilas to highland versions—for example, compare Partida (a lowlander) to 7 Leguas (a highlands tequila).

When she was growing up in San Juan Tela, Honduras, Isha Gutierrez-Sumner, a Garifuna actress and dancer, recalls feeling embarrassed about her daily diet, which differed from what the local mestizos were eating regularly. “Eating Garifuna food in the village, it wasn’t a glamorous time,” she says. “It wasn’t a source of pride.”

Nostalgia for her homeland and a desire to see Garifuna cuisine elevated and celebrated led Gutierrez-Sumner to launch a Garifuna food platform and catering company. She’s spent the last five years traveling to and from Honduras, consulting with elders and documenting their recipes for a forthcoming cookbook titled Weiga, Let’s Eat! Photographers Milton and Wes Güity joined her to capture dishes and step-by-step techniques in stunning images. (Now that the book is complete, she’s weighing her options between traditional publishing and self-publishing.) Recipes cover a lot of ground and include Garifuna fried fish, a variety of coconut-based breads, and sweets like peteta, a sweet potato pudding, and dabledu, a candied cookie flavored with coconut and ginger. Coconut is used in many Garifuna dishes, enriching everything from broths to rice and beans to desserts.

Tequila: A Brief History
The roots of tequila stretch far into history, back before Europeans arrived in the Americas. Agave has been cultivated for centuries, used as both a flavoring and a sweetener, as well as being fermented into mildly alcoholic drinks such as pulque, which dates back at least 2,000 years.

When the Spanish arrived, they brought along the knowledge of distillation; and lucky for them, they found a plant (agave) whose juices they could readily distill. Tequila’s ancestor was born. The first mezcals appeared in the 1500s, and the beverage spread throughout Mexico over the following centuries, eventually being exported back into Spain. The first tequila factory was established in 1600, in Jalisco, but no one knows exactly where; no historical records of the location survive. By 1800, tequila makers had taken a cue from aged Spanish brandy and began aging tequila in wood.

Tequila made three significant inroads into the U.S. market before it became the hot item it is today. The first was during Prohibition, when supplies were smuggled into Southwestern states, to help meet the demand for hooch. This first surge in tequila’s popularity waned during the Great Depression.