5 JUICES OF COLOMBIA
5 JUICES A TOURIST HAS TO DRINK IN COLOMBIA:
Colombia is a country full of fruits where you can find such a wide variety that I can assure, you have never seen as
many, in any supermarket or produce fair where you have been in your life.
It´s because
the biodiversity of my country that makes this land so rich in all kinds of
fruits; from the ones that grow in the tropics to those in the Andes mountains or
those that are grown in the jungles.
That is the
main reason why this list has been so difficult to make.
There are so
many delicious fruits to make wonderful juices that this list is totally
unfair. But I had the tough mission, to select 5 fruit juices of Colombia to be
tasted at your visit to Colombia.
Here they
are:
1.
LULO
The LULO is
native of the northern part of South-America. It tastes so good, that in
Colombia when men see a beautiful women scream out loud that she is like a
LULO.
The botanical
name is Solanum Quitoense,
and in Ecuador is known as naranjilla (small orange).The name LULO comes from
the native language of the Incas, the Quechua.
Is an acid
fruit that grows in small trees in the Andes Mountains at an altitude between 1100
a 2200 meters (3.600 to 7.200 ft.) above sea level.
In Colombia
you can be delighted with Lulo juice almost everywhere you go.
But is in
Cali, where this natural drink transcends to another dimension and it’s
transformed into Lulada, a sweet and refreshing way of making a tribute to this
marvelous fruit.
The Lulada is
made with mashed frozen lulo, lime, water, sugar and ice. There are some that are added
with condensed milk as a topping. It is very refreshing and it makes body temperature
go down in the always hot Cali, making the energy go up with its freshness.
2.
CURUBA.
The CURUBA is
another native fruit from the Andes and is also known in Bolivia, Peru and
Ecuador, but is in Colombia where is much more appreciated and usually
consumed.
The CURUBA
juice can be made in water or milk, or as my Mother used to make it, half and
half, water and milk.
It is really delicious and is a perfect drink
to have with Colombian typical dishes like the Sancocho or the Ajiaco.
The fruit
also is very good as the main ingredient to prepare soft desserts.
You can find
Jugo de Curuba at fruterías, markets and restaurants.
3. GUANABANA.
The GUANABANA
(Soursoup) is one of the fruits that I miss the most when I am outside of
Colombia.
I like to see
it exposed in the markets, or just pass by those who sell it in the streets and
be surprised of how huge they can get to be.
And even
though they are giant, their flavor is very intense.
This fruit is
native from tropical America and is known as Anon in other Latin countries.
The guanabana
juice is a tradition in my country. In every region is prepared and you can ask
for it at fruterías, houses, street corners or at restaurants. The flavor
between acid and fresh with the perfect balance of the sugar or honey makes
this juice one of the must have drinks in your visit to Colombia.
You can also
can taste the fruit in desserts and culinary sauces because of its versatility.
Additionally,
the fruit has another attributes, as is a proven prevention natural medicine
for some types of cancer.
4.
GUAYABA.
The GUAYABA
is part of the diet of Colombian families. Moms love this fruit for many
reasons.
One of them
is because Guayaba is very cheap.
It also has
very high percentage of vitamin C by the gram, it has almost 4 times more than
the orange, reason why, it’s the first barrier against flu, “unofficially certified”
by multiple generations of mothers in Colombia.
It is easy to
prepare and blends perfectly in milk or water, and it is absolutely delicious.
If you want
to eat the fruit you can, do it as you bite an apple.
There are
also many sweet treat derived from the fruit, like the bocadillo or the guayaba
sauces that make a perfect mate for diverse gastronomic recipes.
The guayaba
juice can be found at fruterías and budget restaurants.
5.
MORA
One day I
received a tourist at the Bogotá El Dorado airport, as soon as he went out thru
the door from customs, he asked me to take him to a place where he could have
some mora juice. I took him to a cafeteria where I knew they had it on the
regular menu.
When he
tasted it he was in ecstasy, he sipped the purple colored sweet drink as if he
was having a dream.
When I asked
him about this obsession to have some jugo de mora, he told me that he loved
the television soap opera, “Betty, La Fea”, which was the most successful Colombian
telenovela of all times around the world. He told me that the main character,
Betty, always asked for jugo de mora as a drink, wherever she was.
The mora is
from the same family of the berries. There are more than 300 varieties all
around the planet, but the Mora de Castilla or Mora Andina is the one that
grows in Colombia since prehispanic times.
This juice is
so delicious that deserves to be tasted. The flavor is strong as its color and the
aroma is exquisite. The fruit is used additionally in desserts and as a sauce
for a variety of recipes.
It can be
found at many parts like fruterías, restaurants, cafeterias and supermarkets.
·
BONUS: LIMONADA DE COCO:
This is a
recent addition to the natural drinks offer in Colombia.
The limonada
de coco, is, as it sounds, a coconut lemonade.
This means
that is a very cold marriage that gets consumed between the lime and the
coconut water, with pieces of coconut dancing on it. Is a marvelous and refreshing
invention that will give you another idea of what a lemonade should be?
This coconut
lemonade should be find at fruterías and restaurants.
P.S. To have only 5 juices is totally unfair.
In my
country, people can have juices of different fruits, every day of the month
during the whole year.
So you now
know, when you come to Colombia you can taste many fruits, some of which you
will only see here.
Enjoy also
the GPS walking audio tours of Colombia, produced for the mobile App https://voicemap.me/ so you can know more about the beautiful land where I was born.
All the GPS
Walking Audio Tours of Colombia can be found in my author’s profile.
Thanks for
sharing this blog and for checking my other posts:
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you don’t lose my 5 tips of Colombia, every week in Spanish and in English.
Journalist:
Néstor Meléndez Soler
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