Bring on the Trinidad Fruit Drink Recipes!

Coco-Mango SmoothieI enjoy reading the phrases that people type into search engines to reach TriniGourmet.com, they really give me insight into what people are looking for, and occasionally I also get a good giggle (like the time someone typed in “summon me steaming hot pastelle 😆 ! )

Not too long ago the phrase “Trinidad Fruit Drink Recipes” popped up and really got me thinking. You see, everytime I shop at the supermarket I get more and more disheartened as I see women’s shopping carts piled high with kid packs of artificial fruit drinks and processed snacks and goods. We haven’t reached the levels of childhood obesity and diabetes as say the U.S. but I fear that without some form of educational intervention we may very well be on the way.

Trinidad Citrus Fruit JuicesGrowing up there was a strict control on sugared products in my home. At the time I didn’t understand it, but I do appreciate it now, and even though the restrictions were dropped long ago I still don’t go overboard (probably cos I don’t have emotional associations of happiness or comfort with sugar). When it came to drinks my mother usually made homemade lemonade. At the time we had several lime trees (as well as mango and a few others) and fresh fruit juices were the order of the day. Over by my aunt, fresh mauby was always on tap, but for fruit juices she relied on that old favorite, the tinned ‘Trinidad Fruit Juice’ co-op line.

As local schools are out on holiday, and these are the hottest months of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, I thought that now is as good a time as any to shine a spotlight on simple, natural, fruit drink recipes. So that’s what I’ll be doing between now and September 🙂 Some will be traditionally Trini, others will be from my recipe files, and others will be my own flights of fancy. Either way they’ll be sure to cool you down and bring a smile or two, while hopefully keeping the high fructose corn syrups away! 🙂

As I roll out these new concoctions feel free to browse the TriniGourmet beverage archives, they include such traditional favourites as mauby, punch de creme and ginger beer, as well as my most recent creation, a Coco-Mango smoothie 🙂