Drink options in Hipana, a village of 40 inhabitants on the Colombian-Brazilian border, are limited. But I love this place. It lies deep in an untouched part of the Amazonian jungle, reachable only via a week-long boat journey. Many indigenous tribes consider this area to be the origin of their world.
After sundown, homemade beer is served, which the indigenous call cashiri. Ingredients vary, but basically, a bucketful of manioc mash and water is left to ferment in the sun for two days, after someone has spat in it. The result is a smelly, brown, acidic broth with just the slightest taste of beer, which is then filtered through a cloth and served in a coconut shell.
Cashiri is not exactly refreshing, but it contains a lot of alcohol. Nobody has thought about adding ingredients to stop the fermentation process, which continues in your stomach through most of the night. Visitors are expected to try between 10 and 12 portions. As to possible headaches, my hosts told me with pride: "Our women have run experiments over many generations to find the right mix that avoids any hangover the next day." Only later did they admit that these experiments were, so far, inconclusive and still ongoing.
Cashiri
- A plastic bucket
- A cloth
- Pieces of macaxeira-manioc (Manihot esculenta)
- Sweet potatoes
- Açaí palm fruit (Euterpe oleracea)
- Psychotropic and aphrodisiac vine extracts, according to a secret family recipe
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- Create manioc mash with a mechanical or diesel-powered crusher.
- Place the mash and water in the bucket.
- Spit into the bucket. (Some communities insist that only virgins do the spitting, others allow a variety of spit.)
- Cover the bucket and place in the sun for two days.
- Filter through a cloth.
- Serve in coconut shells. No ice.