If you like to learn about cocktails, you have certainly learned that being familiar with all recipes of cocktails is practically impossible. You might ask “why”? The main reason is that there are many recipes which are known by extremely small groups or communities of people; and some cocktails are even known just by the people who created them. But the uncountable number of cocktails is not the only thing which we know for sure. Another fact known for sure is that martini is the most popular and loved cocktail of all times.
Actually, martini cocktails were the first to appear in the bars and clubs. Later, they were produced for throwing parties at private places such as birthday party, anniversary party etc. You’ve probably watched old movies (let’s say from 1990) where the man asks his guest whether he’d like to prepare “a large doze of martini”. The conclusion is that 20 years ago, people used to prepare martini in their homes. But nowadays, talking about martini cocktails is quite general as there are already dozens kinds of martinis. Usually, the criterion used for their division is the content/recipe and the fruits in particular. For example, different kinds of martini can contain lime, apple, pineapple, peach or even chocolate. So, you should not be surprised if you taste two completely different cocktails having one name: martini.
However, there is a very tasty kind of martinis which has become very popular. These are the so called “exotic martinis”. Logically, they are given this name because of the fruits which are used as an ingredient: the most popular of them are lychee and raspberries. Actually, these two martini cocktails turned out to be one of the most preferred one and they definitely need to get their fair share.
Let’s start with the lychee. It is one of the many blessings of the Thailand Island as plenty of this fruit can be found there. Perhaps, the fruit was cultivated in China in 2000 BC but once again we are going to mention that Thailand is a main source of lychee (the biggest one in the world actually). But you probably don’t care much about the history. You want to know more about how the fruit tastes and how it affects on our bodies, right? Well, the fruit’s taste is definitely not sweet although it does not contain a little sugar at all. Determining the taste is quite complicated but it’d be probably most accurate if it was determined as something between bitter and sour. The sour taste could be explained by the huge amounts of Vitamin C which the fruit contains! So, it is not surprising that this fruit is used instead of lime for preparing Martini cocktails. Many people even like it more!
And now, let’s take a look at the raspberries. They are definitely much more popular than the lychee which explains why they are not going to be discussed so widely. Basically, these are small, round and red fruits tasting quite specifically. Their taste is neither bitter nor sweet, not even sour- they just need to be tasted. Anyway, raspberries definitely taste quite good! Surprisingly, their taste is much more different than the lime (respectively lychee) which makes their usage in many martini’ recipes quite unusual. Even though your raspberry martini may not taste like what you are used to, you can be sure that you’ll love it!
Martini recipes are great, especially when they are fruiting and exotic. Check out the Martin Guide for an awesome recipe for the lychee martini and the tasty pomegranate martini.