Dec. 28, 2008 — Christmas time is upon the Virgin Islands until Three Kings Day and, as everywhere, food and drink traditions are a big part of what makes the holiday spirit. In the territory and on other Caribbean islands, Christmas is guavaberry time.
Traditional quelbe band Stanley and the Ten Sleepless Knights sing Christmas carols about guavaberry this time of year. Bottles and tastes of the elixir appear at Christmas Festival vendor stands on St. Croix and in private homes across the territory. During the recent Sleepless Knights Christmas Eve and Christmas Day serenades across St. Croix, homemade guavaberry liqueur was served over ice to friends and neighbors.
"Every year, we'd take a jimmy john, a big jug, and put the guavaberry and rum in it, and put the jimmy john under the bed, not touching it for a year, until the following Christmas, then bring it out," said former agriculture commissioner Arthur Petersen during the Christmas Eve serenade.
That same night, Raymond Williams, chief of staff to Lt. Gov. Gregory Francis, poured guavaberry into guests cups while wearing a gold paper crown and satin sleeping robe — appropriate attire for a pre-dawn serenade.
"I keep my jimmy john of guavaberry and drink it from this old enamel cup every year," Williams said.
The marble-sized dark purple berries are delicate and juicy. They are not sweet and have a tart, distinctively pungent flavor that has some similarity to black currants, crossed with cranberries and a hint of juniper. The trees can grow quite tall, and the berries must be picked by hand. Some seasons the berries grow abundantly and others they are difficult to find.
"It used to be every house would have food and drink," Williams said. "And the band would be paid with guavaberry (rum)."
Everyone does their guavaberry a little differently, but here is one traditional recipe:
Guavaberry Liqueur
— 1 pound red guavaberries
— 1 pound yellow guavaberries
— 1 pound Caribbean sorrel
— 1/2 pound ginger root
— 3 sticks cinnamon bark
— 1 pound prunes
— 1 pound raisins
— 3 sticks vanilla bean (optional)
— 1 pound brown sugar
— 2 bottles Cruzan rum. (OK, technically you could use any good rum. But come on, you're in the Virgin Islands. Get with the program.)
Rinse berries. Clean by popping berries and removing seeds. Rinse seeds, strain and save liquid. Withhold 1/2 cup red and 1/2 cup yellow berries to be used later, and put remainder in large pot.
Boil mixture until berries are soft. The juice should be of a medium syrup consistency, or sticky when cool. Mash or grind berries that were saved and mix with strongest old rum available. Add to the cooked mixture.
Pour in bottles, cork and wire down securely. Store in a dark place, under a bed or in the cellar for several months. The taste will tell you when it is fully ripened.
On St. Croix, you can get guavaberries in season, in November and December, from the La Reine Farmer's Market on Saturday mornings, and now potentially from the new Saturday market across from Beeston Hill. Knowing someone with a few trees is the best source. Fresh sorrel is available in December and January from the major farmer's markets and from roadside stands all over St. Croix. If you are not on St. Croix or in the Caribbean, good luck. You might find dried sorrel in a Jamaican or Caribbean specialty shop in New York. And you may find commercially produced guavaberry liqueur in some specialty shops. But really, you need to come to the territory for the holiday season.
Now if you want to celebrate the season without the rum, you can make:
Guavaberry-Sorrel Drink
— 1 cup guavaberries
— 2 cups sorrel sepals
— small piece of ginger
— piece of dried orange peel
— 6 cups water
— 2 cups sugar (or 1 cup, to taste)
Wash and clean guavaberries as above. Rinse seeds and strain. Boil the liquid, berries and sugar until the berries are soft. Pour boiling liquid over sorrel, ginger and orange peel. Allow to stand overnight. Serve over ice. Serves two.
Being late December, you may have trouble finding guavaberries now. But sorrel is just coming in strong and there are several sorrel drinks.
Caribbean sorrel, or roselle, is an annual plant growing to about six feet. Once the plants ivory-colored flowers bloom and wither, the sepals grow bigger, becoming quite fleshy and bright red, enveloping the seed pod. The fleshy red sepals are very tart and used as fruits. The sepals become fully developed in December and January, making sorrel popular around Christmas. The closest flavor equivalent commonly available to folks in the States would probably be rose hips or African rooibos tea.
Most sorrel drinks you will find — at Christmas Festival food vendors, from UCA's in Frederiksted, Feli at the La Reine Farmer's Market, or your favorite small restaurant or food van — will be similar to this recipe:
Sorrel Drink
— 3 cups sorrel sepals
— small piece of dried orange peel
— 6 cups boiling water
— 6 cloves
— 2 cups sugar (feel free to cut this to 1 cup or so, depending on your taste)
Wash the sorrel and place in a half-gallon jar or pot with ginger, orange peel and clove. Pour the boiling water over it all and allow to stand for 24 hours. Strain, sweeten and pour into bottles. Pour over ice as is, or with soda water. Serves six.
Here's an even simpler sorrel drink:
— 1/2 cup sugar or less
— 2 cups water
— 1 cup sorrel sepals
Wash sorrel, take off the sepals. Make a light syrup with the sugar and water. Boil and pour while boiling hot over the sorrel and let sit overnight. Strain in the morning. Add more water to taste. Bottle. Serve over ice. Serves two. This is delicious mixed half and half with fresh brewed iced tea, too.
Many thanks to the University of the Virgin Islands Cooperative Extension Service for their fine cookbook: Native Recipes, a collection of traditional Virgin Islands home cooking and festival food recipes.