The Recipe Room

Mexico is, without a doubt, one of the most beautiful countries I have ever visited. It is also a place where fun is part of the day, every day. On any given day, at any given hour, Mexicans are always up for a good time, especially if the good time involves drinking their pride drink: tequila. Today, I want to share with you one of the best known cocktails worldwide: the lime margarita. (You can also try this margarita recipe and decide which one you like better.)

The main ingredient in a lime margarita is tequila, which is a spirit made from the blue agave plant, primarily in the area surrounding the city of Tequila in the western state of Jalisco. Mexico is so proud of tequila that it has claimed the exclusive international right over the word, threatening legal actions against manufacturers of distilled blue agave spirits in other countries.

OK, so tequila belongs to Mexico. But where does the name “Margarita” come from? Although there is no solid proof regarding who invented the margarita, rumor has it that is was first served in a bar in Ensenada, Mexico, by a bartender named Don Carlos Orozco. One afternoon in October 1941, while experimenting with new mixes, a lady named Margarita Henkel, daughter of a German ambassador, walked into the bar. Don Carlos offered the drink he had concocted to Margarita and named it after her for being the first person to taste it. The cocktail was a mixture of tequila, triple sec and freshly squeezed lime juice.

After that, legend and history grew hand in hand.

Needed:
• 3 cl tequila
• 1.5 cl Triple Sec
• 3 cl lime juice, freshly squeezed
• 5 teaspoons sugar
• lime wedge (optional)
• crushed ice or ice cubes

How Don Carlos made his first Margarita:

1. Take your lime wedge or a bit of Triple Sec and rub around edge of the glass. Turn it upside down and press the rim into salt laid on a plate.
2. Shake the tequila, triple sec, lime juice and sugar in a shaker (or stir vigorously with a spoon) for at least 30 seconds.
3. Pour the mix over ice into your salted glass.
4. Last but not least, garnish the glass with a wedge of lemon, and serve.

Time: between 3 and 5 minutes
Makes: 1 cocktail