Check here for details on my book signings and classes. You’ll also find original seasonal recipes, often inspired by my travels.

Cuba’s original cocktail, the Canchánchara, is little-known outside of the country, which is why I committed to drinking, er, researching, as many as possible on a recent trip: you can read about it in this article I wrote for PUNCH. Created as a morning toddy by the mambises, or freedom fighters, during the Cuban Wars of Independence, the beverage combined aguardiente de cana, honey, lime juice and water. It originated in the main sugar cane-growing region outside the colonial city of Trinidad, and thus became a popular restorative for slaves working the plantations. Today it’s served over ice in traditional clay cups called jicaras.

The UNESCO city of Trinidad is the birthplace of the Canchánchara.

La Chancleta

This is cabinero (traditional, Cuban-style bartender) Julio Cabrera’s riff on the Canchánchara.

Recipe by Julio Cabrera, Cafe La Trova, Miami

Serving: 1

In a shaker, combine:

1 ½ ounce Yaguara Cachaça Ouro

¾ ounce ginger-honey syrup (see below)

¾ ounce fresh Persian lime juice

>Add ice and shake 10 seconds

>Serve strained into a clay cup with ice and garnish with a lime wheel

Ginger-Honey Syrup

2-parts honey

1-part hot water

2 ounces ginger juice, extracted with a power juicer) per every quart of syrup

>Combine ingredients and strain if necessary. Keep in tightly enclosed container in refrigerator.

©The Sustainable Kitchen®, 2019

A visit to a tobacco farm in Vinales.