The Tamarindo Mezcal Margarita is my favorite drink when I visit Oaxaca. Tamarindo is normally sour, but when adding sugar, it tastes like a tangy, sweet and sour dried apricot. By adding smoky Mezcal, it’s like a party in your mouth…well a Mexican Fiesta.

We like to garnish the cocktail with a delicious candied tamarindo chile stick that you can find in many Mexican supermarkets. At Provecho, we go one step further and dust it with warm salt which is traditionally done in Oaxaca with any Mezcal drink.

Yes, yes you heard me right. The salt is blended with toasted Maguey worms found in the Mezcal plant. If you can find some worm salt, I hope that you are adventurous enough to use it.

Tamarindo Oaxaca

Yield 1 cocktail

Ingredients 

• 1.5oz Del Maguey Vida Mezcal
• .75oz Gran Gala
• 2.0oz Tamarindo Syrup
• .75oz Agave
• 1.0oz Fresh squeezed lime juice
• Worm Salt for rim
• Tamarindo sticks for garnish
• Tamarind pods of syrup

 Instructions 

• Add first five above ingredients in a shaker filled with ice.
• Rim glass with lime wedge and add Worm or Kosher salt to the rim.
• Shake and strain into a chilled Martini glass.
• Garnish with a Tamarindo stick.
• Tamarind Syrup Recipe

A Tamarindo Syrup is a great way to add a fruity flavor to any cocktail drink. It is an easy recipe. Removing the pods from their shells will be the hardest part. The Tamarindo pods are naturally sour, but we don’t add any sugar to this recipe so that we have more control over the flavor of our cocktail that we are making.

INGREDIENTS:

• 24 Tamarind pods
• 4 cups of water

DIRECTIONS:

Add 4 cups of water to a 2qt. Sauce Pan and bring to a boil.

While bringing water to a boil remove shells from the Tamarind pods.

Set to the side. Once water has started boiling add Tamarind pods and remove from heat.

Let sit for 1-2 hours stirring occasionally.

Once cooled down use a mesh strainer to transfer syrup to a bowl.

Funnel into a squeeze bottle.

Refrigerate.  Syrup will hold for 3-4 days.

Salud!