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Mezcalita del Ocaso - Mezcal cocktail with grilled pineapple, chili, and hibiscus agua fresca - Diversivore.com
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Mezcalita del Ocaso

Sunset Mezcal Cocktail - made with grilled marinaded pineapple, lime, cascabel chili, hibiscus agua fresca, and of course bold and smoky mezcal.
Course Cocktails, Drinks
Cuisine Mexican, North American
Keyword cocktail, grilled cocktail, hibiscus, mezcal, mezcalita recipe, pineapple, sunset mezcal cocktail
Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 30 minutes
Marinating 2 hours
Total Time 2 hours 30 minutes
Servings 6 drinks
Calories 110kcal

Ingredients

Roasted Pineapple Puree

  • 1 medium fresh pineapple
  • 45 g piloncillo grated - see note
  • 1 cascabel chili or similar - see note
  • 1/2 cup lime juice freshly squeezed (about 3 large limes' worth)
  • 150 g ice

Hibiscus Agua Fresca

  • 15 g dried hibiscus flowers
  • 2 tbsp honey or agave nectar
  • 1.5 cups water

To Serve (Per Drink)

  • 1 oz mezcal
  • 2.5 oz roasted pineapple puree divided into 2 and 1/2 oz portions
  • 1/2 oz hibiscus agua fresca
  • grilled pineapple wedges (from above) to garnish
  • rehydrated hibiscus flowers (from above) to garnish

Instructions

Roasted Pineapple Puree

  • (Note: the pineapple can be marinaded a day in advance, and the entire mixture, minus ice, can be made up to a day ahead of time in order to speed up drink making). Cut the top third of the pineapple off and set it aside. Peel, core, and cut the remaining bottom two thirds of the pineapple into long, thick pieces. The easiest way to do this is to halve the pineapple the long way, then cut the halves again into long thirds or quarters. At this point, it's easy to cut the skin and the tough core off of the pieces. Note that if you do have a preferred method for cutting pineapple, feel free to use it, as long as it yields pieces large enough to grill.
  • Remove the stem and seeds from the cascabel chili. Toast the chili in a hot, dry skillet for about 2 minutes, or until darkened and fragrant, then remove from heat. When the chili is cool enough to handle, chop it into relatively small pieces.
  • Combine the pineapple, chili, lime juice, and grated piloncillo (or brown sugar) in a large bowl or container. Set aside to marinade for at least 2 hours, or overnight.
  • Remove the pineapple pieces from the marinade, but DO NOT discard the marinade. Cut the reserved pineapple top from step 1 into rings (skin on or off, depending on your presentation preference). Preheat an indoor or outdoor grill to a high heat (about 200 C/400 F). Grill the marinaded pineapple for 5-6 minutes, turning a few times to get a little char all around. Grill the reserved pineapple slices for about 2 minutes per side, or just long enough to leave nice grill marks.
  • Place the grilled marinaded pineapple in a blender or food processor along with the leftover marinade. Blend until smooth. This can be kept refrigerated until ready to use. When you're ready to make the drinks, blend the mixture with the ice cubes until smooth. Cut the grilled un-marinaded pineapple into wedges and set aside.

Hibiscus Agua Fresca

  • (Note this step can be done up to several days in advance) Combine the water and honey in a sauce pan and bring to a gentle boil.
  • Add the hibiscus flowers and reduce to a simmer. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, strain out the flowers and refrigerate the liquid and flowers separately (ensure that the liquid has cooled completely before using).

To Serve

  • If you haven't already done so, blend the pineapple with the ice until smooth.
  • Add 1 oz (30 ml) of mezcal to a martini glass. Pour 2 oz (60 ml) of the pineapple puree over this and mix gently.
  • Mix the hibiscus agua fresca with the remaining 1/2 oz (15 ml) of pineapple puree and pour gently over the drink. It should settle in patches or a spiral in the drink.
  • Garnish with a roasted pineapple wedge and/or pineapple with hibiscus flours. Serve immediately

Notes

Piloncillo is Mexican cane sugar. It generally comes in blunt-ended cones, and it's usually quite hard. Grating it with a fine box grater or microplane yields airy and soft light brown sugar that can easily be incorporated into a number of dishes. If you can't find piloncillo, you can substitute a light brown sugar, or even a pure crystalline cane sugar, though you'll want to ensure that you dissolve it well in the lime juice.
Cascabel, or rattle chilies, are a mild and versatile Mexican dried chili.  If you can't find them, you could substitute a small guajillo (or even half of one), or a puya chili.  If you want to actually feel some heat in the drink, you could use an equivalent weight of arbol or dried bird's eye chilies.  If you can't find any of these, use 1 tsp of the best quality crushed chilies you can find, preferably with few or no seeds.

Nutrition

Calories: 110kcal | Carbohydrates: 27g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 0.02g | Saturated Fat: 0.002g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.005g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.002g | Sodium: 4mg | Potassium: 42mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 22g | Vitamin A: 50IU | Vitamin C: 57.8mg | Calcium: 20mg | Iron: 0.2mg