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Curacao, the Liqueur

By Jane Ammeson

Fruit too small and bitter to eat yields puckery sweet orange liqueur

When life gives you with lemons, make lemonade. But when life blesses you with puny green bitter oranges, make curacao, the puckery sweet orange liqueur named for this enterprising island.

Laraha fruit — too small and bitter to eat — gets peeled gently with wooden knives, then its skin left to bake in the Caribbean sun to concentrate the pungent oils. Processed with alcohol, water, and spices, they yield authentic curacao. Laraha probably evolved from Valencia oranges imported from Spain in the 1500s, which adapted to the arid climate.

Tweaking recipes handed down for generations, families have perfected their own unique flavors. In 1896, the Senior family was first to market its homemade liqueur, eventually taking over the 17th-century Landhuis Chobolobo. In the groves, craftsmen still pick and peel the oranges by hand. Inside the yellow plantation house with green shutters, an ancient copper still imported from Philadelphia 100 years ago continues to form the famous flavor.

As a concession to modernity, Senior adds tropical blues, oranges, and greens to its traditional clear product, but the flavor remains distinctly curacao. Landhuis Chobolobo opens Monday to Friday 8 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m., no charge, Schottegatweg Oost 129, 599-9-461-3526, curacaoliqueur.com.

Take me shopping in Curacao!