Delicious Rum Sour Cocktail with Cara Cara Oranges

This post will show you exactly how to make the most of your Cara Cara oranges and turn them into a delicious Rum Sour cocktail recipe! 

Cara Cara oranges are at their prime from January all the way to April! These delicious grapefruit navel orange hybrids are honestly begging to be put into a delicious Spring cocktail. I went directly towards a dark rum sour cocktail to really accentuate some floral, sweet, and vanilla notes.

This is an original Sweet Recipe of mine that I will be sharing with you! I will go through exactly what I used, what you will need, and give you some helpful tips along the way! Let’s get right into it. I call this:

“Easy Street” 

What You Will Need

Alcohol:

The base for this rum sour cocktail will be a delicious dark rum of course! I have chosen to use a Barbados rum called Mount Gay Black Barrel. This rum is robust with notes of vanilla, orange, black pepper, and toffee! All of these notes are going to blend so well with the fresh juice we will be using! Feel free to get creative with this recipe and use two different rums if you want to deepen the complexity of flavor! I got this bottle of rum at Total Wine and More.

The next two special ingredients I will be using to add some dimension to this cocktail are liqueurs! First up we have Tempus Fugit Spirits Crème De Banane. This is by far the BEST banana liqueur I have ever tried. How they get the fresh taste of banana so pure? I have no idea! Also there is no syrup like taste at all, this stuff is just unreal! I picked up my bottle at Total Wine and More. This is a must have for your home bar!

Next up we have the second liqueur, St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram. This stuff right here is pure heaven! You don’t need to add much because it really packs a punch, but it is one of my favorite ingredients to add to rum cocktails! They actually macerate allspice berries in Jamaica to bring out the wonderful flavors in this liqueur. There are notes of pepper, cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg. All the amazing baking spice flavors you could ever ask for are pouring out of this bottle! I picked up my bottle at Total Wine and More!

Fresh Citrus and Other Ingredients:

We are celebrating Cara Cara oranges in this cocktail so of course we will be using Fresh Cara Cara Juice! I will never make a cocktail without using fresh juice and you shouldn’t either! It’s the most simple way to elevate your cocktails to the next level, trust me on this one! Juicing fruit is a lot easier to accomplish when you have the right tools. In the photo above I am using my Stainless Steel Hand Pressed Citrus Juicer. This thing is truly one of the best items I own! It has an ease to the squeeze, its own pour spout, and it’s really easy to make individual cocktails with on the fly! This is honestly a great addition to any kitchen/home bar.

As if this tasty rum sour cocktail didn’t have enough flavor, we are going to add some Homemade Chamomile Simple Syrup! Just like in the name, simple syrup is extremely easy to make! We will just be using a 1:1 ratio. This means equal parts sugar to hot water with the special addition of loose chamomile tea in this case! You can definitely play with the ratio of sugar to water with simple syrups depending on the cocktail. Also, you can use different types of sugar to change the texture and flavor. Below I will show you how to whip up a quit batch of this tasty syrup!

Chamomile Simple Syrup:

• In pot on the stove add 1 cup of water and 1 cup of white sugar
• Turn heat up to medium high and make sure you stir consistently
• Once sugar starts to dissolve add 1/4th cup of loose Chamomile Tea
• Keep stirring
• Once mixture is coming to a slight boil turn down the heat to a very low setting
• Continue stirring and then take your syrup off of the heat
• Let mixture sit to cool for about 30 minutes
• Strain out the loose Chamomile leaves and store in a air tight bottle of your choice
• Syrup will remain good in the fridge for up to 3-4 weeks

I love to store my syrups and juices in small glass bottles with pour spouts like pictured above. These little bottles fit into the fridge with ease and add a really professional aspect to your home bar! Always remember to label and date your bottles so you can assure you’re always serving the most fresh and delicious product. I get most of my bottles from Amazon. You can check out an awesome set that comes with everything you will need RIGHT HERE!

Another crucial ingredient is Egg Whites! Egg whites are an awesome way to give an extra creaminess and froth to a cocktail! You don’t need to use much. I actually use egg whites straight from a carton that have already been separated for me. You can pick up egg whites at any local grocery store, just make sure they are pasteurized.

When using egg whites in a cocktail you will use a technique called Dry Shaking before you shake again with ice. Dry shaking just means shaking a cocktail vigorously without any ice in the tin. This allows proteins in the egg whites to awaken and stretch out which results in a foamy texture. After it is strained, the foam resides on the top of your cocktail giving it a layered and professional appearance.

If you are Vegan don’t fret! There are several good options as replacements. The top two would be Aquafaba or Fee Brothers Fee Foam.

Aquafaba is the liquid that chickpeas sit in. You can buy a can of chickpeas from the store, strain out the water, and there it is! This foams up your cocktail easily and actually doesn’t have any taste that I have ever picked up on. It’s a great egg white substitute.

Fee Brothers Fee Foam comes in a bottle with a dropper. This allows you to put a couple droplets into a cocktail before shaking and voila! It also will give your cocktail the same creamy and frothy result. You can check out Fee Brothers Fee Foam RIGHT HERE!

Saline Solution:

This next ingredient for this rum sour cocktail is optional but HIGHLY recommended.

Recently I have been adding a bit of salt to my cocktails. It is addicting once you see what it does for the drink. Just like in food, salt enhances all of the ingredients in a cocktail! Specifically in this rum sour the salt really brings the Cara Cara juice to life! The cool part is you don’t need much. I used to add actual grains of salt before shaking, but then I learned about  20% Saline Solution! This is just a mixture of Kosher Salt and Water and you can make it at home!

• 40 ml Water : 10 g Kosher Salt

All you need to do is mix those ingredients together until dissolved and store in a glass bottle that has a dropper! Most cocktails only need about 1 or 2 drops of this solution to really make it pop! You can check out a glass with a dropper RIGHT HERE!

Bar Supplies:

The main component you will need for this rum sour cocktail is a shaker. I usually use a Boston shaker when building my cocktails, but recently for guests and for filming I have been using a Glass Cobbler Shaker! I love the look of this shaker and the ease of the pour. This particular shaker has a built in strainer! When you shake a cocktail you are diluting it and building it in volume at the same time! This is a crucial step for most drink builds. If you want to check out the glass shaker that I use you can do so right HERE!

P.S. since this cocktail has egg whites, you will need to Dry Shake before shaking again with ice! Basically this means shaking the cocktail with all of the ingredients with NO ICE first. This breaks down the protein in the egg whites which creates that beautiful layer of foam that rests on top of the final product.

The next bar tool that you will need is a Jigger. Jiggers are what you use to measure the ingredients you are adding into your cocktail! This is a necessary tool to have for your home bar. A great cocktail is balanced, beautiful, and consistent! You can achieve all of that by actively using a jigger when you are building your drinks.

My jigger shown above ranges from 1/4th oz to 2 oz.If you want to check out one identical to mine you can do so RIGHT HERE!

I must say that when I was just a beginner in the bartending world, I used a jigger that was much more simplified. It was great and truly let me build my skills with confidence. This jigger has only one side, very clear measurement lines, and a pour spout! If you’re just beginning and want to use this jigger to learn I will link the exact one I used to use RIGHT HERE!

A couple of the measurements we will be using in this rum sour cocktail are very small! I measure these out by using a Bar spoon. This is an easy way to get a little less than 1/4 oz of an ingredient. Bar spoons are definitely a must have at home bar tool. They can be found in most stores like Total Wine and More, Bev mo, or even on Amazon RIGHT HERE!

Garnish:

Garnishes are a way to really bring your cocktail full circle. Not only do garnishes reel you in aesthetically, they also awaken your senses with fresh aromas!

With this cocktail we will be expressing a fresh large peel of Cara Cara orange over the top and sides of the glass. You peel a large piece of the Cara Cara skin with a Y-Peeler. Then you take that peel, face it skin side down and squeeze right in half over the top of the cocktail! This releases all of the oils in the peel. I then like to rub the peel around the circumference of the glass so you can taste it in every sip!

P.S. Be EXTREMELY careful when using a Y-Peeler. They are sharp and move quickly so just be very attentive.

Once you have expressed your beautiful cocktail you will want to very thinly slice a full wheel of the Cara Cara and rest it on top! This will have your cocktail looking and smelling absolutely amazing!!

I do recommend that if you are starting to create multiple cocktails at home, you should invest in your own personal Bartending Kit. Most come with everything you will need as a beginner while others provide several items for more complex creations. I will put links to both a beginners set, and a more advanced set on Amazon below!

Beginners Kit : HERE

Advanced Kit : HERE

 

Let’s Build!