PORTUGAL: Ginginja

If you haven't tasted ginginja while in Portugal, you're missing out on a national tradition.

Ginginja is a sweet cherry liquor made with sour cherries (ginja), soaked in aguardente (a strong distilled alcohol) and then sugar and cinnamon added to cover the strong alcohol taste.

It is served in a little shot glass and you can have it with the cherry in it, or not. 

It is drank standing up and you can find little standing-room-only ginginja bars throughout the city.

This little bar opened in 1840 and has been in the same family for 5 generations. We were walking by earlier in the morning before the crowds arrived.

Legend has it that there are medicinal benefits to drinking ginginja. Suggested dosage is 6 times per day, starting in the morning and ending at night. Even sick children are served it.

The story goes that there were 2 brothers. One believed in the medicinal benefits and drank it daily, while the other brother didn't believe in the medicinal benefits and didn't drink it. One brother was always happy and the other brother was always unhappy.

Can you guess which brother drank it? 

Not wanting to miss the potential medicinal benefits we decided to give it a try. We chose it with the cherry (since the cherry has been soaked in alcohol.)

We concluded that sticking to the suggested servings were in order.