The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1912-04-27
VARIED AND BEWILDERING
IS THE Triple OF CUBA

The old colored cook in Cuba when
she goes to market can pick out the
pork obtained from pigs which have
been fed on sugar cane alone, and she
refuses to purchase any other, No
one can cheat her into buying alcohol
made from any other source, either
Some foreigners may not know real
aguardiente, pure and undefiled sugar
cane made, but she does. She bathes
her face in it. sips it, rubs the baby
with it, puts drop Of it in the babyS
hot soup, makes a cross on the fore
head as a charm against evil spells
with the aguardiente and thanks heav-
en- for the ever present remedy. 1t
restores her spirits as efTcaciOusly as
French cognac does her Spanish mas
ter's.
Should wound be received rem.
edy is at hand; the sore is bathed in
aguardiente, a little is taken for the
Gtomach's sake, and all is we'll Aguar-
diente is as close, even much closer at
hand often than is water, and it is the
remedy of all remedies for every i'll
flesh is heir to among the majority Of
natives. Sometimes it is used to spice
hot cup Of tea made from the leaf
of the orange tree or a distilled hot
tea called tia.
All the infirmities of man are sup
posed in Cuba to be helped, if not
cured, by a drink of some kind, hot
or cold or tepid, but iced, never. What
a flying In the face of Providence to
a Cuban it is to drink iced anything.
Tea as known in other countries is
slightly esteemed and seldom used.
AS to water, yes, it is used as a
drink in every house. But it is ma
tural water. A "tineja" for water
stands in every home, enclosed by
Stats of mahogany or carved teakwood
and ivory, according to the owners
wealth, and in the large. porous earth
ern jar within is water, but ice, never.
In the poorer houses swings the
"porron" somewhere in the circulat-
ing air 1t is a porous earthenware
bottle You drink from it directly by
throwing back your head and posing
it, deftly aiming the stream from the
right spout-for there are two, one
to drink from, the other to fill it by
straight down the throat. No water
ever tastes better, even from a cocoa
nut gourd, but practice alone can
make perfect in dexterity with the
"porron"
But perhaps you cannot learn. Ola!
you must be a foreigner, "un estran
jero." Oh, well, then there are other
arrangements to suit you better
Quick servidor, bring something to
drink-for no native ever releases
visitor without offering him something
cooling to drink.
Tamarind is cooling to foreign blood
1t is served as a crushed pulp mixed
with sugar and water. Perhaps you
prefer a refreshing dring of crushed
pineapple-but pineapple in its native
juicy, normal state and superiority
There are a hundred "refrescos" Of
juicy fruits ever at hand, from the
anon, the custard apple planted in the
Garden of Eden by mother Nature, tc
the chirimoza, the papaya and scores
of others. Their names may be un
pronounceable to the stranger, but are
glibly rolled off by the residents o.
the Garden of Eden, as every native
calls his beloved island.
Then there are the panales. These
are made of sugar and white of egg
dried in the form of honeycombs, and
a jar of them is usually found on tor
of every tineia ready for use, while
stacks of them are visible in all the
cafes, Pleasant to the palate? OF
course. Every one finds them useful
in cutting the dust from the throat
in the Garden of Eden" where the
heat makes the mouth like a dry
sponge, Simple? Yes, very; so are
the delectable lime drinks so abund
ant, the real thing and not connections