{"id":120885,"date":"2022-11-04T13:24:00","date_gmt":"2022-11-04T12:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/centmagazine.co.uk\/?p=120885"},"modified":"2022-11-15T19:10:40","modified_gmt":"2022-11-15T18:10:40","slug":"elephants-and-gorillaz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.centmagazine.co.uk\/?p=120885","title":{"rendered":"Elephants and Gorillaz"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

You may not particularly know what the marula fruit tastes like when ripe but elephants do.\u00a0As the February month approaches, Marula trees start to produce fruit. During this period, herds of elephants start to move from one Marula tree to the next. Elephants have evolved a strong affiliation with these fruits and pick them up off the ground or from the trees and feed on them with fondness.\u00a0While this fruit might not be well known the culture, purpose, and heritage pack a punch to create an utterly unique gin, Amarula African Gin. Read Elephants and Gorillaz<\/em> to find out more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amarula African Gin X Chef William Chilila <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trees of all kinds are the motherland of the world. Vegetation that provides oxygen, stores carbon, stabilises the soil, a home for wildlife, as well as gives materials for tools and shelter. It\u2019s not often one would comment on the beauty of a tree, but here\u2019s where things change. It is the specialty of countries such as Namibia, Botswana, Swaziland, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe that lies the species of tree, the Marula tree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This tree provides a unique\u00a0and exotic fruit for a spectacular purpose. Among the Zulu people, the marula tree symbolizes\u00a0women’s fertility, softness, and tenderness, and newborn girls are welcomed into the world with traditional marula ceremonies. The Marula tree itself produces a kind of exotic marula fruit, this fruit contributes to Amarula African Gin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each Marula produces hundreds of sweet and highly nutritious fruits, which turn yellow when ripe and are often found on the ground. It is here where elephants have evolved a strong affiliation with these fruits and pick and eat them. Now it is time to harvest the fruit for one of its purposes, Amarula African Gin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Amarula African Gin<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To find out how the marula fruit contributes to creating the utterly unique gin. It is important to learn about the history behind the curious fruit and the tree it is grown from. The Marula tree is known as \u201cThe Marriage Tree\u2019 in Zulu culture as it is believed those who marry beneath its branches will enjoy vigour and fertility all their days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Required to make a unique gin like the Amarula African Gin, is solely the product from the pulp of a fruit. The marula fruit has such a distinctive and unique taste giving the gin such an exotic taste, offering a sweet orange flourish with a spicy backbone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trees can\u2019t be farmed so the wild fruits are only picked by the local community who harvest Marula trees in a conservation way so as to allow regeneration of the tree. In doing so most harvested fruits at the ripe stage are hand-picked from the fallen fruit from the ground. Any fruit that is picked off the tree will be rejected to ensure the sustainability of the product. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Amarula African Gin X Chef William Chilila<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In celebration of the launch- Amarula African Gin partnered with previous Masterchef contestant Chef William Chilila to craft recipes that showcase the distinctive flavour of the marula fruit, and the unique ways that the gin can be used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chef William Chilila created the canapes to celebrate the African nations and his mixed heritage that are the source of the marula trees. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Amarula African Gin Chef William Chilila Bobotie Braised Beef Croquette and Yellow Rice<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are some of the cocktail recipes that you can recreate at home using Amarula African Gin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amarula Gin Martini<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Gin Martini has been around forever, and for good reason. It features just three ingredients \u2013 vermouth, gin, and a choice of garnish, in this case, a basil leaf. The basil leaf compliments the marula fruit. Due to the initial flavor of the basil leaf having pronounced tones of black pepper, this aromatic herb ultimately adds a hint of sweetness to any dish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Amarula African Gin, Amarula Gin Martinti<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amarula Gin Martini Recipe<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ingredients<\/p>\n\n\n\n