LADIES ONLY M is for Mamajuana, Mangu and Morir Soñando

Matilda

RIP Lindsay
Sep 13, 2006
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We have now reached letter M in my A to Z of the Dominican Republic and there are so many things starting with letter M it was hard to choose. In the end I have chosen three of my favourite things, all of which are quintessentially Dominican.

Mamajuana is what my husband calls in his interesting English, 'Rum with esticks'. It is basically rum, red wine and honey poured into a bottle which is full of bits of tree bark, twigs and herbs. The herbs and bark were originally used by the Taino Indians with hot water to make a medicinal tea, and this has now been replaced by alcohol. Mamajuana is said to act as an aphrodisiac, in fact it is sometimes known as el para palo, literally 'lift the stick', a flu remedy, an aid to digestion and the circulation, a blood cleanser and a tonic for the liver and kidney. It is usually served as a shot and often restaurants will give you one on the house after a meal.

The name Mamajuana actually comes from the English word demi john - the name of the large bottle with a narrow neck, which is traditionally used for making it. Demi john comes from the french word for the same bottle, which are known there as Dame Jeanne. Instead of Lady Joan it has ended up as Mother Joan in Spanish.

The herbs vary from recipe to recipe and can be bought in packets or inside the empty bottle for you to prepare yourself. The herbs will usually include a range of medicinal plants such as anamu, season vine, princess vine, maguey leaves, and West Indian milk berry, plus cinnamon, cloves, star anise and basil. The first thing to do is to take the bitterness out of the herbs and twigs by filling the bottle with red wine or gin and leaving it for around a week before throwing it away. Then you refill the bottle with 1/4 honey and 3/4 rum, and it is ready to drink. Some people will add more red wine as well as the honey and rum. The longer you leave it the more potent it is. You can keep refilling the bottle some say up to 20 times before starting again.

My second M is for Mangu. Apparently the word comes from Americans, who tried it when they invaded the Dominican Republic in the early 20th Century. They sat there eating mangu and said "Man, good", and as Dominicans usually leave the ends of the words it became known as mangu. Mangu is made by boiling green plantain bananas and then mashing them with salt and pepper, butter and a little water or milk. It is traditionally eaten for breakfast with fried salami, fried eggs and fried cheese. It is very addictive and is one of my favourite Dominican meals.

My third M is for a drink called Morir Soñando which means to die dreaming, and this really is a dreamy drink. It is basically freshly squeezed orange juice, milk, sugar and ice all mixed together, and drunk very cold. Instead of milk, many people use evaporated milk and some will use a different juice. My favourite is with freshly squeezed grapefruit juice and evaporated milk - absolutely delicious. You do have to be very careful to keep all the ingredients cold or it will curdle. There is a recipe here which gives you the quantities of each ingredient and advice on how to make it.

What is your M?
 

AlterEgo

Administrator
Staff member
Jan 9, 2009
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South Coast
M is for mama or madre.  With the possible exception of Italians, I’ve never seen men and women so devoted to their mothers, who usually rule the roost, even with macho men. 

I like mangu, but we make it with EVOO instead of butter, adding enough of the water it was boiled in to make it uniformly creamy. Topped with fried onions (please hold the vinegar for me). 
 

Meemselle

Just A Few Words
Oct 27, 2014
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I am not a fan of mamajuana, but I can tell you that Manishewitz kosher wine (the nasty sweet stuff like the heavy malaga) works really well in mamajuana recipes.

I am also not a fan of mango or mangu, but I am quite devoted to morir soñando.

And although it rings in my ears when I am here, I find when I leave the island for my semi-annual sojourns in other lands, I do miss the constant call of "Moto! Moto!"
 

Jelly

Member
Nov 7, 2013
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M, for me, is for Mercedes.
1. It stands for my amazing mother-in-law who bears that name and I absolutely, positively adore her!
2. When my husband and I first started dating, many moons ago, one of the things we bonded over was our shared Catholic faith. Turned out that I was a week-week practicing Catholic while my Dominican husband rarely attended services but had grown up in the faith and still considered himself Catholic. He'd send me to church with his amazing Mama Mercedes, but would rarely come too. Like all relationships, we finally reached a point that we had to decide if we were going to be serious about this relationship and really commit to the next steps. He picked me up one morning, early (which is unlike him) and off we went in the car - towards Moca. I love that drive up through the mountains so I thought it was a nice drive. But, we kept going. To Santo Cerro; to the Nuestra Sra. de las Mercedes Sanctuary. I'd never been before but that's right up my alley. Had the conversation about faith again and committed to a full fledged relationship that day. We were married 3 years later.

M. It's for Mercedes :)