Uvola de Los Mochis

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Small heavy saucepan
• •Fine-mesh strainer
• •Cocktail shaker (boston or three-piece)
• •Heavy glass tumblers (vaso jarocho or rocks glass)
• •Wooden spoon for crushing grapes

Instructions

1. 1

   Build the grape syrup

   Combine the stemmed grapes, sugar, water, and lime peel in a small heavy saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves, then lower the heat. Let it simmer gently for eight to ten minutes, pressing the grapes against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon as they soften. The grapes will burst and release their deep purple. The kitchen will smell like the agricultural valleys outside Los Mochis at harvest, sweet, slightly green, unmistakable. Pull the pot off the heat the moment the syrup coats the back of the spoon.

2. 2

   Strain and cool

   Pour the syrup through a fine-mesh strainer set over a bowl. Press on the solids with the back of the spoon to extract every drop of color. Discard the skins, seeds, and lime peel. You should have a glossy, deep-purple syrup, somewhere between magenta and ink. Cool to room temperature, then refrigerate until very cold. Warm syrup wrecks a cold drink. No me vengas con atajos.

   The syrup keeps refrigerated for two weeks in a sealed jar. Make a double batch. You will want it again.
3. 3

   Juice the limones

   Roll each lime hard on the counter before cutting. This breaks down the pulp and gets you more juice. Use Mexican limones if you can find them, the small green ones, not the bigger Persian limes you see in supermarkets. The flavor is sharper and more aromatic. Strain the juice to remove the seeds and pulp.

4. 4

   Shake frappé-style

   Fill a cocktail shaker two-thirds full with crushed ice. Add 1/2 cup of the cold grape syrup, the lime juice, and a small pinch of salt. Cap the shaker and shake hard for fifteen seconds. You want the ice to break down a little and the syrup to froth at the top. This is the frappé technique they use in the cantinas along the malecon in Topolobampo: crushed ice, hard shake, served wet. Not a clean stirred drink. A cold, slightly slushy one.

   If you want to rim the glasses, run a lime half around the edge and dip into flaky salt before you start shaking. Sinaloa is salt country and a salt rim earns its place on this drink.
5. 5

   Build and top

   Divide the shaken mixture, ice and all, between four heavy glass tumblers. Top each glass with the cold Topo Chico, pouring slowly down the side so the carbonation stays in the glass and the purple does not dilute too fast. The color will brighten as the bubbles rise. Garnish with a lime wheel and a small cluster of grapes on the stem. Serve immediately. Carbonation does not wait.

Chef Tips

• •The grape variety matters. Uva isabella or concord. Both have that musky, perfumed flavor that store-bought red or green table grapes do not have. If you can only find generic supermarket grapes, the drink will be sweet and pretty but it will not taste like Los Mochis. A substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •Topo Chico is not optional if you can get it. Other sparkling waters are softer and less mineral. Topo Chico has a salinity and a bite that holds up against the syrup. If you cannot find it, use any sparkling mineral water with strong carbonation, not seltzer.
• •Make this only when you are about to drink it. Carbonation dies in twenty minutes. The grape syrup can wait in the refrigerator. The finished drink cannot.

Advance Preparation

• •The grape syrup can be made up to two weeks ahead and stored in a sealed jar in the refrigerator. Shake it before pouring.
• •The lime juice can be squeezed up to four hours ahead and refrigerated. Past that, fresh lime loses its top note and tastes flat.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 260g)