Caprinhas --- Great Summer Cooler

This is a great Brazilian drink, very healthy. One of my Brazilian students, Helena, taught me this one. She also brought the cachaca (pronounced kashasa), which is a coconut-based liquor, with her in a fabulous pottery container shaped like a coconut.

Brazilians like their Caprinhas very sweet, but you can cut the sugar down a bit.
Apparently you can make Caprinhas with any fruit you have around, but the limes are terrific. Also, you can use vodka or Ypioca (sugar cane liquor) instead of cachaca.

Serve to your guests when they arrive --- it really makes for an immediate recovery from the blasting heat outside.

You can also make each drink separately and muddle the lime and sugar for each drink separately in the glass.

Caprinha

Ingredients: (makes 4 drinks)
4 limes
1/2 cup sugar
4 shots (oz.) of cachaca
ice

Instructions:
An hour or so in advance, put the glasses into the freezer (use old-fashioneds, i.e. short, fat glasses, for this drink).
Cut the limes into quarters and cut out the white pith but leave the peel.
Put the lime quarters and 1/4 cup sugar into a medium sized bowl or large (4 cup) measuring cup.
Using a pestle (wooden if you have one), muddle (press into a mush) the limes and sugar together, to get out both the juice and the oil from the lime peel.
Add the cachaca to the mixture.
Put the other 1/4 cup sugar into a small bowl for dipping the rims of the glasses.
Take the glasses out of the freezer.
Dip each glass in the lime mixture and then into the dry sugar.
Put the sugar remaining from dipping the glasses into the lime mixture and stir.
Fill the glasses 3/4 full of ice cubes.
Pour the lime mixture into each glass and add 4 lime quarters to each glass.