🥃 Curaçao

Blue, orange or clear: curaçao is the orange liqueur behind many cocktails, named after the Caribbean island of Curaçao, where the bitter laraha orange grows; the dried peel of this fruit gives the original liqueur its aroma. For the EU it is simply a liqueur: at least 15 % alcohol and 100 g/l of sweetening. ¹⁵

The laraha. According to the producer Senior & Co, the Spaniards brought the Valencia orange after conquering the island in 1499, and the first seeds came from Hispaniola in 1527. The scorching sun and arid climate turned the fruit bitter and almost inedible, but planters later found that the sun-dried peels held essential oils with a very pleasant scent; the plant was named Citrus aurantium currassuviensis. ¹

In the orchard. The laraha plantation lies in the east of the island. Each tree, about three metres tall, bears 150–200 fruits, which give 25–35 kg of dried peel, and is harvested twice a year; the fruit is picked green, just before ripening, together with a piece of the twig so that the knot does not dry up. ²

The peels. Each laraha is cut by hand into four roughly triangular sections, once with a wooden knife so as not to stain the peel. The peels then dry in the sun for five days on a large concrete floor and are covered at night and in rain so that they never get wet. ²

Distillation. The peels go into a jute bag with spices, which hangs for three days in a heated copper still with 250 litres of 96 % cane alcohol; after a day of cooling the bag is removed, water is added and distillation continues for three more days. One run gives 208 litres of distillate, to which 400 kg of sugar and more water are added before three days of filtering; the whole process is done by hand and takes about 17 days. ²

Senior & Co. The company says it was founded in 1896 by Edgar Senior and Haim Mendes Chumaceiro in a drugstore called Botika Excelsior, where the first Senior's Curaçao was made. It still distils with wooden tools and the same copper kettle at the Landhuis Chobolobo estate, its orange-shaped laraha bottle has stayed the same for over 70 years, and the liqueur is kosher certified. ³

A name without protection. Senior & Co itself points out that a liqueur called curaçao does not have to be distilled on the island, unlike Champagne or Tequila, and says it is the only brand using laraha peel. ¹ Its range includes Blue Curaçao at 31 % and a Curaçao Triple Sec at 31 % and 40 %. ³⁴

EU rules. Under Regulation (EU) 2019/787 a liqueur needs at least 15 % alcohol and, in most cases, 100 g/l of sweetening products. Citrus fruit liqueurs, which include orange liqueurs, may be flavoured only with flavouring foodstuffs, flavouring preparations and natural flavouring substances. ⁵

Why it matters to you. The blue and orange colours come from added certified colourings, not from the fruit, and the clear version is the original distillate. ² Curaçao is a liqueur, so a glass contains both alcohol and a lot of sugar. ⁵ The WHO stresses that there is no safe level of alcohol consumption. ⁶