If aguardente de medronho sounds a bit fearsome to you then you may want to try melosa. Melosa is a liqueur that is much more friendly than straight aguardente de medronho. It’s a liqueur made of medronho blended with honey and sometimes spices like cinnamon or vanilla. It results in a pleasant experience and a sweet liqueur that is again served as a digestif. It’s actually where we recommend you start if you’re tipping your toes into the medronho world. You’ll find it mostly in the places that have both considerable honey and aguardente production like Monchique. 4. Ginja or Ginjinha Brown WE, Wood CD, and Smith AN. Sodium cyanide as a cancer chemotherapeutic agent: laboratory and clinical studies. Amer J Obstet Gyn 1960;80(5):907-918. Today we bring you a few producers which specialize and are the first in the country to produce this kind of liqueur, some of them being up to 21% off. This is one of those liqueurs you should definitely try out, if you err on the adventurous side and have tried things like Ginjinha and other characteristic Portuguese inventions.

Aguardente literally translates as firewater and it has quite the reputation in Portugal. It’s believed that it gets its name for the burning sensation it leaves in your throat! The supermarket variety is usually around 40%, but most locals will tell you it can be found at around 70% if you know who to ask.

Gill, J. R., Marker, E., and Stajic, M. Suicide by cyanide: 17 deaths. J Forensic Sci 2004;49(4):826-828. View abstract.

Khandekar, J. D. and Edelman, H. Studies of amygdalin (laetrile) toxicity in rodents. JAMA 7-13-1979;242(2):169-171. View abstract. The bitter almond ( Prunus dulcis var. amara), [3] despite growing plentifully around the Algarve region, was never commonly harvested or consumed. This was due not only to its remarkably bitter flavour, but also to the high concentration of cyanide in its drupes, which can cause severe or even lethal effects if ingested in large amounts. [4] Milazzo, S., Ernst, E., Lejeune, S., and Schmidt, K. Laetrile treatment for cancer. Cochrane.Database.Syst.Rev 2006;(2):CD005476. View abstract. Beamer, W. C., Shealy, R. M., and Prough, D. S. Acute cyanide poisoning from laetrile ingestion. Ann.Emerg.Med 1983;12(7):449-451. View abstract.Anonymous. Report by the cancer commission of the California Medical Association: the treatment of cancer with "laetriles". California Med 1953;78(4):320-326.

Morrone JA. Chemotherapy of inoperable cancer: preliminary report of 10 cases treated with laetrile. J Exper Med Surg 1962;20:299-308.

Amarguinha

O'Brien, B., Quigg, C., and Leong, T. Severe cyanide toxicity from 'vitamin supplements'. Eur J Emerg.Med 2005;12(5):257-258. View abstract. Soranzo, N., Bufe, B., Sabeti, P. C., Wilson, J. F., Weale, M. E., Marguerie, R., Meyerhof, W., and Goldstein, D. B. Positive selection on a high-sensitivity allele of the human bitter-taste receptor TAS2R16. Curr Biol 7-26-2005;15(14):1257-1265. View abstract. In the Algarve, aguardente de medronho is perhaps the most popular. The medronho is a small spikey fruit found across southern Portugal, it’s also called a strawberry tree fruit. It has nothing to do with strawberries though and tastes nothing like them. The result is a clear alcohol that is usually drank neat as a digestif. It’s both very traditional and a typical drink in the south of Portugal. Similarly to aguardente, you’ll find the supermarket variety hovers around 40%, but the local and homemade stuff can get much much stronger. If you listen to the locals, they’ll tell you it can heal everything from sore throats to stomach conditions. If you don’t fancy purchasing a whole bottle of the stuff, many bars and cafés will sell shots for less than €1. Strawberry Tree Fruit (Arbutus unedo) 3 Melosa Messiha, F. S. Effect of almond and anis oils on mouse liver alcohol dehydrogenase, aldehyde dehydrogenase and heart lactate dehydrogenase isoenzymes. Toxicol.Lett. 1990;54(2-3):183-188. View abstract.