Amarula

Amarula is a Wild Fruit Cream liqueur with 17% vol. from South Africa, produced from the fruit of the marula tree ( Sclerocarya birrea ) of the family Anacardiaceae.

Background

The Marula tree, also called elephant tree, is rooted in the culture, the romance and the legends of Africa. It grows only in sub-equatorial Africa - Wildlife Reserve in Kruger National Park, Botswana, Swaziland, Namibia and Zimbabwe - and is not found elsewhere.

The marula trees, but the leaves are still rich, drought- resistant, reaching heights of 9-18 m and carry up to 500 kg per year and more fruit. Normally, the male and female flowers appear in spring on different trees, but occasionally they can also occur on the same tree. The male flowers produce pollen, while the female trees in midsummer ultimately bear the yellow marula fruit.

The first olive, then harvest ripe golden fruit of the female Marula tree are in February, the South African midsummer harvested. The fruit has an elongated shape and the size of a medium-sized plum. The ripe fruit has a leathery skin that wraps white, fibrous flesh and a large stone. The marula fruit is rich in vitamin C, potassium, calcium and magnesium. The block comprises two or three rings, which are rich in oil and protein.

Production

After she has matured under the African sun, so in the African high summer, the fruit is harvested. The ripe summer fruit that has fallen to the ground, is collected by the inhabitants and brought to several collection points. The harvest workers are paid by the kilogram and the revenue that they generate through the harvest, for their families are a valuable source of income.

With the harvested fruit, the cores are removed, the meat is pressed out from the shell and then fermented. After the fermentation process of fresh marula wine is distilled twice and then stored the distillate two years in small oak barrels. Finally, fresh cream is added and filled the finished liqueur in bottles. The Amarula Cream Liqueur is known as the "Spirit of Africa" ​​and available in more than 100 countries worldwide.

Elephants research and conservation

An image that many associate with the Marula tree, is a scene from the classic film The Animals Are Beautiful People of 1974. Shows you how elephants relish eating the ripe marula fruit and then behave as if intoxicated. Biologists doubt, however, that elephants can get drunk by eating the fermenting marula fruit, since the alcohol content of the fruit is rather low (about 3-7 %). The observed noise conditions of the animals based on the findings of researchers much more to the toxic, living in the bark beetle dolls that eat the animals.

The attachment to the pachyderms shows Amarula not only with the design on the bottle label, the brand also supports the long-term elephant research in order to protect the elephants and to maintain the population. Therefore, the " Amarula Elephant Research Programme " ( AERP ) was created in 2002 under the direction of Professor Rob Slotow of the KwaZulu -Natal University in Durban / South Africa to life. This explores primarily the way of life, range of motion and behavior of African elephants with the aim of protecting the habitat of elephants and to secure their future in the wild.

Awards

2012 Amarula has been honored with the New York International Spirits Competition as a liqueur of the year two times with gold.

Distribution

Manufacturer of the liqueur Amarula is the Distillers Corporation of Stellenbosch in South Africa; German importer is the Semper idem Underberg GmbH in Rheinberg, the Amarula also distributes many other fine spirits with the Diversa specialties GmbH in Germany.