Happy Aloha Friday! I have a new fun cocktail to share with you all - Li Hing Pineapple Coconut Margaritas. These margaritas are made with Kapena Li Hing Tequila. Kapena sent me two bottles to photograph and create cocktails with their delicious liquor.
I adore all things li hing. Li Hing or also known as li hing mui is salted dried plum. It is sweet, tarty, salty, tangy and sour. It can be eaten as a snack as the dried plum nuggets or made into a powder that flavors many things from candies, other dried fruits and used in cocktails.
Infusing liquors has been around forever but it seems to be making a comeback as of late. I spied Kapena tequila on instagram and was immediately intrigued. Kapena is 100% agave tequila that comes from select blue Weber agave plants from the Los Altos region of Jaliso, Mexico. Li Hing Mui is infused into the tequila then poured into gorgeous hand forged glass bottles.
I as a little over ambitious the other day thinking I could make and photograph 4 recipes in a day. Usually I get through one if I am lucky. Thankfully these were all recipes I have made a ton of times so I was able to make and photo those quickly enough, but I was running out of time to photograph these li hing pineapple coconut margaritas before my photo room was filled with sunlight. It makes for gorgeous full-sun photos, but it gets HOT and everything melts quickly, including me.
I have been loving seeing the full-sun photo trend lately, especially with cocktails. The color of the tequila reminds me of sunshine, that bright 0range-yellow from the li hing mixed with pineapple and coconut makes for a very happy looking cocktail.
I have been on a kick lately with bright images with orange, reds, yellows and aquas. Probably because I am missing Hawaii a lot lately, so I am filling my life with the colors of Hawaii. These images remind me of a bright sunny day on Hawaii and I am over the moon that one of my plumeria trees is blooming like mad. I love being able to use the blooms in my images and they smell amazing too.
I have a Li Hing Guava margarita recipe on my blog already, with the glass rimmed in li hing margarita salt from my fave Hawaiian spice company, Salty Wahine. I used the salt on the pineapple spear garnish for these cocktails. I also used a new coconut liqueur I came across recently in place of the curacao in many Margarita recipes. I also used a pineapple gum syrup in place of traditional simple syrup.
I am all for taking the margarita recipe and making it as unique and as individual as possible. Of course I tend to lean towards the tropical like with my spicy mango margaritas and my pineapple vanilla margaritas. I also have coconut margaritas on my blog already too, but this is my first for pineapple coconut margaritas!
Li Hing Pineapple Coconut Margaritas
Equipment
- Kapena Li Hing Tequila
Ingredients
- 3 Oz Kapena Li Hing Tequila
- 1 oz Kalani Coconut Liqueur
- 4 oz pineapple juice
- 2 oz coconut water
- ½ oz lime juice
- ½ oz Small Hand Foods pineapple gum syrup
- Few dashes tiki bitters
Garnish:
- 1 " Pineapple chunks on a bamboo spear
- li hing margarita salt
Instructions
- Skewer 3 pineapple chunks on a bamboo spear and sprinkle liberally with li hing salt. Make a second skewer. Set aside
- Fill two collins glasses most of the way with pebble ice.
- Combine all of the cocktail ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice and shake until well chilled. Divide between glasses, add more ice if needed.
- Garnish with a pineapple spear. Serve immediately.
Notes
I hope you enjoy these li hing pineapple coconut margaritas as much as I do! You can find Kapena Tequila at a variety of retailers in Hawaii, California, Nevada and Washington. There is a list of which stores on their site.
I get Li Hing margarita salt from Salty Wahine. You can also find it on Amazon. (affiliate link)
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