Algarrobina

Peru's beloved creamy cocktail featuring pisco blended with sweet carob syrup, evaporated milk, and egg yolk, finished with a dusting of cinnamon.

The Algarrobina is Peru's definitive dessert cocktail, built around a syrup derived from the algarrobo tree — the black carob tree (Prosopis nigra) that grows in the arid coastal and Andean regions of Peru and Ecuador. The algarroba pod produces a thick, dark, sweet syrup when processed, rich in protein and natural sugars, that has been consumed by Andean communities for centuries as both a foodstuff and a natural energy source. Pre-Columbian Peruvian cultures fermented algarroba pods to produce a traditional beverage called aloja, one of the oldest documented fermented drinks in the Americas. Spanish colonial chroniclers of the 16th and 17th centuries documented the algarrobo tree's importance to Andean communities and noted the variety of food and drink preparations made from its fruit. The cocktail that bears the ingredient's name combines algarrobina syrup with pisco, egg yolk, sweetened condensed milk, cream, and cinnamon — a rich, filling combination that functions as a cross between a milkshake, an eggnog, and a brandy Alexander. It is one of the few major world cocktails in which a genuinely indigenous ingredient — the algarroba pod — forms the drink's defining flavor element rather than an imported spirit or European tradition. The Peruvian government has designated March 15th as National Algarrobina Day in recognition of the drink's cultural importance, and it is especially popular at holidays and family gatherings throughout the country.