Since I live in an extremely hot place, where temperatures are hardly below 35 ºC, (although in the month of December they usually drop to 30 ºC or even lower, but for a short period of time); then I would be lying if I said that here we consume hot drinks for Christmas, such as punches or spiced wines, although we do drink a punch that does not have any medicinal plant and is based on eggs and milk. We also have a drink called "carato", which is made with corn, papelón (brown sugar) and sweet spices, such as guayabita, cloves, anise, cinnamon. But, I wanted to make a drink, which although it is not traditional, since I have invented it today, that is, I had never seen it before nor had I consumed it, it is similar to another traditional Venezuelan drink, which is typical of these holidays as is the "guarapita" which is made from fruit juices and a white cane liquor. But what I bring today I have named STARRY CHRISTMAS SPRITZER.

In my country, Venezuela, it is very rare to know the term SPRITZER, in fact, first time I read that word when I saw it in the contest invitation post, so I had to research what it meant, and I found several definitions that could be summarized as follows: Cold alcoholic beverage, whose base is carbonated or carbonated water and some liquor, preferably white wine. Reading this, I thought I could make my own version of a spritzer, and with this in mind I realized an idea that had long been going around in my head, and that is to take advantage of the syrup I get when I am making sweet of yellow or star currant (Phyllanthus acidus), that's why I included the term STARRY, in the name. Let's see what this recipe is all about.

• Preparation time: The whole process, approximately 1 hour.

• Servings: You get a good 500 ml drink, and there is syrup left over to make another similar drink.

• 500 grams of yellow or starred currants.

• 250 grams of white sugar.

• 50 ml of liqueur (I used Venezuelan rum).

• 200 ml of soda or sparkling water.

• Ice to taste, (I used 200 grams).

• Mint or lemon balm leaves, in my case I used lemon balm (Lippia alba), because my mint plant died, they are very delicate.

• 1 teaspoon of salt to extract the acid from the fruits.

• ½ teaspoon of baking soda, to disinfect the leaves.

• 400 ml of water to obtain the syrup.

• Enough water to wash and rinse the fruits and leaves of lemon balm.

• Pots, pitchers, spoons, strainer, long or tall glass, shaker (I used a drink stirrer, I don't have a shaker), etc.

In my backyaard I can harvest some of the ingredients for this preparation, such as yellow currants and lemon balm leaves. Here you can see that from two branches, I got 2.1 kg of fruits. I harvested the leaves directly from the plant.

From the harvested fruit, I extract 500 grams, which I proceed to boil in salted water for 5-10 minutes. This procedure is essential, since the acids in yellow currants are so corrosive that they can damage tooth enamel. Once boiled, I strain them and rinse them in plenty of fresh water.

Once the currants are rinsed, I add 400 ml of water and 250 grams of white sugar, and put them to cook over medium-high heat, stirring from time to time, until the liquid is reduced by half and acquires a strong pink color, (approximately 20 minutes). This is how I obtain the syrup that is a fundamental part of this recipe and gives it its name..

While the syrup is being made, I disinfect the lemon balm leaves, for which I wash them with fresh water to remove the dust, and then soak them in clean water with baking soda for 20 minutes. Then I rinse them well and set aside.

To prepare the drink, I proceed to place the ice in the glass, then I add 100 ml of the syrup obtained from the yellow currants, then I add 50 ml of rum, 3 lemon balm leaves and stir well so that the leaves expel their smell and flavor in the drink; and finally the soda; I proceed to stir and it is ready to taste. If we use a cocktail shaker we can place the ingredients in the same order.

Now then, why did I choose these two medicinal plants to make this drink? Well, the reason for that is, firstly because they are both DELICIOUS, and secondly because they offer certain benefits to the human body, for example:

• Lemon balm is a good digestive, which in this festive season is very useful, especially after Christmas dinner.

• Yellow or star currant favors the elimination of toxins from our body and there is a belief that it can prevent cancer. Although I have not written about it, I have some friends, who are of Arab nationality, who love this fruit and use it to treat problems related to the urinary and respiratory systems. In fact, one of them is a bladder cancer survivor, and he strongly believes that by eating these currants, he eliminates the possibility of a recurrence. His wife also says that this plant helps her to expel some polyps that form recurrently in her sinuses. They both eat this fruit either raw or lightly cooked. For me in particular it is very favorable as a diuretic, because my frequency and volume of urination are increased, that is to say, it does have a depurative effect on the organism.

So, you have the reasons to have chosen both plants for this Christmas drink.

As for the taste of this spritzer, it is simply AMAZING AND DELICIOUS. I invite you to make your own version, either with or without alcohol, varying the liquor and the fruits to obtain the syrup and also the proportion of ingredients. I highly recommend it.

• These photos are my own, and were taken with a Xiomi REDMI 8 A phone

• The dividers used are courtesy of Hive account@eve66 who shares beautiful designs that embellish the layout of our post.

• In case it is required to use the content or images of this post and of my other publications, I would appreciate if you could refer to my authorship (Fabiola Martínez) and cite the corresponding link. Thanks.