Blue Curaçao Liqueur

Blue Curaçao is the island's most famous export and the bottle that carries its name around the world. The liqueur is made from the dried peel of the laraha, a bitter orange descended from the sweet Valencia oranges that early Spanish settlers planted on Curaçao, which the arid soil and climate turned small, green, and inedibly bitter. The fruit was useless to eat, but the peel proved intensely aromatic, and steeping and distilling it produces a fragrant, citrusy liqueur with a distinctive bittersweet edge.

The vivid blue colour is the showpiece, added to make the liqueur unmistakable, though it also comes clear and in other shades. The original is still distilled in small batches at Landhuis Chobolobo, a historic Dutch plantation house (landhuis) in Willemstad where the recipe has been kept for generations. A visit lets you see the copper still, learn the laraha story, and taste the genuine article at the source.

How it is enjoyed

Blue Curaçao is prized as much for cocktails as for sipping. Its bright colour and orange flavour make it the key ingredient in the Blue Lagoon, the Blue Hawaiian, and a long list of tropical drinks, and it is also poured over ice or used to flavour desserts.

• The authentic liqueur from Chobolobo is distilled from real laraha peel, distinguishing it from the many generic blue curaçaos made elsewhere.
• A small bottle makes one of the most genuine souvenirs you can take home from the island.

To taste it properly, visit the distillery at Landhuis Chobolobo, try it neat, and pick up a bottle of the original. It is the most iconic flavour of Curaçao, straight from where it is made.