An aroma of mystery.

AuthorConaway, Janelle
PositionFOOD

The recipe for Angostura aromatic bitters is so closely guarded that it is practically a synonym for "secret," says Suraj Bachan, a taxi driver in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.

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"When you don't want to tell somebody something, you say, 'Go ask Angostura what they put in the bitters, and when they tell you that, I'll tell you.' That finishes the argument, because everyone knows Angostura will not tell you," explains Bachan.

Best known as a concoction to jazz up cocktails, Angostura bitters is infused with an aura of mystery dating back to the days of Simon Bolivar. Today only five people in the world are said to know its exact ingredients, and the formula is kept in a bank vault. At the House of Angostura, located in the low-income community of Laventille, in eastern Port of Spain, the botanical components are stored, sorted, and weighed behind a locked red door. No photographs allowed, even of the door.

In the aromatic manufacturing area, botanical ingredients from the locked room come through a wooden chute into a grinder; the ground mixture is then transferred to percolators, where the botanicals are blended with alcohol so the flavors can begin to "marry." Sugar and other flavorings are added and then the solution is placed in giant vats for at least three months before bottling.

Highly concentrated blends of alcohol, herbs, and other flavorings, bitters became popular in the 1800s as medicinal tones and elixirs. Angostura is far from the only brand on the market today, but it is among the most well-known, with a distinctive bottle found in bars around the world.

Whatever its precise combination of ingredients--gentian root is one it admits to--Angostura bitters plays a supporting role in numerous cocktails, including such classics as the Manhattan, the Old-Fashioned, and the Pink Gin, the latter reportedly favored by England's late Queen Mother. (Angostura has long held a Royal Warrant to supply the British royals.) It also livens up some drinks considered nonalcoholic, such as "Lemon, Lime, and Bitters," a popular quaff among golfers in Australia.

The aromatic blend also draws praise from many chefs, who tend to use words like "wow" and "oomph" to describe its impact. Chef and caterer Bernard Long, a New Zealander who moved to Trinidad and Tobago fourteen years ago, uses bitters in shrimp, fish, pork rub, even lemon sorbet. He was recently experimenting with a chocolate and pepper sauce with bitters in...

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