{{Short description|Fruit syrup}} '''Fassionola''' is a typically fruit-flavored (passion fruit and others), red-colored syrup that was frequently used in tropical drinks during the 1930s but is now a relatively unusual ingredient.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.eater.com/drinks/2015/9/3/9253267/fassionola-tiki-syrup |title= What Happened to Fassionola, the Tiki World's Lost Syrup |author = Amy McCarthy | date = 3 September 2015 | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20151017171953/http://www.eater.com/drinks/2015/9/3/9253267/fassionola-tiki-syrup | archivedate = 17 October 2015 | accessdate= 4 January 2016 |publisher= Vox Media, Inc}}</ref> It also comes in green and gold varieties that are sometimes made to taste differently.<ref>{{cite web |title=Top 10 Don the Beachcomber Cocktails |url=http://drunkentiki.com/2018/01/07/top-10-don-the-beachcomber-cocktails/ |website=drunkentiki.com |accessdate=20 February 2019 |archive-date=14 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190214002923/http://drunkentiki.com/2018/01/07/top-10-don-the-beachcomber-cocktails/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> It is used as a fruit punch concentrate, and some claim that a red-colored fruit syrup called fassionola was an ingredient in the original Hurricane cocktail.<ref>{{cite web |title=Fassionola best Tiki ingredient |url=https://www.foodandwine.com/cocktails-spirits/fassionola-best-tiki-ingredient-youve-never-heard |website=Foodandwine.com |accessdate=11 February 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Reclaiming the Hurricane |url=https://gardenandgun.com/recipe/reclaiming-the-hurricane/ |website=gardenandgun.com |accessdate=11 February 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Up your tiki tipple with these syrups |url=https://www.nightclub.com/food-drink/up-your-tiki-tipple-game-these-cocktail-syrups |website=nightclub.com |accessdate=20 February 2019 |archive-date=21 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190221000531/https://www.nightclub.com/food-drink/up-your-tiki-tipple-game-these-cocktail-syrups |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Welcome Back, Fassionola: The Hurricane's Long Lost Ingredient |url=https://talesofthecocktail.com/products/welcome-back-fassionola-hurricanes-long-lost-ingredient |website=talesofthecocktail.com |date=29 April 2016 |accessdate=11 February 2019}}</ref> Although a frequent attribution, solid evidence of fassionola's use in the Hurricane from before 1956 is lacking, and it is not known what the precise ingredients were in the earliest version of fassionola.<ref>{{cite web |title=Is the Secret to the Hurricane's Signature Red Color a Mysterious Syrup? |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/is-the-secret-to-the-hurricanes-signature-red-color-a-mysterious-syrup |website=thedailybeast.com |date=18 February 2019 |accessdate=20 March 2019}}</ref>
== Tiki drink usage == Claimed to have been first fashioned in 1916,<ref>{{cite web |title=Top 10 Don the Beachcomber Cocktails |url=http://drunkentiki.com/2018/01/07/top-10-don-the-beachcomber-cocktails/ |website=drunkentiki.com |accessdate=20 February 2019 |archive-date=14 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190214002923/http://drunkentiki.com/2018/01/07/top-10-don-the-beachcomber-cocktails/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> the complete history of fassionola is unclear but is closely associated with Donn Beach (AKA Don the Beachcomber). Beach cites his childhood as growing up near New Orleans, and he sometimes used fassionola in making what came to be known as "tiki drinks" in his 1930s-era bars. Some claim fassionola was invented by Beach;<ref>{{cite web |title=Fassionola: The Greatest Syrup You've Never Heard Of |url=https://www.supercall.com/how-to/how-to-make-fassionola-the-lost-tiki-ingredient |website=supercall.com |accessdate=11 February 2019}}</ref> others believe that is unclear.<ref>{{cite web |title=Fassionola tiki syrup |url=https://www.eater.com/drinks/2015/9/3/9253267/fassionola-tiki-syrup |website=eater.com |date=3 September 2015 |accessdate=20 February 2019}}</ref> Regardless, the ingredient is listed as being used by Beach in the book ''Hawai'i, Rum Drinks & Cuisine by Don the Beachcomber'' and calls for its use in some of Beach's more well-known drinks such as the ''Cobra's Fang'', ''Pi Yi'', and ''Rum Barrel''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bitner |first1=Arnold |title= Hawai'i, Rum Drinks & Cuisine, by Don the Beachcomber |date=2001 |publisher=Mutual Publishing |location=Honolulu}}</ref> The book also discusses the extent that Beach went to in order to keep his recipes a secret, premixing ingredients himself and relabeling bottles with only numbers and letters, with recipes sometimes written in code.
Trader Vic listed what he called "passionola" in the index of his 1972 revised ''Bartender's Guide''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Vic |first1=Trader |title=Bartender's Guide, Revised |url=https://archive.org/details/tradervicsbarten00trad |url-access=registration |date=1972 |publisher=Doube Day & Co |location=Garden City, NY |edition=revised}}</ref> He described it as "a non-alcoholic syrup made from passion fruit [that] comes in three colors — red, green, and natural". He did not, however, list it as an ingredient for any of the cocktails in his book.
21st-century drink makers continue to use the ingredient in tiki cocktail recipes, where it is viewed by some as a "secret ingredient" and by others as a generic fruit punch concentrate.<ref>{{cite web |title=Fassionola |url=http://www.tikiroom.com/tikicentral/bb/viewtopic.php?topic=5331&forum=10&start=105&148 |website=tikiroom.com |accessdate=20 February 2019}}</ref>
==Commercial brands== A common and the attributed original mass manufactured brand is ''Jonathan English's Brand Red Tropical Gold Fruit Mix'', produced and distributed by the Jonathan English Company in San Diego since the 1950s.<ref>{{cite web |title=Fassionola tiki syrup |url=https://www.eater.com/drinks/2015/9/3/9253267/fassionola-tiki-syrup |website=eater.com |date=3 September 2015 |accessdate=20 February 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Jonathan English |url=http://jonathanenglishcompany.com/jonathanenglish/ |access-date=16 July 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131105002925/http://jonathanenglishcompany.com/jonathanenglish/ |archive-date=5 November 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=What's up with fassionola |url=http://www.killingtime.com/Pegu/2018/02/27/so-whats-up-with-fassionola/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180310063348/http://www.killingtime.com/Pegu/2018/02/27/so-whats-up-with-fassionola/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 10, 2018 |website=killingtime.com |accessdate=20 February 2019}} </ref>
== See also == *Falernum syrup *Orgeat syrup *Passion fruit-Orange-Guava (POG) juice
== References == {{Reflist}}
Category:Drink mixers Category:Syrup