31 July 2026
What is pitanga?
Pitanga is the fruit of Eugenia uniflora, a small evergreen tree from South America, better known in English as the Surinam cherry. The fruit is the size of a cherry, deeply ribbed like a tiny pumpkin, and it ripens from green through orange to deep red.
It is also one of the botanicals in Canning's Dry Gin, where its bright, delicately tart character runs alongside passion fruit over a base of juniper.
What does pitanga taste like?
Bright and delicately tart. There is red-fruit sweetness up front, a clean sharpness behind it, and a faint resinous edge that stops it short of sugary. The riper and darker the fruit, the sweeter it gets; picked early, the tartness leads.
That liveliness is what interests distillers. In a spirit, pitanga reads as freshness rather than jammy fruit.
Where does pitanga grow?
Eugenia uniflora is native to tropical South America and travelled the Portuguese trade routes centuries ago. It now grows readily in gardens across Portugal, and it does especially well in Madeira's subtropical climate, on warm slopes with mild winters.
On the island it keeps company with passion fruit, Madeira's other signature fruit. Both turn up in the island's kitchens and drinks, and more recently in its gin.
Pitanga in Canning's gin
Canning's Dry Gin is distilled in small batches in Ribeira Brava, on the island of Madeira, and pitanga is one of its botanicals - alongside mountain juniper, plants native to the Laurissilva laurel forest (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), passion fruit and pure mountain water. It is bottled at 40% vol.
In the glass the juniper leads and the island fruit follows: passion fruit carries the tropical note, pitanga the lively, sharper one, over a slightly earthy base and a long, soft finish. The gin took a Gold Medal at the International Wine & Spirit Competition in 2018. What makes it a Madeira gin has a page of its own.
How to taste pitanga in a gin and tonic
Pour one part Canning's to three parts tonic (Fever-Tree Mediterranean is our pick) over plenty of ice, with lime zest and a sprig of mint. Let it sit a moment, then look past the juniper for the bright red-fruit note. That is the pitanga, with the passion fruit beside it.
The same character carries into the cocktail recipes, which lean on the island fruit rather than covering it up.