This is one of my favorite drinks, and I was so happy to find a recipe I could translate here. I have no idea why it’s called toad water, though.
This is not a recipe for the faint of heart, as far as ginger goes. If it’s too strong, you can try cutting it with water. If it’s not strong enough (really?!?), you can always add more ginger at the beginning.
Tapa de dulce, or panela, is cane juice that has been boiled, molded, and dried. It is not really processed at all. In order to make white sugar, it’s run through all sorts of processes, hit with all sorts of chemicals, and stripped of everything that’s good in sugar. If you don’t have a Latino foods market, and don’t feel like ordering tapas de dulce, you can replace it with raw sugar. Raw sugar, though, is still more processed than tapa de dulce, so you will need to use less because it is also sweeter.
Do not try to replace the tapa de dulce with brown sugar. Seriously, don’t. Brown sugar is just same old refined white sugar with molasses added back, and therefore would screw it all up.
Agua Sapo (Hiel)
makes 12 servings
1 gallon of water
1 tapa de dulce (I think you could use less, if you wanted), chunked
250g ginger, peeled and coarsely grated or finely chopped and smashed up a little
12 oz freshly squeezed lime or lemon juice
Bring 1 liter of the water to boil with with the tapa de dulce and ginger. Boil until the sugar has completely dissolved. Let it cool, and strain through a colander. Add the rest of the water, the lemon or lime juice, and chill. Serve with ice.
