Palo Tunel is a liqueur originally used as a healing drink against fevers, which evolved into a liqueur as peculiar as it is typical of Mallorca. Its dark colour and bittersweet flavour are due to the mixture of sugar and roasted cooked over a wood fire, they have been served both as an appetizer and as a dessert. It can be drunk diluted with soda, accompanied with ice, or simply on its own.
Its history is as fascinating as it is fantastic. PaloTunel is an exquisite liqueur that has its origins in the 16th and 17th centuries, when there were many swampy areas in Mallorca and mosquitoes transmitted a terrible disease: malaria. This terrible fact led to the use of cinchona extract with gentian as one of the most effective medicines. At the end of the 19th century, syrup (glucose or concentrated saccharose based on grape must, dried figs, or crushed carob) was added to this “miraculous” potion of extracts in order to improve its flavour.
To make it last longer before the natural fermentation processes, alcohol was added, giving rise to the drink that we know today as Palo de Mallorca, which also has its own geographical name. Popular Mallorcan tradition attributes to this liqueur the gift of invigorating the appetite.
Over time, the preparation of palo has been modified, and is currently made with burnt sugar, the secret of this liqueur.