Growing up in New Orleans we know the Hurricane by sight before ever knowing what is in it: tall, curvy glass, a sunset glow, an orange slice and a cherry riding on top. Ours is the kid version — all the storm, none of the grown-up stuff — but we make it the old way, with the ingredient that gave the original its color and improved flavor: fassionola.
What is fassionola?
Fassionola is a deep-red tropical fruit syrup — passion fruit out front, with strawberries or other fruits behind it — that was everywhere during the tiki craze of the 1930s and ‘40s. It’s the syrup most often credited with giving the classic Hurricane its famous red glow.
Here’s the honest history, because we like getting it right: the earliest Hurricanes were actually a yellow-orange drink — rum, citrus, and a passion fruit syrup. The vivid red came a little later, when bartenders started reaching for fassionola. Over the years the real syrup disappeared from shelves, and the Hurricane got reduced to a neon, oversweet mix of artificial juice. The drink survived; the soul of it didn’t.
Today a handful of small batch companies sell fassionola. The two we regularly use at home are from Cocktail & Sons (a New Orleans based company) and BG Reynolds.
Why we use it
Fassionola does two jobs at once: it brings the tropical, passion-fruit flavor and the red color, so you don’t need a separate splash of grenadine. One honest ingredient instead of two stand-ins. It’s the difference between a drink that tastes like fruit punch and one that tastes like a parade.
Buy it or make it
The bottled stuff is wonderful, but seasonal, and can be hard to find. Good news: fassionola is forgiving and fun to make at home — there’s no single “official” recipe, so the only two rules are make it red and make it taste like tropical fruit punch. Our homemade version is in the card below, and it doubles as the best fassionola soda your kids will ever drink (just add sparkling water).
Dad’s tips
• Taste before you sweeten. Fassionola is sweet and tart from the passion fruit, so go easy — the lime is there to brighten, not to fight it.
• Make the sunset. Build the drink over crushed ice, then pour the fassionola in last and slow — it’s heavier than the juice, so it sinks to the bottom and makes that gradient on its own.
• Crushed ice, big straw, tall glass. Half the Hurricane is the look. Lean in.
• And no — it does not need cayenne. (We’ve been over this.)
— Gravy & her dad
New Orleans Hurricane Mocktail (with Fassionola)
Ingredients
Method
- Combine strawberries, sugar, water, passion fruit purée, and pineapple juice in a saucepan. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat — don't let it boil over.
- Lower the heat and simmer gently 10 minutes, until the fruit is very soft.
- Off the heat, stir in the hibiscus (if using) and steep 10 minutes.
- Strain through a fine-mesh strainer, pressing the fruit. Cool fully. Store in the fridge up to 2 weeks.
- Fill a tall hurricane glass with crushed ice. (or any glass)
- Add the orange juice, lime juice, and sparkling water.
- Pour the fassionola in last, slowly — it sinks and creates the "sunset." Don't stir.
- Garnish with an orange half-wheel and a cherry. Serve with a big straw. Then stir it around like a giant storm.