Bringing Mexico Home: Horchata, A Taste of Mexico’s Soul

 Horchata

Travel and food are the perfect pair. Exploring new places, savoring unfamiliar flavors, and capturing memories in a sunset’s glow or the texture of sand beneath my toes restores my spirit. On a culinary tour of Mazatlán, Mexico, I discovered one of my favorite drinks: Horchata, a creamy, cinnamon-infused beverage that feels like a hug in a glass.

Mazatlán, often called the "Pearl of the Pacific," gave me the pearl-colored refreshment that I couldn’t wait to recreate back home. After a warm morning exploring the village of El Quelite, the Horchata served at El Mesón de los Laureanos quenched my thirst and captured the region’s essence.

sunrise in  Mazatlán, Mexico

 
 sunset in Mazatlán, Mexico

One year ago, I was recovering from surgery to remove more thyroid cancer. A year later, I’m feeling the sand between my toes, listening to the waves crash on the beach, and enjoying a culinary tour of Mazatlán, Mexico.

One thing I love to bring home is a favorite taste to make in my own kitchen. Mazatlán is known as the Pearl of the Pacific. For me, the pearl-colored beverage, Horchata (or-CHA-tah), will always remind me of Mazatlán and Mexico. It was also one of the first things I looked up when I got home.

Horchata is often described as “liquid rice pudding,” made by soaking rice (sometimes with nuts) and cinnamon in water or milk, sweetening it, and enhancing it with vanilla and other spices. While modern Horchata uses rice, the drink has its origins in Spain, where the Moors made it from tiger nuts (chufas). When the Spanish brought Horchata to the New World, they adapted it to local ingredients like rice, almonds, and squash seeds.

Legend says that King James I of Aragon, after tasting Horchata in Valencia, exclaimed:

"Açò és or, xata!" ("This is gold, darling!").

I tasted the best Horchata at a small village restaurant called El Mesón de los Laureanos in El Quelite just 45 minutes outside of Mazatlán. It wasn’t too sweet and quenched my thirst after a hot morning of sun and tequila tasting:

Variations include almonds, lime zest, or even pecans and popcorn. Momofuku Milk Bar serves a Horchata Soft Serve Ice Cream with Cinnamon. And adding a dash of Tequila can improve its already soothing qualities. Salud!

Recipe: Horchata

Ingredients:

For Horchata Base:
6 tablespoons long-grained rice
2 cinnamon sticks
2½ cups warm water

For sugar syrup:
½ cup sugar
1 cup water
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

To finish:
Milk, to taste
Ice
Ground cinnamon and nutmeg, for garnish

Instructions:

In a blender, blend the rice to break it up into small pieces. In a large bowl, combine the rice, cinnamon sticks and water. Cover and store in the refrigerator for 6 hours, or overnight.

To make the sugar syrup, melt sugar and water in a medium-heavy pot over medium-high heat until the sugar is melted. Add the vanilla. Let cool.

Remove the cinnamon sticks from the rice mixture. Strain the rice mixture through cheesecloth and squeeze out the rice to get the entire flavor out of the rice. Add the sugar syrup, to taste.

To finish, in a blender add 1 cup of the strained rice/sugar-syrup mixture and ½ cup milk (or to taste). Blend until frothy. Pour into a glass and garnish with ground cinnamon and nutmeg.

For Horchata Coffee, prepare a double espresso. Froth ½ cup milk with ½ cup Horchata. Mix and garnish with ground cinnamon and nutmeg.

Links
The Bojon Gourmet: Horchata Ice Cream
TastyType: Horchata Ice Cream 
Vampire Weekend – Horchata: “In December, drinking horchata | I'd look psychotic in a balaclava”

 

More to Explore:

• Index of Recipes
• Visual Recipe Index

Acknowledgment: Special thanks to www.gomazatlan.com for hosting meat the 2011 Gran Fiesta Amigos. All opinions and stories shared are entirely my own.