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Horchata Concentrate
Summertime is here and no drink is more often consumed on hot summer days than Horchata(Rice Drink).
This so traditional and so ingrained into the Mexican psyche in ways I cannot even explain. I've had it served at funerals/wakes, with tacos, mole or pozole. It really doesn't matter what the fare is, or the occasion; Horchata is another one of those truly Mexican
icons that no-one can deny.
Every family on my block has a different way of preparing it from scratch, and they all had the recipe handed down from their grandmothers and great grandmothers from generations long ago. Some add cinnamon powder, others cinnamon sticks. Some do no add cinnamon at all, but cloves and others still; anisette. The only common ingredients among all the recipes are rice and sugar. However, most will tell you that the light brown sugar is the best for their recipe, but some even disagree about that.
There are even some still that have modernized(some would say bastardized) and has created a variant called Horchata Rosita(which means pink colored Horchata). This is usually where they blend their Horchata recipe with Strawberry Quik to give it a strawberry/rice flavor.
Whatever the case may be there are a few products on the market designed to make quick and on-the-go Horchata. These are Tucan Horchata, Horchata Deliciosa, and Princesa Horchata. Every time I touch an Horchata concentrate bottle I feel like my grandmother is rolling over in her grave. This is a woman who used to grind the corn every morning(on a metate) that she was planning on using throughout the day; to make tortillas and other meals. She would never take any shortcuts, but I digress.
Horchata water as it's commonly called, can be found plentifully in every part of Mexico. I invite you to bring a little into your home and try a what most Mexican would call a true contender for the national drink. Move over Tequila.
