Agua Fresca 22: Why I Think Mexican Tepache is First Cousin to Hard Cider
A slight tingle, a flinty taste, verging on sour. What is this? A moment of confusion.
I am taken back to English pubs in the west country before urbanization and gastropubs hit, when there was bread and cheddar and scrumpy. Scrumpy, a local cider, alcoholic of course, actually very alcoholic sometimes, had that tingle that taste.
But I’m drinking tepache. So what’s tepache? It’s a Mexican drink. If you are a visitor, you might see it on the outskirts of towns, a wooden barrel with TEPACHE in wobbly red letters, under the awning of a little cart, or in a market as here, with the 30 cent offering in plastic bags and and the rather more expensive in plastic glasses.
The signs say “Tepache 100% natural de piña” or made from 100% natural pineapple. It comes from the signature barrels under the table. It’s been sweetened, I think with piloncillo, raw sugar. It’s tasty but a bit sweet for my taste.
Tepache is also commonly made at home. It’s not difficult and it’s actually a great trick for using up that mountain of trimmings and core that always result from preparing pineapple. You just take the lot (making sure of course that you washed the outside before trimming), put them in a glass container (plastic is not good for this), add water and wait four or five days.
This is day one. Day two sees bubbles, day three and four the jar looks increasingly murky, and perhaps even develops bits of mold on the top. Never fear, carry on, strain the liquid and throw away the pineapple.
What you have is this: a nice glass of unsweetened tepache.
Tingly, sour, refreshing I much prefer it to the sweetened version. And so reminiscent of scrumpy. But it seemed to me just coincidence–a Mexican pineapple drink and English cider–until I was pulling everything together for this post.
I went back to the original recipe that Dr. Ramiro González of Guadalajara gave me. Along with his note that the enzymes in tepache made it excellent for drinking with heavy food, he added, words to the effect that it could also be made with apple or quince peel, something I have never seen in a Mexican cook book.
And then I remembered the bottle of cider from the north of Spain that I buy in the wine store chain Europea occasionally when I am homesick for scrumpy at the ridiculous price of US$ 7 a bottle.
.
Bingo. there is the barrel. We’ll never know. Did the Spanish find an indigenous pineapple drink that they liked because it reminded them of cider?
Or did the northern Spanish cider drinkers begin making their drink in the New World, first with the familiar apple and quince that could be grown in the mountains of Central Mexico, then as an economical way of using all the pineapple brought up from the hot country on mules and hence very expensive.
Influence or convergence?
Anyway, tepache is great stuff.
And PS. If you leave it a bit longer, you have a nice mild pineapple vinegar.
They did the same thing in Honduras, always wanted the trimmings after we took the preferred sweet, fleshy part. Maybe we got the wrong end of the deal …
I think may be you did!
Interesting about Honduras, though. I wonder how common this is in Latin America.
I’ve made tepache a few times. It’s easy and fun. I usually sweeten it with some piloncillo.
La sidra Asturiana is very tart in taste but does lend itself to accompany and “cut” the rich porkery-cookery popular in that mountainous region. Fabada; lacon con grelos, plato de embutidos.
Meanwhile, my first tepache effort here: http://mexkitchen.blogspot.com/2006/02/batch-tepache.html
A few more photos:
http://www.pbase.com/panos/tepache
Saludos,
Mike
Nice photos Michael. And a very different way of making tepache. I’ll have to try that but as I like the very tart taste I would leave out the piloncillo.
it’s amazing to realise that refreshing drinks like this are so simple to make.
Take a look at Michael’s slightly more complicated recipe. It would lead to a distinctly different flavor.
Cindy, when I had a Korean house cleaner in the USA she would clean my weekly supply of vegies. She always wanted to take home the radish and carrot tops, which I did not use.
A memory of process similar to that for tepache was fashionable in USA in the 1960s. Open a can of fruit cocktail, put it in a glass jar, cover loosely with waxed paper and leave it at the bak of the counter or pantry for 3>6 days (depending on room temp) then serve the slightly fermented fruit&juice over ice cream. It was a bit like sour dough in that one could take most of it out for use and add a new can of fruit cocktail and it would be ready in only one day.
Oh dear, a jar of fruit cocktail. It doesn’t have quite the same romance, does it? I think I’ll stick to pineapple. But interesting. I had not heard of this particular fad.
“Bingo. there is the barrel. We’ll never know. Did the Spanish find an indigenous pineapple drink that they liked because it reminded them of cider?
Or did the northern Spanish cider drinkers begin making their drink in the New World, first with the familiar apple and quince that could be grown in the mountains of Central Mexico, then as an economical way of using all the pineapple brought up from the hot country on mules and hence very expensive.
Influence or convergence?”
I don’t think there is even a question… if you spend 10 minutes researching pre-hispanic drinks you will find that Tepache is but one of a hundred soured / lightly fermented drinks that existed prior to the conquest. In fact, Tepache is more than a drink its a genre with Tepaches around the country being made from ingredients other than pineapple… and in the Costa Chica of Oaxaca there is even a version that incorporates Tobacco leaves.
Hi, EatNopales, I appreciate your comments and have lots of thoughts that I want to bring to the discussion. Soon, I promise.
Coming late to the discussion…
After having just made tepache for the first time, and already being acquainted with homemade probiotics (food and drink with beneficial microorganisms), I’m wondering if tepache would be a source of probiotics also.
Many cultures have food and drink — such as yogurt, kimchi, pickles, kefir — that contribute healthy organisms to the gut. Perhaps tepache could be added to this list.
Another probiotic drink I am investigating and making that may be Mexican is tibicos. Have you heard of this or know anything about it, Rachel?
You can see my tepache results here http://cookinginmexico.com/2010/10/17/cooling-off-with-tepache/
Kathleen
I haven’t seen one of these in a long time.. but when I was little and we’d go shopping at all the little stores down on Montrose, there was a lady set up with a stand and she’d sell these. They were delicious! I would try to make them myself but surely I’d fail..
-Molly
Antique Jewelry
Have a go. It’s easy.
But what is your recipe? Is it just rinds and cores in a jar with water and left to hang out for a couple of days? What if it does get mold on top? Even if I strain it out, is it safe to drink?