Agua Fresca 14: Horchata Rosa
Since Alex mentioned the pink horchata of Guadalajara, it seemed time to give a recipe for yet another of the multitudinous drinks that goes by this name (just hit the tag horchata for earlier discussions of this family of drinks). This comes from Maru Toledo who appears on radio and television in Guadalajara and who is also an interesting historian of food, of which more later. This particular recipe come from her Cocinando por Sabor, second edition 2005.
Let’s begin with her commentary or at least a translation of it.
“This ‘horchata’ is the one that is typically served with tacos al pastor here in Guadalajara.
It is a horchata that is not horchata since it does not include rice or dried seed of melon.
I mix the first four ingredients and I tint it so that has a pink color. If you add too much color it is not appetizing. Before serving I add the ice in order to avoid diluting the flavor. It’s ideal for children’s parties.”
Something to consider next time you have a children’s party. Here’s her ingredient list.
1 garrafón of water (20 liters)
8 cans of evaporated milk
2 kilograms of sugar
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
Red food coloring
1/2 bag of ice
A little bird tells me that there’s probably evaporated or condensed milk in a lot of the creamy, milky horchatas that Alex mentions. And Bob Mrotek remarks that his mother-in-law uses condensed milk.
A friend and colleague who is from Los Altos de Jalisco also described to me a horchata to which you add chopped fresh rose petals. I gives a mild rose flavor to the drink which smacks so much of Arabic drinks. I am very intrigued.
I actually am not very fond of the lechera heavy horchatas – so much so I usually ask if its included or see if tastes are offered. For me, it brings it to an unbearable richness which does not work with the filling fritadas it usually accompanys!
In Guadalajara – if you ask specifically for ‘Agua de arroz” you recieve the traditional white.
Here’s a picture of 9 Esquina’s Horchata:
http://flickr.com/photos/xguadalajarax/page4/
Forgot to add my picture of a Oaxacan Horchata I had in GDL for comparison!
http://flickr.com/photos/xguadalajarax/2611405612/
Thanks so much for those photos. Ricardo Muñoz makes a horchata very like the Oaxaca-GDL one you show at Azul y Oro in Mexico City.
Of course you’re dead right about Arabic drinks and that’s the next step in this wandering series.
Hi Alex,
Interesting that you should bring up rose petals. I was about to ask if the antecedent to the red food coloring was rose water or rose petals.
Pink horchata traditionally gets its color NOT from food coloring OR roses, but from a puree of the prickly pear fruit, which tends to be a nice deep magenta or fuchsia inside. This puree is known in Guadalajra/Oaxaca as tuna (seriously).
It’s easy enough to puree those prickly pears. Getting them can be a problem, though, if you’re too far north of the border. Then again, they can be difficult to get if you have them growing wild around your house, especially if you make the wrong move and that rattlesnake hiding around the pads gets a bite of you.
But it’s worth the trouble, for the fruit, and the nopalitos.