You’ve probably heard of Mexican horchata before. But this is different. This is a tiger nut horchata. A drink so delicious that you won’t be able to help but thinking how in earth you hadn’t discovered it any sooner.
Living in London has many positives but enjoying a cold tiger nut horchata whilst sitting in a bar terrace is not one of them. For someone like me, who’s irrationally mad about horchata, this is a tragedy. Not only they don’t serve it anywhere but the primary ingredient – tiger nuts – is quite a hard one to find in any UK supermarket.
This is probably my favourite ever non-alcoholic drink and one I really miss in the UK. There are some few Spanish delis and online shops selling bottled tiger nut horchata, although I’ve never liked that one that much. For me, nothing beats a good homemade horchata. And it’s also dead easy to make… only if you can find the tiger nuts, of course!
I usually bring the tiger nuts – ‘chufas’ in Spanish – directly from Spain. However I’ve recently noticed that there are some few producers that have started to sell them online, such as these organic tiger nuts
The tiger nut horchata is a sweet, creamy and white drink made of tiger nuts juice, water and sugar. It’s original from the region of Valencia, where you can find it in most bars, cafeterias or the more specialized ‘horchaterías’ or ‘orxaterías’. In fact, if you like this drink half of what I like it and you happen to be around the area, you should pilgrimage to the very heart of the horchata homeland… Alboraya. It’s in this town where you’ll be able to enjoy tiger nut horchata in its maximum expression and with the best ever company… the fartons, a type of long and thin iced buns which are served hot in contrast with the very chilled horchata.
The recipe for this ancient drink – introduced in Valencia by the Arabs – is very simple. And well worth the effort of finding some tiger nuts. The result might be life changing. Sure, I might be exaggerating here but even if you don’t like it, at least you are drinking a super healthy drink which is diuretic, antioxidant and it’s high in fiber, iron, potassium and E vitamin, which helps lowering bad cholesterol. Do you need any more reasons to give it a chance? I don’t think so!
• Buy Organic Certified Tiger Nuts here.
INGREDIENTS
- 1 l Water
- 250 g Tiger nuts
- 125 g White sugar
- Lemon zest
- 1 tsp Ground cinammon
METHOD
- First we need to hydrate the tiger nuts. To do that, put them in a bowl with water and soak them for 24 hours.
- Once the tiger nuts are hydrated, pour a bit of the water and blend using a stick blender.
- Add a tiny little bit of lemon zest.
- Sieve the resulting mix, pressing the paste and squeezing every drop of juice from the tiger nuts.
- Add the rest of the water, some ice cubes and the sugar. Mix it all well with the blender and serve chilled. If you like it, you can sprinkle a bit of cinnamon on top of the horchata.
Homemade horchata doesn’t keep very well in the fridge for a very long time, so once you make it, consume it within 24h.
