Today I had some Mexican food.. and horchata. It reminded me of Valencia and how Alberto took us to the town where horchata -or should I say orxata- originated. But this horchata was different - it was not rice based, nor did it have cinnamon in it unless it was trace amounts. Alberto was actually shocked at this news and the little Mexican twist to his beloved horchata. Their horchata is made from this:
That is Chufa.
And it grows in fields like this:
And this is Alberto and Pilar indulging in some chufa nut based horchata and fartons, which are little pastries you dip in the horchata:
All this inspired me to do a little research, because why not. It’s raining and I opted out of going out so might as well expand my milky drink knowledge base.
“Pronounced [CHOO-fuh], the tiny, tuberous roots of a Middle-Eastern plant of the sedge family, chufa “nuts” have their origin in ancient Egypt. Chufa was one of the first domesticated crops and in fact, was found in vases in the tombs of the ancient Egyptian pharos. The chufa nut was widely used in Egypt and Sudan. The Arabs introduced the plant to Spain during the time of the Moorish kings (700 B.C. a 1200 A.D.). The eastern Spanish province of Valencia was the best for growing chufa.” http://www.xmission.com/~dderhak/recipe/horchc.htm
That website also offers a sweet little recipe that I would like to try out, given I can find chufa. Apparently they grow it in the south.
My vote for the best would have to go to the Valencian orxata. I felt it was a little less milky, making it more thirst quenching. Mmmmm.. I could go for some right now.. guess I gotta go to Spain.
If it were only that easy..
August 14, 2010, 12:15am Comments
