How to Make Horchata and Use it in Cocktails

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Horchata is a non-alcoholic beverage that is popular in Latin America. In our Cocktail Projects series, here’s how to make horchata and use it in cocktails.

What is Horchata

Horchata is a non-alcoholic beverage that is said to have originated in Spain. Called Horchata de Chufa, the drink is made from tiger nuts, edible tubers (chufa) also known as Hab’el Aziz in Arabic, a source of nutrition in Egypt dating back to the 5th millennium B.C.

The drink is also popular in Latin America where it’s made from rice and almonds. Silky, creamy and refreshing, it’s often described as rice pudding in liquid form.

Several interpretations of horchata are in existence depending on the choice of ingredients. Variations include:

• long grain white rice, brown rice or tiger nuts
• toasted grain or untoasted grain
• milk, almond milk, evaporated milk (unsweetened) or condensed milk (sweetened)
• white sugar, demerara sugar, agave nectar or no sugar

The following is an easy recipe for horchata that light but doesn’t skimp on flavour. The process starts by soaking rice, toasted almonds and cinnamon in hot water, leaving it overnight, then pulverising the mixture in a heavy duty blender. The liquid is then fine strained to remove the solids before sugar, milk, vanilla extract and cinnamon are added.

Below are the step by step instructions on how to make horchata.

Horchata Recipe

Ingredients:

• ¾ cup long grain rice, uncooked
• ¼ cup almond slivers, lightly toasted
• 1 cinnamon quill, broken into small pieces
• 2 cups of hot water
• ¼ tablespoon vanilla extract
• ¼ cup white sugar
• 175 ml milk
• grated cinnamon

Equipment: small pan, heavy duty blender, glass bowl, fine strainer, cheese cloth, swing-top glass bottle, funnel

Method

1. In a small pan, lightly toast the almond slivers.
2. In a glass bowl, add uncooked rice, toasted almond slivers, cinnamon quill pieces and cover with 2 cups of hot water. Cover and leave it on the kitchen bench for two hours then store in the fridge overnight.
3. The next day, transfer the mixture to a heavy duty blender and blend.
4. Strain into a fine strainer lined with a cheese cloth, pressing down on the solids to extract as much liquid as possible. At this point, it makes approximately 400 ml.
5. Put the liquid back in the blender, add sugar, vanilla extract and milk and blend again to homogenise the mixture.
6. Using a funnel, transfer the horchata to a clean swing-top glass bottle and keep it refrigerated. It keeps as long as the expiry date on the milk.
7. Before serving, give the liquid in the glass bottle a gentle swirl as it tends to separate.

How to Use Horchata in Cocktails

For a non-alcoholic and refreshing drink, it can simply be served cold, over ice cubes with grated cinnamon on top. It also pairs well with a range of white and dark spirits such as rum, rhum agricole, tequila, coffee liqueur and cognac.

For a Spiked Horchata Cocktail, in a Collins glass filled with ice cubes, add 45 ml of spirit of your choice, top with 120 ml of horchata. Give it a gentle stir and garnish with a cinnamon quill. Alternatively, try it in a Horchata Colada by combining it with rum or tequila, pineapple juice, lime juice and coconut syrup in a cocktail shaker, shaking with ice and garnishing with a slice of pineapple.