Horchata
It’s refreshingly creamy with warm notes of cinnamon and vanilla.
I came to know and love horchata when I lived in northern New Mexico. Each person makes it a little different with varying amounts of thickness, sweetness, and balance of flavors. Sure, I had my favorites, but there wasn’t a horchata I didn’t like.
I’ve wanted to make horchata for years and I never did because in my mind it was a high mountain to climb with little oxygen. I looked online at recipes and almost all of them had evaporated milk and/or condensed milk and cinnamon sticks. For some unknown reason, it was just not something I felt like doing.
I like to cook things that I generally have on hand. While I do love evaporated milk and condensed milk, it’s not something I keep stocked. Two New Mexicans of “the old families” told me how to make horchata and they use regular milk and sugar. My mom always tells me to go with my gut, so I followed the New Mexican version of horchata. Guess what, it came out exactly what I longed for.
Horchata fits into the agua fresca family which means fresh water. The drink should be light and refreshing.
Horchata Ingredients
2 c rice
5 c boiling water
3 c milk
⅔ c sugar
1 Tbl ground cinnamon
2 tsp vanilla
Horchata Directions
In a heatproof pitcher, add 2 c of rice and 5 c boiling water. Allow it to sit 6-12 hours (I didn’t find soaking it longer made a noticeable difference. Do what works for your schedule).
Pour the contents of the pitcher into a blender and blend for about 5 minutes. It will seem like an eternity.
Put a fine mesh strainer or cheescloth over the pitcher (the one that you used to soak the rice) and pour the rice mixture over the strainer into the pitcher.
Discard the rice that is left behind. Pour the rice water back into the blender. Add ⅔ c sugar, 1 Tbl ground cinnamon, and 2 tsp vanilla. Blend until the sugar is dissolved. Pour it back into the pitcher.
Refrigerate the horchata until cold. Pour over ice to serve.
Notes
Horchata is typically made in large plastic jugs with plenty of ice. Overtime the ice thins the liquid out some. If you chill it and drink it out of the fridge without ice, you can replace 1 c of milk with 1 c of water. And reduce the sugar to ½ c.
