A Mexican recipe that my kids really enjoy; and I do too!!!, even so milk does not like me as much, I still give me the pleasure of a cup at night every time we make it!

What really calls my attention is the similarities of this drink with drinks that we have in my own country, as well as drinks from other Central American countries, researching a little has given me a possible answer: we all have Spain in common; and this Drink of Gods as some people call it have it’s beginnings in Spain, everyone’s Madre Patria.

Make sense, because rice, cinnamon and vanilla beans, came with them to the Americas. The Moorish conquers Spain, and during the years that it last, there was some mixing and fusion of cuisines; the Moorish had similar drinks to horchata, that were actually made of nuts. The change to rice, probably came with time, availability, and cost.

The adding of the milk to it mostly came from Central America countries on a way to make the milk more nutritious, and to make 1 quarter of milk into a drink of 3 or 4 quarter and still give nutrition to the kids, when milk was scarce.

If someone knows something new about the history of horchata, please comment, I always love to read on!

Horchata Drink

Yield : 3 quarters to 1 gallon

Ingredients:

• 1 cup long grain rice
• 3 cups water
• 1 tbsp. vanilla
• 1 tsp of cinnamon powder
• ————–
• 1 can sweet condensed milk
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 cups milk
• 7 cups water

Directions:

1. The night before: Soak the rice with 3-cups of water, the cinnamon and vanilla inside the blender cup, (at least 1 hour).
2. After the hour, blend thoroughly, about 2 minutes; and keep in blender over night.
3. The next morning, add the rest of ingredients, except milk and water and blend thoroughly.
4. Transfer mixture in blender to a large pitcher, (Pass through a colander lined whit a cheese cloth. to keep the bigger pieces of the rice, if you have a vita mix you won’t need to do this) then add the milk and water.
5. Cool in fridge, Stir every time before drinking

Chef Notes

• Adjust the sugar, cinnamon and vanilla to your taste, as well as water, some people adds more water to make 1 gallon.
• If you do not have Sweet Condensed Milk, exchange for 1 can of Evaporated Milk and 2 Cups of Sugar.

Have Fun Cooking and Enjoy !!!