Horchata - Sweetened Rice Milk

In my opinion, Texas food should be a culinary category of its own. If you haven’t lived here, there is no way to understand the extent of cultural influences on our diet. Native American, African, German, and French just to name a few of the big ones. The most prevalent inspiration to our culinary creations is Mexican cuisine, though.

Taco stands and little “hole-in-the-wall” Mexican restaurants can be found in every town in Texas. We went as far as just mushing everything together and calling it “Tex-Mex”, so now it’s not Mexican food, it’s just food.

Mexican Drinks – More Than Just Bar Drinks

Not only has the Latino culture had an extensive effect on the things that we eat, our drink menus have expanded, as well. It is common at summertime parties in Texas to find margaritas, pina coladas, and daiquiris being served, but what about those folks that don’t want the alcohol?

One of my favorite things to bring to special occasions is sweetened rice milk. It is more commonly known as Horchata. Since the neighborhood Mexican markets have become trendy, people are finding the powdered mix and pre-packaged version of this sweet drink. I feel like this is a great reason for me to share this simple recipe that I came up with to make this drink at home from scratch.

Horchata – Sweetened Rice Milk

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ cups long grain white rice

• 1 (4”) cinnamon stick

• 6 cups warm water, from the tap

• 2 cups sugar

• 4 cups milk

• Ground cinnamon for garnish

Start This the Night Before You Need It!

1. Process the grains of rice in a food processor or blender for about a minute. You want it to be mostly crumbs. Pour the rice into a large bowl, add the cinnamon stick and water, cover and refrigerate over-night.

2. The next morning, take the cinnamon stick out of the bowl, and pour the rice and water back into to blender. Process this for another minute. Using a sieve lined with cheese cloth, strain the rice water into a pitcher. Make sure that you squeeze all the moisture through the sieve. Then just stir in the milk and sugar until completely blended.

My favorite way to serve this at parties

This recipe makes about 2 ½ quarts of this creamy, dreamy liquid refreshment. Most people will refrigerate the picture and pour what they want, when they want it. If you are making this for you and your family, that works best. But, when you are doing this for a party, I have found that if you use ½ pint mason jars, with ice, it makes a cute presentation. All you do is fill each jar with ice, then the Horchata, then sprinkle a little cinnamon on top and put a lid on it. Keep them in an ice chest or the fridge. Everyone can grab one when they want it, shake it up and enjoy!