Tepache

For the municipality in the Mexican state of Sonora, see Tepache, Sonora
Tepache

A glass of cold tepache served at a taco stand in the Tacubaya neighbourhood of Mexico City
Course Beverage
Place of origin Mexico
Serving temperature cold
Main ingredients pineapple, piloncillo
Variations added beer and cinnamon
Cookbook:Tepache  Tepache

Tepache is a fermented beverage made from the peel and the rind of pineapples, and is sweetened either with piloncillo or brown sugar, seasoned with powdered cinnamon, and served cold. Though tepache is fermented for several days, the resulting drink does not contain much alcohol. In Mexican culinary practice, the alcoholic content of tepache may be increased with a small amount of beer.

In Mexico, tepache is usually sold as a chilled drink by street vendors. In the U.S., it is sold in juice bars in the Mexican American communities of Southwestern United States. The fermentation process for making tepache is simple and quick, which makes tepache a drink readily produced at home.[1] Culturally, tepache is a drink common to natives of Mexico and the Mexican immigrant communities of the U.S.[1]

Origin

Tepache dates from Pre-Columbian Mexico, as a popular drink among the Nahua people of central Mexico; in the náhuatl language, the word tepache means "drink made from corn". Originally, corn (maize) was the base of tepache, but the contemporary recipe for tepache uses pineapple rinds as the foodstuff fermented to produce the tart drink that is tepache.[2]

Commercialization

Because of the popularity of tepache in Mexico, the drink is now being produced commercially as a non-alcoholic drink. There are a few different brands of tepache including Tepache from the Frumex Corporation.

Popular Culture

The drink tepache is mentioned in the popular Spanish-language quebradita song La Niña Fresa ("The Spoiled Girl"), by Banda Zeta, in which the spolied-girl character is offered several types of drink — including tepache — yet she refuses them all, for being beneath her social status.[3]

In Street Fighter 4, the luchador character El Fuerte has a movelist that reads like a combination of a restaurant menu and wrestling moves. Tepache is one such item referenced in it.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Fermented Drinks-Tepache". Retrieved 2014-03-12.
  2. ↑ "Tepache—Easy, Delicious, and Healthful!". Retrieved 2014-03-12.
  3. ↑ "La Chica Fresa Lyrics". Retrieved 2014-03-12.

See also