Comments on: Chocolate and Toasted Maize: What a Drink

By: elarael

elarael — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 06:24:34 +0000

On grain drinks - in the health food world, a commonly known drink is made of sprouted wheat and water that ferments for a few days then is strained to drink for it’s beneficial bacteria. Your site is fascinating, I’ve just linked to it through Rancho Gordo’s blog and can see that I have some interesting reading up ahead! Thank you ~

By: Rachel Laudan

Rachel Laudan — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 01:24:03 +0000

Scott, Sorry to take so long about replying. These mixes are part of oral tradition. I’d suspect 93% corn, 5% chocolate, 2% annato but it’s really just a guess. Today they’d add sugar to taste too in many cases. But see my next post on pinole.

By: Scott Wilson

Scott Wilson — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 22:37:47 +0000

Hello Rachel, could you please give the proportions of ingredients? I read your blog post and realized that I have all the ingredients to make the drink. (whole corn-Rainbow Inca variety originally from Seeds of Change, raw cacao nibs, achiote seeds, and a good hand grinder.) This sounds like a very tasty beverage.

Cheers,
Scott

By: Rachel Laudan

Rachel Laudan — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 02:34:40 +0000

Thanks so much Adam. I feel stupid because I have the Scots Cellar (though not the Scots Kitchen) on my bookshelf. It just never occurred to me to look there for non-alcoholic grain drinks. What a rich haul.

Interestingly oatmeal is used in Mexico to make an “atole” that is a drink rather than the solid we are used to in the English-speaking world.

Barley water is another huge topic. It’s use as an invalid drink goes back to Classical Times at least.

Rachel

By: Adam Balic

Adam Balic — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 10:21:13 +0000

F. Marian McNeill wrote two books “The Scots Kitchen” (1929) and “The Scots Cellar” (1956). Both are very interesting books in their own right, being produced at a time when it was the last chance to record a lot of native dishes.

In regards to oat beverages she mentions:

Sowans and swats: which is the innner husks of oats left in a barrel with water until sour. The drained liquid are “swats”, the sediment is the “sowans”.

Lots of gruels were thin enough to be drank and some of these were used to produce up market bevages. “Atholl Brose” is the creamy liquid expressed from soaked oatmeal with heather honey and whisky.

There are also oatmeal possets/caudles, “Stoorum” (oatmeal, salt, milk, water), “Blenshaw” (oatmeal, sugar, nutmeg, milk, water). The are also mentions of other drinks that contain oatmeal, including harvest drinks for workers.

I remember when I was a child that when I was sick my grandmother would make “Barley Water”, so I imagine that this grain was used as a beverage like this also, with some of the drinks surviving as invalid recipes.

By: Rachel Laudan

Rachel Laudan — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 23:24:24 +0000

I’m not sure these are necessarily abortive attempts at producing booze. I am sure they are a huge and almost forgotten genre. Has anyone written up the oat beverages of the Scots?

As to looking like blood, some people say achiote makes the drink look like blood but to me it looks too orange. I think you could make this foam but the friend who sent it to me never mentioned foam.

By: Adam Balic

Adam Balic — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 21:54:34 +0000

The Scots had a huge range of beverages based on oats. Mostly this was a variation of mixing oatmeal in a tub, allowing this to sour then draining the liquid and drinking the result. Barley is toasted and used as a coffee substitute by some Greeks. Abortive attempts at producing booze I wonder?

Taxcalate does sound a lot like the Maya sacred drink, although I always thought of it looking like blood and there is no foam in this case. I wonder if there is a direct connection?

By: Rachel Laudan

Rachel Laudan — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 02:36:29 +0000

Great to hear from you Kitty. And lucky you. I have never been to Chiapas. But I am going to post soon on cous cous in Mexico–at least in Mexico’s past,

Rachel

By: Rachel Laudan

Rachel Laudan — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 02:35:19 +0000

Kyla, the nuttiness of the flavor is certainly appealing. But I think toasting grain before grinding also (a) made it easier to grind and (b) gave you an instant food. I am working my way around to Asian toasted grains and grain drinks. So more later.

By: Kitty Morse

Kitty Morse — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 00:06:17 +0000

Hello Rachel:

I just stumbled upon your most informative blog, and wanted to say hello.

We were in Chiapas a couple of years ago, and it was quite fascinating (especially the piece of road that slices through the “free, independent state” that will not respect any of the government’s dictates!)

Couscous and tagines still beckon!

All the best,

Kitty