Comments on: Agua Fresca 18. Venezuelan Horchata de Ajonjolí (Sesame)

By: Rachel Laudan

Rachel Laudan — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 16:10:04 +0000

Hi Iliana. I don’t have any idea whether they use hulled or un-hulled, sorry. I would suspect unhulled as in Mexico. Are you saying that sesame seeds are used to make horchata or other aguas frescas in Mexico?

Cold atoles sound almost more appealing than hot ones. I’ll look out for them.

By: iliana

iliana — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 13:56:04 +0000

Rachel,
Thanks for all your insight, I wonder what kind of sesame seeds are used, the hulled or un-hulled.. (white or brown).We use the latter in Mexico. And BTW I have had delicious cold and refreshing atoles. I remember one in Papantla Veracruz called atole morado (purple corn drink)

By: Adam Balic

Adam Balic — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 03:57:10 +0000

I know what you mean, the use of “spicy” to mean hot doesn’t help either.

In Scotland people refer to something piquant as “gingery” and a local Tuscan dialect word for a type of chilli is “ginger”, so lots of languages seem to be notably poor with dealing with the piquancy thing.

By: Rachel Laudan

Rachel Laudan — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 01:30:24 +0000

No, Adam, you are right. I’m not thinking straight. I think the general assumption is that pre-hispanic chocolate was taken cold. I think they would be referring to piquancy here. Why oh why doesn’t English have the piquant/hot distinction that is so clear in Mexican Spanish at any rate? I am not a chocolate expert. But I think that the Spanish wanted to do down the traditional chocolate drinking habits.

By: Adam Balic

Adam Balic — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 22:11:38 +0000

Most of of the early accounts of Chocolate drinking in Mexico I have seen don’t seem to mention that it is heated, although maybe this is just assumed.

Here is Stubbe’s account of Indian chocolate:

“It is clear, that the Indian ordinary Chocolata was made of the Cacao nut, and meal of Indian wheat, and water and Pocholt, and now and then some Pepper called Chille, which was put in, more or less, according to the necessity of the Patient’s Stomach, or other circumstances: So that they made divers sorts of it, some hot, some cold, some temperate, and put therein much Chili, or Chille. So saith Acosta……..”

From this it isn’t clear if the heat is temperature or chili heat, but there are a couple of other accounts of it being served at room temp and it seems that maize was a common additive?

By: Rachel Laudan

Rachel Laudan — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 14:10:33 +0000

The big difference between atoles and aguas frescas is that the former are always hot to the best of my knowledge and the latter are by definition cooling. Atoles are thicker too, gruels in fact.

I agree about the overlap of ingredients though. And as to making chocolate, it’s still very common to make chocolate from metate-ground chocolate with sugar added and foamed (often unromantically in the blender). I’ve not seen the more piquant flavors in our part of Mexico. And champurrado (chocolate with maize flour) remains very common. Wonderful for breakfast on a chilly morning.

But maybe it’s the more piquant spices you are talking about as flavors.

By: Adam Balic

Adam Balic — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 21:09:56 +0000

I guess that some of these drinks could be hybrids, rather then specific Spanish origin drinks. Some of the grain/nut/seed drinks are similar enough to atolle (sp?). If consider it the historical chocolate recipes fits this model as well.

For that matter does anybody make chocolate in this manner (ground, mixed flavors, sometimes maize flour, added to water and foamed) anymore?

Raises the question if the Salvadoran drink is Spanish or local origin, irrespective of the name? Any other examples that use New World nuts/grains/seeds etc?