Rachel Laudan

Now here’s a question. How did Mexicans make agua fresca before every household had its blender?  Some fruits–the citrus–are easy to juice.  But that’s not true of other agua fresca bases such as barley, rice, or pineapple. Well, here’s the answer. This 1860 oil by a wonderful Mexican painter, José Agustín Arrieta, shows horchata vendors. [...]

Since Alex mentioned the pink horchata of Guadalajara, it seemed time to give a recipe for yet another of the multitudinous drinks that goes by this name (just hit the tag horchata for earlier discussions of this family of drinks). This comes from Maru Toledo who appears on radio and television in Guadalajara and who [...]

Closely related to horchata is almond milk which was so essential for fast day cooking in the Catholic world when milk was not permitted. And luckily my long-standing buddy Ken Albala who is the expert on such things has just posted on almond milk and butter on his blog.  Well worth a gander.  As well [...]