Horchata (again!)

At the risk of beating this horchata idea to death, I did come up with a new idea that I believe is unique. Horchata is based on rice extracted in water, of course, so the pH tends to be high and this makes the product difficult to package unless you do it aseptically. What I have devised is a new process to reduce the pH to below 4.0 (ideally around 3.7 - 3.9) without an acidic flavor. This means you can hot-fill the product and still have a classic horchata flavor.

The traditional drink still has a cinnamon and vanilla flavor, but we've also made a couple of fruit type varieties if anybody is interested - mango and prickly pear (tunas). We call the latter Oaxaca style although I understand Oaxaca is in the south of Mexico and fairly wet and tropical, so maybe that isn't great country for prickly pear cacti. Of course we could suggest a whole range of different flavors.

If you have an interest in making single strength hot-fill horchata we'd be happy to send you samples and a suggested formula. I don't believe such a product is currently on the market, at least in the US.

Horchata (Mexican Rice Drink)

Horchata (or 'agua de horchata') is a traditional Mexican drink made from rice, sweetened, and typically flavored with cinnamon and vanilla. Classically it is made by soaking rice in water overnight and then straining the liquid several times through cheesecloth. Some of the starch thickens the product and some of the flour remains undissolved, giving the product a rather unique and pleasant texture. The drink is usually very sweet and served cold, and you have to shake it or mix it before serving. Some families add milk or sweetened condensed milk to make the drink whiter and creamier. Over the years we have had many enquiries for a horchata drink, but the fact that there are semi-suspended rice particulates and the pH is well above 4.0 makes for stability issues.

Back in '06 we had an inspiration to stabilize the product by making a pasteurized concentrate at 68 Brix, which makes it microbiologically stable due to limiting the water activity, and which is thick enough to keep the solids in suspension. This material will dilute 1+4.7 (ie. 4.7 parts of water plus 1 part of the base) to make single strength horchata at 15.0 Brix. The product is also quite acceptable diluted as a 1+5 to 14.7 Brix. That's still a very sweet product!

We are fortunate in having some unique equipment in our plant which is able to process this product despite the viscosity, and to maintain the delicate rice background flavor and light color. The concentrate can be stored and shipped refrigerated, and is sufficiently pourable to be pumped and handled in standard beverage plant operations. Since the finished product would be low in acidity with a pH over 4.2, product sold at single strength would obviously need to be handled as for a dairy product or else packaged aseptically. However the concentrate may also be useful in some distribution systems, for canned, bag-in-box and food service applications.

The standard product is flavored with vanilla and cinnamon, which is traditional, but there is obviously no problem in taking out these flavors and adding alternatives if you would like a range of flavors. You could, for example, make chocolate, various fruit flavors etc., all of which we could either add in the base or which you could add yourself.

If you'd like some more information or a sample of the horchata base, please don't hesitate to ask.