I'll be honest, I thought horchata was a coffee drink. I'd also only heard the word from the song by Vampire Weekend.
But in a weird sequence of events, I had purchased some tiger nuts thinking I could eat them. Turns out... they're way too hard, EVEN after you soak them.
So I thought I would make tiger nut milk, which I learned is actually what horchata is traditionally made with in Spain! It's a nice milk alternative with a very distinct flavor that I liked a lot and served icy cold. It actually make a refreshing summer drink, too!
horchata
This traditional Spanish drink is made from tiger nuts and can be made at home if you have a high-powered blender like a Vitamix!
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Ingredients
- 1 ½ C tiger nuts (soaked for 24 hours or more)
- 4 C fresh water
- 1 pitted medjool date
- 3 cinnamon sticks
Instructions
- You have to soak the tiger nuts for at least 24 hours. I actually did it for 48 hours because I just let them sit in a bowl in the fridge until I had time to make this. The longer the better, because they are very hard.
- Drain and rinse the soaked tiger nuts and blend with 4 cups of water in a high-powered blender. FYI: this won't work in a conventional blender!
- To strain the pulp from the milk, strain it over a big bowl using a nut milk bag or the bottom of one leg of a pair of brand new pantyhose (this almost works better!) Strain the liquid until there is no more and either save the pulp to dehydrate into tiger nut flour or discard.
- Transfer the tiger nut milk back to the blender and blend with one pitted medjool date. Transfer to your storage jar and put 3 cinnamon sticks in the milk. Let it sit for at least another 24 hours in the fridge before serving.
- Serve over ice and garnish with a dusting of cinnamon.
Lauren Toyota
Lauren is a plant-based powerhouse, a former TV host turned wildly successful food creator, best-selling cookbook author, and the woman responsible for making vegan comfort food a thing worth craving. Through her blog and YouTube channel, hot for food, she’s amassed a dedicated following by recreating all the nostalgic, indulgent dishes we love—mac & cheese, burgers, cinnamon rolls—but making them entirely plant-based. No compromise on taste, no weird ingredients, just damn good food.