October 20, 2021 • 26 mins
This category of beverages encompasses a continuum of often creamy, spiced, and slightly sweet nondairy drinks – and beyond. Anney and Lauren dip into the science and history of horchata.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hello, and welcome to Favor production of I Heeart Radio.
I'm Annie Reese and I'm Lauren Vogelbaum, and today we
have an episode for you about or chata. Yes, it's
definitely going to be a fun with pronunciations episode um
as we like to call them, but we're going to
give it our best saver shot. Yes, only one of
(00:28):
us really extensively studied Spanish, and that was me, and
that was in high school, and high school was not
recently for me. So yeah, yep, yep, I study Spanish,
but I was studying a bunch of other languages at once,
and now I just get confused about how to pronounce
any of it. Yeah, yeah, I think that's fair. Thank you,
thank you. I do love uh some or chata um.
(00:51):
I've only had it twice, but both times were wonderful.
One time involved rum and it was very very Yeah. Yeah,
I've been very pleased that some of the Mexican restaurants
in town have started along with the entire like or
chata boom that we're in the middle of here in
the United States, Like a lot of local places about
(01:14):
town have been offering it along with their other alga
frescas and um, I've been so delighted with that. Yes,
oh yes, um, you can see. We were just discussing
since we've said we've done a lot of episodes that
kind of gets all muddled up here, but related to
this one, past episodes on sugar, rice, cinnamon, any, a
(01:36):
lot of those spices. I think we've done that involved yeah, yeah,
And we were trying to remember whether or not we
had ever done episodes about milk punches or not, and
we have no idea. I'm like it might fit into
like butter beer a little bit, or maybe during our
New Orleans cocktail Our episode or I think so anything
(02:00):
you've happened can happened everybody. We don't know you know
as much as we do. At least you probably remember
it better. That's true, It's true. Well does this spring?
(02:20):
I mean, I guess this raises a lot of questions.
Does it brings us to one? In particular? It doesn't
be Lauren or Chatta? What is it? Well? Or Chatta
is a style of drink that can be many things,
(02:41):
but at its core is uh probably creamy without being
too heavy, at least a little bit sweet, and at
least a little bit spiced. It can be served hot
or cold, thin or thick, with additions like a fruit
or seasonings of all kinds. The kind that I'm familiar
with again is yeah, like like creamy agua fresca kind
(03:01):
of thing, like if, um, like if rice pudding were
a cool, refreshing drink served over ice, just lightly sweet
and seasoned with cinnamon and vanilla. Yeah, yeah, I think
that's the kind of hat as well. Plus run one
time plus round the one time right yeah, yeah, right um.
The creamy element in orchata is often plant based instead
(03:21):
of being dairy based, with ingredients like rice or almonds
or tubers and or other grain starches, seeds or nuts
being ground and then soaked in water and then you
blend that whole mixture into yes, a non dairy milk. Uh.
Nuts and seeds have a lot of fats and also
a lot of proteins which help make a smooth, creamy
(03:43):
drink because because some of the proteins can act as
like intermediaries between the fats and the water, which do
not normally want to mix, the proteins can help them emulsify. Starches, meanwhile,
work a little bit differently to make a milk. If
you if you free the starch molecules from their structures
in a in a grain of rice or whatever it
(04:03):
is that it is UH, those starches will glom onto
water molecules and swell up and this typically makes a
thicker but like slightly more gritty textured UH non dairy milk.
Or chata is an excellent excuse to play with making
your own non dairy milks at home. Um One Ariel
Johnson with the m I T Media Lab recommends heating
(04:26):
the soaked not sand or grains to to help with
extracting the like operative molecules, but warns to not heat
starchy bases above a hundred and forty fahrenheit that's sixty celsius,
because otherwise you will unspool the starch molecules and then
instead of having a drink, you will have like a glue,
which you know, like if you if you want a pudding,
(04:50):
then just go for it. I can't stop you. We
have very little power, just shockingly little of cutting. So
different versions of or chata can be found all over
the world using different base ingredients barley or the seeds
(05:11):
of melons or squash oats, coconut, sesame seeds, cashews, peanuts. Uh,
there's a version in Ecuador that isn't creamy at all,
I don't think, but it's more like a pink herbal infusion. Uh.
In different cultures, or chattas are sometimes consumed um like
this Ecuadorian version as a functional or even medicinal drinks
(05:31):
UM and made with medicinal plant infusions. And then to
your base uh, whether or not you're doing the functional
food kind of thing, you can add all kinds of
mixings and flavorings. UM. You can. You can use dates
or or sugar of whatever kind to add that sweetness.
I've also seen recipes call for sweetened condensed milk or
evaporated milk, or even some plain milk or cream. UM,
(05:55):
spices and other stuff like an allspice, nutmeg, lime, zest, cocoa.
You can indeed make it the base of a cocktail
by adding rum or like a like a nice barrel
aged tequila would be good um or I mean you know,
whatever you want. I suppose UM. And of course you
do not need to make your own uh non dairy
(06:15):
milk in order to make up or chat a flavored
syrups and infusion satchets and powdered mixes are all available
for purchase. It can be served on its own or
as an accompaniment to meals or two snacks like pastries
in umias like like Little Like or Chatta cafes. UM.
(06:35):
I feel like I have the twice I've had it.
I've seen it on menus a lot, UM, but I
have normally had it around this time of year, like
maybe slightly into the more Christmas EA time as well.
I'm not sure where that is, but that's just been
my experience. I think. I think here in the States,
we we so associate um, cinnamon and those other spices
(06:56):
with being like fall to winter kind of spices. I've
always had it in the summer um to kind of
like cool down, like a particularly spicy meal. UM. So
that's how I'm more familiar with it. But you know,
whenever you like exactly Well, what about the nutrition, Yeah,
(07:17):
it depends a lot on how you make it. Perhaps
obviously it can be pretty calorie dense with sugars and fats.
It can have a decent punch protein. As a beverage, UM,
it generally won't really like fill you up, but it
can certainly help keep you going. Depending um you know,
watch your watch your sugar intake. I guess mm hmmm. Um.
(07:39):
We don't have too many numbers, were you, but we
do have a few. We had a couple of Yeah. So,
as of eighteen or so, um Spain, which is one
of the places that popularized or chata. Um Spain was
consuming more than fifty million liters that's about thirteen million
gallons of or chata per year UM for an estimate,
(08:00):
a market value of about sixty million euros UM, which
is nearly seventy million U S dollars as of today's
exchange rate. Wow. Yeah, it's quite a lot. And Yeah,
speaking of or chata has recently experienced a massive spike
and popularity in the US. In twenty nineteen, sales of
that flavor shot up by two hundred and fifty seven
(08:21):
percent in this country. Yeah, real really experienced a sudden
and dramatic climb. Um. Vampire Weekend has a song called
orchata in Yeah came out. Came out in way back
in two thousand nine. They were ahead of the little
(08:42):
Yeah they were yeah. Yeah. According to my very cursory
Internet search, it hit the Billboard bubbling under hot one
hundred singles chart at number two, which we discussed. I
don't know. I don't know what it means. We don't
know what it means. I think it means. It's really
(09:03):
the next it's like the next one under the top one.
That's what I think it is. We certainly will never
know today. We'll never know, and there's no way for
us to find out. I know. And a lot of
articles I read that brought up this fact, like they
were saying how impressive it was that they were able
(09:24):
to rhyme or chata with so many different things. So hey, um,
good for them, Yeah, good for them. Um, we do
have quite an interesting history for you on this one,
Yes we do, um, And we are going to get
into that. But first we're going to get into a
quick break for a word from our sponsor. Come, we're back,
(09:53):
Thank you sponsor, Yes, thank you. So or Chatah is
believed to have originated in North Africa, and specifically in
what is now Molly and Nigeria, as far back as
two thousand four. Some sources also trace its roots or
maybe influences is a better word, um back to an
ancient Roman barley based al sir that was used for
(10:15):
a whole range of medicinal things. UM barley in particular
was believed to have healing cooling properties. Over the centuries,
it became a category of drinks UM made with a
whole host of ingredients, which is always fun when you're
trying to research the history. Yes, including various seeds, nuts,
(10:35):
and grains. In the early days, or chatta was made
of tiger nuts that had been dried and ground up
into a sort of milky substance. UM. Sugar and water
was then added to this milky stuff, and then it
was filtered, resulting in something that had a similar texture
to rice pudding. And a note about tiger nuts, These
(10:57):
of course or not nuts either, because there is almost
no for is. They are tubs that have been cultivated
for thousands of years. The oldest records we have of
tiger nuts come out of ancient Egypt, and the ancient
Egyptians priced them um a, snacks and medicinally. Yeah. Evidence
of drinks made the tiger nuts have been found in
(11:17):
Egyptian tombs UM, and it's thought that conquering Romans brought
these drinks back with them to Europe. Tiger nuts are
called tufa in Spanish um and they looked a little
bit like hazelnuts to Europeans, hence hence one of the
many names I've seen also earth almonds, earth earthy. But yeah,
(11:40):
they were lauded as a as a health food for
a long time by um by Persian and Arab physicians
and botanists. Yeah, um, ancient Greek botanists wrote about them too. However,
these days tiger nuts are largely viewed as a despised
weed that causes millions of dollars in agricultural damage, while
also attracting some pensine as a super food. Um. Potentially
(12:03):
we could return to this for a whole future topic. Yeah,
I just never heard of tiger nuts before, so I
was like, I better look into what these are. And
they seem to have a pretty interesting history. Yeah. Absolutely,
during the Muslim conquest of Spain beginning and the seven
eight hundred c e. The drink was potentially introduced to
(12:24):
that area. Again, depending on how people defined it and
who are we crediting with, like what part of it,
People can get a little tied up in the weeds
and details there can get a little mussy. Um. But yeah,
they perhaps particularly introduced it to in your Valencia, where
Valencians grew a lot of rice, which is a crop
(12:45):
that shares similar ideal growing conditions as tiger nuts. The Spanish,
who are credited with popularizing this version of the drink
made with tiger nuts called or called it or chataua.
One of the first recipes of this in the written
it appeared in a thirty four Catalonian manuscript. Yeah. This
recipe called for a soaked ground tiger nuts or or chufa, right,
(13:08):
and then sugar, cinnamon and lemon rind. One popularly told
story is that the name actually came from King James,
the first of Spain, after a young girl served him
this drink on a hot thirteenth century day. He took
a sip and exclaimed in Valencian, this is gold, pretty girl,
or this is not milk, it's gold girl, which I
(13:31):
did not want to attempt influencing because I would have
budgered it. But in valencin and has some words that
together sounds sort of like or chatta. Yeah, it's it's
more likely that the that the name came from a
Roman word for barley, which I didn't make a note about.
But um, but I think we talk a little bit
(13:51):
about in just a second. Um, but at any rate,
or Chatta da chufa is still popular in Valencia and
there are um um or chats that have been operating
for like two hundred years that you can still go
to today. Oh cool yeah. An early French recipe for
barley water at of three called for boiling some water,
(14:13):
adding some barley, liquorice and or figs, bringing it back
to a boil, straining that into goblets that were prepped
with a decent amount of rock sugar, and serving that
to especially the ill um. The English often added herbs
and raisins into the mix. Eventually, the English replaced the
barley with ground almonds to make a drink called or jatte,
(14:34):
which was all in vogue for a hot minute, while
barley was seen as old fashioned. Yeah yeah um. The
the word or jatte does share its etymology with or chatta,
and these days or jatte is more of a syrup
than a nut milk um like like a like sugary
fine ground almonds um that's used mostly as a cocktail ingredient.
(14:56):
It's an an integral part of the my time. Then
you can see our I tie episode for a little
bit more on that, Yes, that one, I do remember
yep Um. Through colonization, the drink made its way to
West Africa. The Mexican version of the drink with a
base of rice, milk, cinnamon and sugar. Dave Spects who
(15:16):
at least the sixteenth century after conquistadors had brought those
ingredients to the region. Um, they did not bring the
shufa the tiger nuts with them, so rice milk was
used in its place. After this drink took off in Mexico,
It's read and evolved based on available ingredients and taste
across Latin America. In Venezuela and Puerto Rico, sesame seeds
(15:38):
got added into the mix. In El Salvador, the fruit
moro was mixed in An Ecuador. Eighteen different herbs and
flowers are used in or Chata loojana Um. I hope
I'm not butchering that. Yeah, yeah, And that that's the
that's the more um pink and herbal one that I
was talking about at the top. And I believe that
the El Salvador and and I think a couple other
(16:00):
make it too with them with motto seeds. I think
it's the seeds and not the fruit. But I could
be mistaken. Please right in and let us know if
you have any idea about this. Yes, yes, yes, Um,
that could be me not knowing what morrow is. I
had to look it up because I've never heard of
it before. I was like, oh, it's a fruit. Who knows?
(16:22):
Let us know. All of this is one of many
examples of African cuisine influencing Latin American culture and cuisine,
largely due to multiple global migration movements and the trade
of enslaved peoples all of us in the face of
colorism and violent pushback. Um. So, there were some pretty
interesting articles about some examples of that, in or chata
being one of them. Yeah. Uh. Meanwhile, by food manufacturers
(16:50):
had started selling or chatta drink mixes and flavorings in
the US market. Yes, and speaking of in, Starbucks introduced
the or Chata almond milk frappuccino, their first all almond
milk drink. Adding coffee to the or chata is viewed
as blasphemous in some circles. A lot of people have
(17:11):
some very strong opiniese about um and we argue that,
you know, it's another example of gentrification and of capitalism.
Exploreding culture and history. A lot of people were just like,
that's not or chata. It makes me mad that you're
making that's not or chata and calling it and calling
it or chata. Right, um, yeah, I mean it. It
went big though in by it was being called a
(17:33):
global flavor trend. Separately though, I guess because you know,
in certain certainly in like in Valencia, in Spain and
in many many other regions. Um, it's it's just been
popular this whole time. Um. And it is in fact
so popular in Spain. Um and or chata the toofa
specifically that researchers are currently looking into how um the
(17:56):
by products of the or chata making industry can be
collected and used to recover useful stuff like like an
antioxidants for further applications. I love it. Yeah, so cool cool.
I definitely want some or chata now. That sounds so good,
even though it has gotten We've got some chill going
(18:18):
on in Atlanta, right yeah, yeah, I think I I
think I don't want a cold or chata at the
current moment, but I could try a warm version of
word chatta. Yes, sounds amazing. Well, I guess that's what
we have to say about or Chata. For now, it
(18:39):
is um. We do have some listener mail for you, though,
we do, but first we have one more cup break
for a word from our sponsor, and we're back. Thank
you sponsor, Yes, thank you, And we're back with storm huge. Yeah.
(19:07):
I got out my fluffy socks. So that's that's the situation.
I oh, yeah, yeah. And you're wearing one of your
like serious sweatshirts. This isn't Fanny's normal every day podcasting sweatshirt.
This is one of her like well like fall is here.
I'm moved up John Route. After I retired from the
Army after twenty four years as a lawyer and a judge,
(19:27):
I used the g I bill to attend culinary school
at the Culinary Institute of America c i A at
the San Antonio, Texas campus. Our guard monger appetizer class
was the one class where the chef instructor let us
indulge in our creativity. We just had to be able
to hearken back to the originally assigned recipe. This gave
(19:48):
my living all over the world creativity a chance to shine.
I was given a cold bored shot as an appetizer
and another in my group had a oneton appetizer that
didn't sound interesting to either of us. I suggested to
her to find whatever was left over and make a
sausage out of it and make it a fried wanton
with plum sauce. She found a couple of left over
(20:09):
duck breast and some candied ginger and made the most
amazing candied ginger duck sausage wantons. The borsche was a
bit tougher. It was a red borsched wrispe that was
sair wine. I decided to change the red beats to
yellow beats in the borsch and then turned them into
gelatinized spears and deep fried a red beat chip for
(20:31):
the spears to sit on. I placed the radish and
deal garnish on the inside and topped the single bite
appetizer with a cream frish I made and placed a
small sprig of dial on top. It was the most
dazzling looking dish I made at school and was delicious.
As a bonus, they had more than a bit of wine.
(20:51):
I have attached pictures of the duck wantons and the
gelatinized borsch. After graduation, I went on to teach several
courses in the academic section of the school until co
nineteen into the local campuses used of adjunct faculty. Both
experiences were fabulous. Oh that sounds so good. A right,
that's that sounds so delightful. Yes, and they look amazing,
(21:15):
very creative. Yeah, I want them. Why can't I not
top him? And he's like, yes, please, I will order
both of those, Thank you, thank you. To send it
to the CEO Saber. I will be waiting. This is
(21:36):
a much fancier version of what I've been doing, which
is like, I have this old can of spaghettios and
some basil, and he do you need to go grocery
shopping again? I'm going tomorrow. I'm okay, Well that's good.
(21:58):
Thank you. Do I need to drop by with some
food tonight? No, no, no, no, okay. I made this
huge rice tofu thing all right, because that's what I
had around again. It's very good. Heck yeah, heck yeah. Um.
(22:19):
A different John wrote I just heard the most recent
listener mail. One of them mentioned ghost kitchens as specifically
corporate restaurant that catfish as smaller mom and or pop places.
This begins the tail of Pasquali's Pizza and Wings so
it is written, and so I've been told. At the
beginning of quarantine, when restaurants were scrambling to figure out
(22:42):
how to adapt, there came a new pizza place, Pasqualities.
I think I'm saying that right. I have no idea anyway,
And it was good, like people were getting excited about it.
The menu was small, but the pizza was solid. The
wings were great, the meatballs were meaty without being dense.
The cheesy bread is delightful, the salads were present. How
(23:03):
could this place have been financially solvent enough to be
a national chain without anyone ever hearing of them before quarantine? Well,
people got all don't have with cats on them and
discovered that they were owned by c EC Entertainment wait entertainment,
not like foods or dining. Turns out everyone's new favorite
(23:25):
pizza takeaway is we'll find out after a word from
our sponsors, and we're back. Thank you sponsors, Yes, thank you?
Oh okay. So c EC Entertainment that owns Pasquali's pizza
is chuck e Cheese Entertainment, do do. Turns out the
secret to good pizza is not having a child sneeze
(23:46):
on it while attending a birthday party at a Rats casino. Well,
when you put it that way, I had heard of this.
I totally forgot because this was at the beginning of
the pandemic and there were news stories about it, like
with a Dark Side of Pasqualities Pizzash. Yeah, and I, oh, man,
(24:10):
I can't remember if I remember the name from those
news stories or during our Chuck E Cheese episode if
the name Squalities came up or yeah. We we also
do want to point out that the the subject line
of this email was the col zone is coming from
inside the house terrifying so good. Yeah, but squalitly. I mean,
(24:35):
I'm sure some people were like, huh because he's one
of the members of the band. If I remember correctly, Okay,
maybe that goodness. It's all words salad to me today.
My brain is, in fact, a gelatinous ball of borshed.
I mean, you don't just know all the names of
the members of the Check E Cheese band off the
(24:55):
top of your head. I don't know what's wrong with me, Annie, Wow.
I mean, I we can't remember the topics we've done
in the past, but I expected you to remember this, Laura.
And I call myself a food podcaster. Oh it's time
to hang it up, Lauren. You gotta get in shape
shape if we're going to continue this. Um oh past qualities, Oh,
(25:20):
pass qualities. Well, but thanks to both of those listeners
who are writing in. You would like to write to
you as we would love to hear from you. Our
email is hello at favorite pod dot com. We're also
on social media. You can find us on Twitter, Facebook,
and Instagram at savor pod, and we do hope to
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For more podcasts for my Heart Radio, you can visit
(25:42):
the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
listen to your favorite shows. Thanks as always to our
superproducers Dylan Fagan and Andrew Howard. With a special shout
out today to j J. Pasway. Thanks to you for listening,
and we hope that lots more good things are coming
your way
Hello, and welcome to Favor production of I Heeart Radio.
I'm Annie Reese and I'm Lauren Vogelbaum, and today we
have an episode for you about or chata. Yes, it's
definitely going to be a fun with pronunciations episode um
as we like to call them, but we're going to
give it our best saver shot. Yes, only one of
(00:28):
us really extensively studied Spanish, and that was me, and
that was in high school, and high school was not
recently for me. So yeah, yep, yep, I study Spanish,
but I was studying a bunch of other languages at once,
and now I just get confused about how to pronounce
any of it. Yeah, yeah, I think that's fair. Thank you,
thank you. I do love uh some or chata um.
(00:51):
I've only had it twice, but both times were wonderful.
One time involved rum and it was very very Yeah. Yeah,
I've been very pleased that some of the Mexican restaurants
in town have started along with the entire like or
chata boom that we're in the middle of here in
the United States, Like a lot of local places about
(01:14):
town have been offering it along with their other alga
frescas and um, I've been so delighted with that. Yes,
oh yes, um, you can see. We were just discussing
since we've said we've done a lot of episodes that
kind of gets all muddled up here, but related to
this one, past episodes on sugar, rice, cinnamon, any, a
(01:36):
lot of those spices. I think we've done that involved yeah, yeah,
And we were trying to remember whether or not we
had ever done episodes about milk punches or not, and
we have no idea. I'm like it might fit into
like butter beer a little bit, or maybe during our
New Orleans cocktail Our episode or I think so anything
(02:00):
you've happened can happened everybody. We don't know you know
as much as we do. At least you probably remember
it better. That's true, It's true. Well does this spring?
(02:20):
I mean, I guess this raises a lot of questions.
Does it brings us to one? In particular? It doesn't
be Lauren or Chatta? What is it? Well? Or Chatta
is a style of drink that can be many things,
(02:41):
but at its core is uh probably creamy without being
too heavy, at least a little bit sweet, and at
least a little bit spiced. It can be served hot
or cold, thin or thick, with additions like a fruit
or seasonings of all kinds. The kind that I'm familiar
with again is yeah, like like creamy agua fresca kind
(03:01):
of thing, like if, um, like if rice pudding were
a cool, refreshing drink served over ice, just lightly sweet
and seasoned with cinnamon and vanilla. Yeah, yeah, I think
that's the kind of hat as well. Plus run one
time plus round the one time right yeah, yeah, right um.
The creamy element in orchata is often plant based instead
(03:21):
of being dairy based, with ingredients like rice or almonds
or tubers and or other grain starches, seeds or nuts
being ground and then soaked in water and then you
blend that whole mixture into yes, a non dairy milk. Uh.
Nuts and seeds have a lot of fats and also
a lot of proteins which help make a smooth, creamy
(03:43):
drink because because some of the proteins can act as
like intermediaries between the fats and the water, which do
not normally want to mix, the proteins can help them emulsify. Starches, meanwhile,
work a little bit differently to make a milk. If
you if you free the starch molecules from their structures
in a in a grain of rice or whatever it
(04:03):
is that it is UH, those starches will glom onto
water molecules and swell up and this typically makes a
thicker but like slightly more gritty textured UH non dairy milk.
Or chata is an excellent excuse to play with making
your own non dairy milks at home. Um One Ariel
Johnson with the m I T Media Lab recommends heating
(04:26):
the soaked not sand or grains to to help with
extracting the like operative molecules, but warns to not heat
starchy bases above a hundred and forty fahrenheit that's sixty celsius,
because otherwise you will unspool the starch molecules and then
instead of having a drink, you will have like a glue,
which you know, like if you if you want a pudding,
(04:50):
then just go for it. I can't stop you. We
have very little power, just shockingly little of cutting. So
different versions of or chata can be found all over
the world using different base ingredients barley or the seeds
(05:11):
of melons or squash oats, coconut, sesame seeds, cashews, peanuts. Uh,
there's a version in Ecuador that isn't creamy at all,
I don't think, but it's more like a pink herbal infusion. Uh.
In different cultures, or chattas are sometimes consumed um like
this Ecuadorian version as a functional or even medicinal drinks
(05:31):
UM and made with medicinal plant infusions. And then to
your base uh, whether or not you're doing the functional
food kind of thing, you can add all kinds of
mixings and flavorings. UM. You can. You can use dates
or or sugar of whatever kind to add that sweetness.
I've also seen recipes call for sweetened condensed milk or
evaporated milk, or even some plain milk or cream. UM,
(05:55):
spices and other stuff like an allspice, nutmeg, lime, zest, cocoa.
You can indeed make it the base of a cocktail
by adding rum or like a like a nice barrel
aged tequila would be good um or I mean you know,
whatever you want. I suppose UM. And of course you
do not need to make your own uh non dairy
(06:15):
milk in order to make up or chat a flavored
syrups and infusion satchets and powdered mixes are all available
for purchase. It can be served on its own or
as an accompaniment to meals or two snacks like pastries
in umias like like Little Like or Chatta cafes. UM.
(06:35):
I feel like I have the twice I've had it.
I've seen it on menus a lot, UM, but I
have normally had it around this time of year, like
maybe slightly into the more Christmas EA time as well.
I'm not sure where that is, but that's just been
my experience. I think. I think here in the States,
we we so associate um, cinnamon and those other spices
(06:56):
with being like fall to winter kind of spices. I've
always had it in the summer um to kind of
like cool down, like a particularly spicy meal. UM. So
that's how I'm more familiar with it. But you know,
whenever you like exactly Well, what about the nutrition, Yeah,
(07:17):
it depends a lot on how you make it. Perhaps
obviously it can be pretty calorie dense with sugars and fats.
It can have a decent punch protein. As a beverage, UM,
it generally won't really like fill you up, but it
can certainly help keep you going. Depending um you know,
watch your watch your sugar intake. I guess mm hmmm. Um.
(07:39):
We don't have too many numbers, were you, but we
do have a few. We had a couple of Yeah. So,
as of eighteen or so, um Spain, which is one
of the places that popularized or chata. Um Spain was
consuming more than fifty million liters that's about thirteen million
gallons of or chata per year UM for an estimate,
(08:00):
a market value of about sixty million euros UM, which
is nearly seventy million U S dollars as of today's
exchange rate. Wow. Yeah, it's quite a lot. And Yeah,
speaking of or chata has recently experienced a massive spike
and popularity in the US. In twenty nineteen, sales of
that flavor shot up by two hundred and fifty seven
(08:21):
percent in this country. Yeah, real really experienced a sudden
and dramatic climb. Um. Vampire Weekend has a song called
orchata in Yeah came out. Came out in way back
in two thousand nine. They were ahead of the little
(08:42):
Yeah they were yeah. Yeah. According to my very cursory
Internet search, it hit the Billboard bubbling under hot one
hundred singles chart at number two, which we discussed. I
don't know. I don't know what it means. We don't
know what it means. I think it means. It's really
(09:03):
the next it's like the next one under the top one.
That's what I think it is. We certainly will never
know today. We'll never know, and there's no way for
us to find out. I know. And a lot of
articles I read that brought up this fact, like they
were saying how impressive it was that they were able
(09:24):
to rhyme or chata with so many different things. So hey, um,
good for them, Yeah, good for them. Um, we do
have quite an interesting history for you on this one,
Yes we do, um, And we are going to get
into that. But first we're going to get into a
quick break for a word from our sponsor. Come, we're back,
(09:53):
Thank you sponsor, Yes, thank you. So or Chatah is
believed to have originated in North Africa, and specifically in
what is now Molly and Nigeria, as far back as
two thousand four. Some sources also trace its roots or
maybe influences is a better word, um back to an
ancient Roman barley based al sir that was used for
(10:15):
a whole range of medicinal things. UM barley in particular
was believed to have healing cooling properties. Over the centuries,
it became a category of drinks UM made with a
whole host of ingredients, which is always fun when you're
trying to research the history. Yes, including various seeds, nuts,
(10:35):
and grains. In the early days, or chatta was made
of tiger nuts that had been dried and ground up
into a sort of milky substance. UM. Sugar and water
was then added to this milky stuff, and then it
was filtered, resulting in something that had a similar texture
to rice pudding. And a note about tiger nuts, These
(10:57):
of course or not nuts either, because there is almost
no for is. They are tubs that have been cultivated
for thousands of years. The oldest records we have of
tiger nuts come out of ancient Egypt, and the ancient
Egyptians priced them um a, snacks and medicinally. Yeah. Evidence
of drinks made the tiger nuts have been found in
(11:17):
Egyptian tombs UM, and it's thought that conquering Romans brought
these drinks back with them to Europe. Tiger nuts are
called tufa in Spanish um and they looked a little
bit like hazelnuts to Europeans, hence hence one of the
many names I've seen also earth almonds, earth earthy. But yeah,
(11:40):
they were lauded as a as a health food for
a long time by um by Persian and Arab physicians
and botanists. Yeah, um, ancient Greek botanists wrote about them too. However,
these days tiger nuts are largely viewed as a despised
weed that causes millions of dollars in agricultural damage, while
also attracting some pensine as a super food. Um. Potentially
(12:03):
we could return to this for a whole future topic. Yeah,
I just never heard of tiger nuts before, so I
was like, I better look into what these are. And
they seem to have a pretty interesting history. Yeah. Absolutely,
during the Muslim conquest of Spain beginning and the seven
eight hundred c e. The drink was potentially introduced to
(12:24):
that area. Again, depending on how people defined it and
who are we crediting with, like what part of it,
People can get a little tied up in the weeds
and details there can get a little mussy. Um. But yeah,
they perhaps particularly introduced it to in your Valencia, where
Valencians grew a lot of rice, which is a crop
(12:45):
that shares similar ideal growing conditions as tiger nuts. The Spanish,
who are credited with popularizing this version of the drink
made with tiger nuts called or called it or chataua.
One of the first recipes of this in the written
it appeared in a thirty four Catalonian manuscript. Yeah. This
recipe called for a soaked ground tiger nuts or or chufa, right,
(13:08):
and then sugar, cinnamon and lemon rind. One popularly told
story is that the name actually came from King James,
the first of Spain, after a young girl served him
this drink on a hot thirteenth century day. He took
a sip and exclaimed in Valencian, this is gold, pretty girl,
or this is not milk, it's gold girl, which I
(13:31):
did not want to attempt influencing because I would have
budgered it. But in valencin and has some words that
together sounds sort of like or chatta. Yeah, it's it's
more likely that the that the name came from a
Roman word for barley, which I didn't make a note about.
But um, but I think we talk a little bit
(13:51):
about in just a second. Um, but at any rate,
or Chatta da chufa is still popular in Valencia and
there are um um or chats that have been operating
for like two hundred years that you can still go
to today. Oh cool yeah. An early French recipe for
barley water at of three called for boiling some water,
(14:13):
adding some barley, liquorice and or figs, bringing it back
to a boil, straining that into goblets that were prepped
with a decent amount of rock sugar, and serving that
to especially the ill um. The English often added herbs
and raisins into the mix. Eventually, the English replaced the
barley with ground almonds to make a drink called or jatte,
(14:34):
which was all in vogue for a hot minute, while
barley was seen as old fashioned. Yeah yeah um. The
the word or jatte does share its etymology with or chatta,
and these days or jatte is more of a syrup
than a nut milk um like like a like sugary
fine ground almonds um that's used mostly as a cocktail ingredient.
(14:56):
It's an an integral part of the my time. Then
you can see our I tie episode for a little
bit more on that, Yes, that one, I do remember
yep Um. Through colonization, the drink made its way to
West Africa. The Mexican version of the drink with a
base of rice, milk, cinnamon and sugar. Dave Spects who
(15:16):
at least the sixteenth century after conquistadors had brought those
ingredients to the region. Um, they did not bring the
shufa the tiger nuts with them, so rice milk was
used in its place. After this drink took off in Mexico,
It's read and evolved based on available ingredients and taste
across Latin America. In Venezuela and Puerto Rico, sesame seeds
(15:38):
got added into the mix. In El Salvador, the fruit
moro was mixed in An Ecuador. Eighteen different herbs and
flowers are used in or Chata loojana Um. I hope
I'm not butchering that. Yeah, yeah, And that that's the
that's the more um pink and herbal one that I
was talking about at the top. And I believe that
the El Salvador and and I think a couple other
(16:00):
make it too with them with motto seeds. I think
it's the seeds and not the fruit. But I could
be mistaken. Please right in and let us know if
you have any idea about this. Yes, yes, yes, Um,
that could be me not knowing what morrow is. I
had to look it up because I've never heard of
it before. I was like, oh, it's a fruit. Who knows?
(16:22):
Let us know. All of this is one of many
examples of African cuisine influencing Latin American culture and cuisine,
largely due to multiple global migration movements and the trade
of enslaved peoples all of us in the face of
colorism and violent pushback. Um. So, there were some pretty
interesting articles about some examples of that, in or chata
being one of them. Yeah. Uh. Meanwhile, by food manufacturers
(16:50):
had started selling or chatta drink mixes and flavorings in
the US market. Yes, and speaking of in, Starbucks introduced
the or Chata almond milk frappuccino, their first all almond
milk drink. Adding coffee to the or chata is viewed
as blasphemous in some circles. A lot of people have
(17:11):
some very strong opiniese about um and we argue that,
you know, it's another example of gentrification and of capitalism.
Exploreding culture and history. A lot of people were just like,
that's not or chata. It makes me mad that you're
making that's not or chata and calling it and calling
it or chata. Right, um, yeah, I mean it. It
went big though in by it was being called a
(17:33):
global flavor trend. Separately though, I guess because you know,
in certain certainly in like in Valencia, in Spain and
in many many other regions. Um, it's it's just been
popular this whole time. Um. And it is in fact
so popular in Spain. Um and or chata the toofa
specifically that researchers are currently looking into how um the
(17:56):
by products of the or chata making industry can be
collected and used to recover useful stuff like like an
antioxidants for further applications. I love it. Yeah, so cool cool.
I definitely want some or chata now. That sounds so good,
even though it has gotten We've got some chill going
(18:18):
on in Atlanta, right yeah, yeah, I think I I
think I don't want a cold or chata at the
current moment, but I could try a warm version of
word chatta. Yes, sounds amazing. Well, I guess that's what
we have to say about or Chata. For now, it
(18:39):
is um. We do have some listener mail for you, though,
we do, but first we have one more cup break
for a word from our sponsor, and we're back. Thank
you sponsor, Yes, thank you, And we're back with storm huge. Yeah.
(19:07):
I got out my fluffy socks. So that's that's the situation.
I oh, yeah, yeah. And you're wearing one of your
like serious sweatshirts. This isn't Fanny's normal every day podcasting sweatshirt.
This is one of her like well like fall is here.
I'm moved up John Route. After I retired from the
Army after twenty four years as a lawyer and a judge,
(19:27):
I used the g I bill to attend culinary school
at the Culinary Institute of America c i A at
the San Antonio, Texas campus. Our guard monger appetizer class
was the one class where the chef instructor let us
indulge in our creativity. We just had to be able
to hearken back to the originally assigned recipe. This gave
(19:48):
my living all over the world creativity a chance to shine.
I was given a cold bored shot as an appetizer
and another in my group had a oneton appetizer that
didn't sound interesting to either of us. I suggested to
her to find whatever was left over and make a
sausage out of it and make it a fried wanton
with plum sauce. She found a couple of left over
(20:09):
duck breast and some candied ginger and made the most
amazing candied ginger duck sausage wantons. The borsche was a
bit tougher. It was a red borsched wrispe that was
sair wine. I decided to change the red beats to
yellow beats in the borsch and then turned them into
gelatinized spears and deep fried a red beat chip for
(20:31):
the spears to sit on. I placed the radish and
deal garnish on the inside and topped the single bite
appetizer with a cream frish I made and placed a
small sprig of dial on top. It was the most
dazzling looking dish I made at school and was delicious.
As a bonus, they had more than a bit of wine.
(20:51):
I have attached pictures of the duck wantons and the
gelatinized borsch. After graduation, I went on to teach several
courses in the academic section of the school until co
nineteen into the local campuses used of adjunct faculty. Both
experiences were fabulous. Oh that sounds so good. A right,
that's that sounds so delightful. Yes, and they look amazing,
(21:15):
very creative. Yeah, I want them. Why can't I not
top him? And he's like, yes, please, I will order
both of those, Thank you, thank you. To send it
to the CEO Saber. I will be waiting. This is
(21:36):
a much fancier version of what I've been doing, which
is like, I have this old can of spaghettios and
some basil, and he do you need to go grocery
shopping again? I'm going tomorrow. I'm okay, Well that's good.
(21:58):
Thank you. Do I need to drop by with some
food tonight? No, no, no, no, okay. I made this
huge rice tofu thing all right, because that's what I
had around again. It's very good. Heck yeah, heck yeah. Um.
(22:19):
A different John wrote I just heard the most recent
listener mail. One of them mentioned ghost kitchens as specifically
corporate restaurant that catfish as smaller mom and or pop places.
This begins the tail of Pasquali's Pizza and Wings so
it is written, and so I've been told. At the
beginning of quarantine, when restaurants were scrambling to figure out
(22:42):
how to adapt, there came a new pizza place, Pasqualities.
I think I'm saying that right. I have no idea anyway,
And it was good, like people were getting excited about it.
The menu was small, but the pizza was solid. The
wings were great, the meatballs were meaty without being dense.
The cheesy bread is delightful, the salads were present. How
(23:03):
could this place have been financially solvent enough to be
a national chain without anyone ever hearing of them before quarantine? Well,
people got all don't have with cats on them and
discovered that they were owned by c EC Entertainment wait entertainment,
not like foods or dining. Turns out everyone's new favorite
(23:25):
pizza takeaway is we'll find out after a word from
our sponsors, and we're back. Thank you sponsors, Yes, thank you?
Oh okay. So c EC Entertainment that owns Pasquali's pizza
is chuck e Cheese Entertainment, do do. Turns out the
secret to good pizza is not having a child sneeze
(23:46):
on it while attending a birthday party at a Rats casino. Well,
when you put it that way, I had heard of this.
I totally forgot because this was at the beginning of
the pandemic and there were news stories about it, like
with a Dark Side of Pasqualities Pizzash. Yeah, and I, oh, man,
(24:10):
I can't remember if I remember the name from those
news stories or during our Chuck E Cheese episode if
the name Squalities came up or yeah. We we also
do want to point out that the the subject line
of this email was the col zone is coming from
inside the house terrifying so good. Yeah, but squalitly. I mean,
(24:35):
I'm sure some people were like, huh because he's one
of the members of the band. If I remember correctly, Okay,
maybe that goodness. It's all words salad to me today.
My brain is, in fact, a gelatinous ball of borshed.
I mean, you don't just know all the names of
the members of the Check E Cheese band off the
(24:55):
top of your head. I don't know what's wrong with me, Annie, Wow.
I mean, I we can't remember the topics we've done
in the past, but I expected you to remember this, Laura.
And I call myself a food podcaster. Oh it's time
to hang it up, Lauren. You gotta get in shape
shape if we're going to continue this. Um oh past qualities, Oh,
(25:20):
pass qualities. Well, but thanks to both of those listeners
who are writing in. You would like to write to
you as we would love to hear from you. Our
email is hello at favorite pod dot com. We're also
on social media. You can find us on Twitter, Facebook,
and Instagram at savor pod, and we do hope to
hear from you. Savor is production of I Heart Radio.
For more podcasts for my Heart Radio, you can visit
(25:42):
the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
listen to your favorite shows. Thanks as always to our
superproducers Dylan Fagan and Andrew Howard. With a special shout
out today to j J. Pasway. Thanks to you for listening,
and we hope that lots more good things are coming
your way
Savor News
Hosts And Creators
Anney Reese
Lauren Vogelbaum
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