Tepache: An Easy Recipe for the Popular Pineapple-Based Mexican Drink

My own variations have used sweet pineapples from the corner store, different sources of sugar (granulated, piloncillo, and palm jaggery— each affects the color and influences the flavor), and tap water. I have also included other seasonal fruit, like mango, blood orange, and quince, as well as chile to add the heat that makes one De la Calle flavor (Mango/Chili) the most popular.

If you read more about fermentation you may find various authors suggesting that if you wash fruit you wash away the sacred yeasts that are necessary to start a ferment. I disagree. We are surrounded by wild yeasts: They are on everything. And for many of us, those pineapples have traveled a long way and been stored and handled in ways we can’t control. I definitely wash them. There has never been a problem with a spontaneous ferment beginning.

Tepache

Different sugars create different-hued tepaches. The lighter the sugar the blonder the beverage. While you could ferment the tepache for longer than four to five days, more time means more alcohol. Taste to see what you prefer. To serve, I pour a glass half-full with tepache and top with sparkling water. If you don’t have a large jar you can use a bowl (keep it covered with a cloth and stir once day). In a cold room fermentation will slower.

Equipment: 1 large, clean 6-cup mason jar.

• 1 cup chopped piloncillo, palm sugar, or organic granulated sugar
• Rinds and core (and some fruit, for extra flavor) of 1 medium pineapple

Optional Extras

• 1 jalapeño or cayenne pepper
• 1 mango, flesh only
• Zest of 1 clementine, orange, or lemon
• Peels and flesh of 1 quince (apple also works)

If using the hard sugars like piloncillo or jaggery, chop them into small pieces (I use a screwdriver on a damp-dish-cloth-wrapped cutting board to soften them thumps and prevent slippage. You could also grate these sugars, or soften them in the microwave.

Place the pineapple core and rinds (and citrus zest, mangos, or quinces, if using) in the jar. Add the sugar. Pour in enough water to reach just below the neck of the jar. Screw on the lid tightly and shake the jar gentle to dissolve the sugar. Loosen the lid.

Allow the mixture sit at room temperature in a spot out of direct sunlight, for 2 to 4 days. Once a day, tighten the lid and shake the jar gently (or you could stir it with a long-handled spoon). After a couple of days you should notice small bubbles rising spontaneously in the liquid. And when you shake the jar, then loosen the lid, there will be an audible ffffft! of released pressure. That’s fermentation, happening. Use a clean spoon to taste daily (this will teach your tongue how the flavor evolves).

If you are adding chile, do this on Day 3.

On around Day 4 or 5, strain the liquid through a fine mesh sieve, and again though a cloth-lined sieve. Siphon into a clean bottle, add a lid, and transfer to the fridge*. It is good to drink at once but develops more complexity with time.

* If you keep any active ferment sealed and at room temperature, you are encouraging an explosive event: The carbon dioxide naturally released will cause pressure to build in the bottle, and it could detonate. The cold of the fridge keeps things safe, and also slows down fermentation.

To serve, fill a glass with half tepache and half sparking water (or tonic water). Add a strip of citrus zest, if you like.

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