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Attempt #2 was from another cocktail-related source. No other than Jeff Morgenthaler, the 2016 American bartender of the year at TOTC.

But I digress...

I liked that he had a few guiding principles when developing his recipe:

Quote

1. Our horchata should be as simple as possible. A long series of complicated steps would be a failure here.
2. Our horchata should have as few ingredients as possible. No almonds, sesame seeds, barley, or tiger nuts. Just the simple, spiced, sweetened rice milk you’d find at a taco truck.
3. Our horchata needs to be made from simple, natural ingredients. No flavors, powders, or store-bought rice milk allowed.

 

As a result, he doesn't use milk and therefore the horchata is not so prone to spoilage. I think that's great because that's one less thing to worry about if you take your horchata to a picnic.

(As a side note, at the farmers markets where I often buy a cup of horchata, it's kept in a giant container - large plastic barrels also used for aguas frescas, at ambient temperature, and served on ice. It doesn't contain milk. Adding milk might be good for texture but creates storage issues and also defeats the purpose of a drink that is more or less a milk substitute. Typically, horchata doesn't contain almonds either. Just rice, water, cinnamon, (lots of) sugar as one of the vendors told me; it is quite simple.)

Horchata and a tamale at the farmers' market

Attempt #2 was from another cocktail-related source. No other than Jeff Morgenthaler, the 2016 American bartender of the year at TOTC.

But I digress...

I liked that he had a few guiding principles when developing his recipe:

Quote

1. Our horchata should be as simple as possible. A long series of complicated steps would be a failure here.
2. Our horchata should have as few ingredients as possible. No almonds, sesame seeds, barley, or tiger nuts. Just the simple, spiced, sweetened rice milk you’d find at a taco truck.
3. Our horchata needs to be made from simple, natural ingredients. No flavors, powders, or store-bought rice milk allowed.

 

As a result, he doesn't use milk and therefore the horchata is not so prone to spoilage. I think that's great because that's one less thing to worry about if you take your horchata to a picnic.

(As a side note, at the farmers markets where I often buy a cup of horchata, it's kept in a giant container - large plastic barrels also used for aguas frescas, at ambient temperature, and served on ice. It doesn't contain milk. Adding milk might be good for texture but creates storage issues and also defeats the purpose of a drink that is more or less a milk substitute. Typically, horchata doesn't contain almonds either. Just rice, water, cinnamon, (lots of) sugar as one of the vendors told me; it is quite simple.)