Mexican Cinnamon-Lime Horchata

What? I have never heard of Horchata before today. I was also surprised to find this recipe in Eating for IBS: 175 Delicious, Nutritious, Low-Fat, Low-Residue Recipes to Stabilize the Touchiest Tummy

I've had this book for years and never knew there was a beverage section. I was looking through this morning and flipped open to this page and realized I was only missing a lime...

I had to try this fascinating concoction. Not only did it sound fun to make but the flavors sounded refreshing and irresistable. I added 1 lime to the grocery list.

  

So, into the blender 1 cup of sliced almonds (the recipe calls for sliced, but I had slivered, which worked out fine), 1 cinnamon stick broken into pieces, 1/2 cup of sugar, and lastly topped with zest from 1 lime. I'm beginning to wonder why this is in an IBS cookbook considering nuts and sugar are major GI agitants...

Add 2 cups boiling water and let sit for about 10-15.

My wife says I have the patience of a saint, but not when it involves this kind of thing. That liquefy button on the blender was taunting me. I had to find something to do for 10 minutes and quickly. Then I remembered I needed some kind of straining apparatus, and if you're like me you only have 1 huge colander with a giant crack in it - no good for straining liquid into a container.

I used an old linen dish towel and a rubber band around this Rubbermaid container. That should do it!

After a few minutes of high speed blending you'll want to add 2 cups of crushed ice and blend for a few more minutes. 

Kind of looks like Lily was blowing bubbles in her milk again.

So, this strainer contraption wasn't working well. I left a bit of a pouch to hold some liquid in my strainer thing, but this stuff was pretty thick and I could only pour a little bit at a time. Not only that, but my blender pitcher also really sucks at pouring without spilling more than what's actually making it into the container. I had to revamp this.

I ended up pouring the contents of the blender pitcher into a different container, one with an easy spill-free pour spout (not without making a total mess mind you). I then rinsed out the blender pitcher and proceeded to rubber band the linen towel around the mouth of the blender pitcher - wider opening. In the picture above you can see some of what I was straining.

I managed to get all of the pitcher's contents into the straining reservoir. I stood there and watched it, but the contents didn't seem to be draining down. It stayed looking exactly like the picture above for a good minute or so.

Checking below. Yup, it's draining, but so slowly.

Carefully, I released the rubber band and grabbed up the corners of the towel before it all fell into the pitcher. Here you can see I bundled it up into a pouch. I started ringing it out and squeezing the liquid down. I've never milked anything before, but I think this was pretty close.

After squeezing as much of the liquid into the pitcher as possible, this is the remnants of what was in the towel. I can certainly understand why this is strained out of the liquid.

Yes, I tasted it. Don't do it!

Actually, it's not so bad. Taste it if you want.

It doesn't have much flavor really. You can taste the cinnamon in it. Other than that it's just sort of this bland texturey thing. Give it a shot.

And here we have our finished product. The directions advise chilling it overnight before drinking it, but what fun is that?

It has the color and consistency of eggnog. It's very rich and creamy. The sweetness of the sugar and lime grab your tongue right away, but as the sweetness recedes the nuttiness of the almond comes through with a punch of the cinnamon spice.

My verdict is that it's very sweet but very good. I have some left in the fridge and I'll probably actually drink it, but it'll probably either be a long time or never again before I make another batch.

Lily liked it. There was no hesitation when she grabbed for the glass and tried a sip. She even took a second gulp.

Jen was disgusted by it, said it tasted like creamy potpourri.

I don't know if it was a sugar rush or if the nutrients of this give you an energy boost, but Lily and I were quite goofy for a few minutes after drinking this. I'm not a drinker, but you may want to try this with some rum!

Mexican Lime Horchata

Eating for IBS: 175 Delicious, Nutritious, Low-Fat, Low-Residue Recipes to Stabilize the Touchiest Tummy

1 C sliced almonds
1 cinnamon stick broken into pieces
1/2 C sugar
zest from 1 lime
2 C boiling water
2 C crushed ice

Add almonds, cinnamon stick pieces, sugar, and lime zest to blender. Add 2 C boiling water and let mixture sit for about 10 minutes.
Begin blending for a couple of minutes, add 2 C crushed ice and continue blenduing.
Strain mixture through cheesecloth or clean linen towel to filter the solids from the liquid.
Chill liquid before serving.