A Drink That Traveled Across an Ocean
Hundreds of years ago in the warm villages of Valencia, Spain, people enjoyed a sweet, chilly drink made from tiny tubers called tiger nuts (known as chufa). Farmers would grind the nuts, mix them with water, and strain out a smooth, milky drink they called horchata.
When Spanish explorers sailed to the Americas, they brought the idea of horchata with them — but tiger nuts didn’t grow in Mexico. So Mexican families re-invented the drink using rice, cinnamon, and vanilla, turning it into the creamy version we know today.
One old legend even says that a girl gave the drink to a king, and when he tasted it, he exclaimed, “Això és or, xata!” (“This is gold, girl!”). And that name stuck: horchata!