Colonche

Colonche

Type	Alcoholic drink
Country of origin	Mexico
Region of origin	Aguascalientes, San Luis Potosi and Zacatecas
Colour	Red
Flavour	Sweet
Ingredients	Fruits of "nopal"

Colonche is an alcoholic red coloured drink from Mexico prepared with tuna, the fruits of "nopal" (Opuntia cacti), especially with tuna cardona, the fruits of Opuntia streptacantha.

It is prepared in the states where wild nopal is abundant (Aguascalientes, San Luis Potosi and Zacatecas).

It is a sweet, fizzy beverage. For preparation, the cactus fruits are peeled and crushed to obtain the juice, which is boiled for 2–3 hours. After cooling, the juice is allowed to ferment for a few days. Sometimes old colonche is added as a starter. Another possible starter is "tibicos". Tibicos are gelatinous masses of yeasts and bacteria, grown in water with brown sugar.^[1]

Amongst other microorganisms responsible for the spontaneous fermentation of colonche, a yeast, Torulopsis taboadae^[2] (syn. Torulaspora delbrueckii?), has been isolated.

In 2003, Teófilo Herrera Suárez, a Mexican mycologist, published a book titled Más allá del pulque y el tepache (Beyond Pulque and Tepache), in which he writes about traditional Mexican alcoholic beverages such as "pozol", "tesgüino" and "colonche".^[3]

See also

• List of Mexican dishes

References

1. Battcock, Mike; Azam-Ali, Sue (1998). "Chapter 4 Products of Yeast Fermentation". Fermented Frutis and Vegetables: A Global Perspective. FAO Agricultural Services Bulletin No. 134. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. ISBN 92-5-104226-8. OCLC 41178885. Archived from the original on 4 June 2024. Retrieved 4 June 2024.
2. Ulloa, M.; Herrera, T. (1978). "Torulopsis taboadae, una nueva especie de levadura aislada del colonche de Zacatecas, México". Boletín de la Sociedad Mexicana de Micología (in Spanish). 12: 5–12.
3. Godoy, Augusto; Herrera, Teófilo; Ulloa, Miguel (2003). Más allá del pulque y el tepache: las bebidas alcohólicas no destiladas indígenas de México (in Spanish). Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas. ISBN 9789703206384. OCLC 57512019. Retrieved 4 June 2024.

External links

• VI. FERMENTACIONES, PULQUE, COLONCHE, TESGÜINO, POZOL, MODIFICACIONES QUÍMICAS (in Spanish)
• FERMENTACIONES (in Spanish)