| Type | Alcoholic drink |
|---|---|
| Country of origin | Mexico |
| Region of origin | Aguascalientes, San Luis Potosi and Zacatecas |
| Colour | Red |
| Flavour | Sweet |
| Ingredients | Fruits of " nopal" |
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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”.
See also
References
- ^ CHAPTER 4 PRODUCTS OF YEAST FERMENTATION FAO Corporate Document repository
- ^ 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. 12: 5–12.