Horchata- The Yummiest (Non Alcoholic) Beverage in Valencia

  The day I was leaving Madrid, my friend Alberto sent me a message of well wishes for my travels to Valencia. He finished the message with “Be sure to try the Horchata!” (In Spanish, of course)

I thought, well, I have tried Horchata in Madrid; it was pretty good, what’s so special about Valencian Horchata?

Well, Valencia is the region where the Chufa is grown. Chufa is also called a tiger nut. Whenever you ask a Valenciano what is chufa? They give a variety of comparisons such as a nut, potato, root and even onion.

On my way to school in the morning, I pass Chufa fields, and what I am certain of is that it grows in the ground like potatoes and onions, and they are small and look like nuts.

So, what really is Chufa? 

according to wikipedia:

Cyperus esculentus (Chufa Sedge, Yellow Nutsedge, Tigernut Sedge, Earthalmond) is a species of sedge native to warm temperate to subtropical regions of the Northern Hemisphere. It is an annual or perennial plant, growing to 90 cm tall, with solitary stems growing from a tuber. The stems are triangular in section, and bear slender leaves 3-10 mm wide. The flowers of the plant are distinctive, with a cluster of flat oval seeds surrounded by four hanging leaf-like bracts positioned 90 degrees from each other. The plant foliage is very tough and fibrous, and is often mistaken for a grass.

In numerous touristy areas of the city, there are little carts, with people selling “ORXATA” (the Valencian spelling, the X in the middle of a word makes a ch sound). At these carts, you can sample some straight up Chufa. Like I said, they look like nuts, maybe kind of like walnuts, but they have a very interesting almost slightly sweet chalky flavor, that leaves you in desperate need of a beverage.

So the best way I can describe Horchata is that it is cold, frothy, and has the consistency somewhat like a Slurpee. It is slightly sweet, and slightly chalky. But it is DELICOUS and REFRESHING. The taste is one of a kind.

Traditionally, Horchata or Orxata is served with something called (brace yourself) FARTONS. These are described as “sticky buns” but they are not really sticky. To me they are more like zeppoles, but not fried. They are doughy, light and airy and covered in delicious powdered sugar. They are long and thin and perfect for dunking in your Horchata. (This combination sure does give Madrid’s Chocolate con Churros a run for their money, but c’mon, how can you compete with rich thick savory CHOCOLATE?)

We recently went into a very touristy part of town for our Horchata and Fartons (where you will pay almost 4 euro per person). However there are countless Horchaterias or cafés across the city that will serve them for about 2.30 euro.

Fartons pronounces far-tone-s

It gets slightly better, you can buy Horchata flavored ice pops (our favorite for a beach day) and you can also buy bottles of Horchata at your local Consum or Mercadona (supermarkets). We found what we thought was Horchata flavored ice cream at the supermarket, but turned out just to be frozen horchata (it was still a perfect desert/mid day snack!)

Sadly though, Horchata harvesting season ends soon, and I hear that Horchata will not be as abundant starting in October!!! I’m hoping that we can still find it bottled or frozen at our friendly neighborhood Consum (and I stress the neighbor- we live right above it)