Mote con huesillo is a traditional Chilean summer-time drink often sold in street stands or vendor carts. It is a

non-alcoholic beverage An alcohol-free or non-alcoholic drink, also known as a temperance drink, is a version of an alcoholic drink made without Alcohol (drug), alcohol, or with the alcohol removed or reduced to almost zero. These may take the form of a non-alcoholic mi ...

consisting of a sweet clear nectar-like liquid made with dried

peaches The peach (''Prunus persica'') is a deciduous tree first domesticated and cultivated in China. It bears edible juicy fruits with various characteristics, most called peaches and the glossy-skinned, non-fuzzy varieties called nectarines. Peac ...

(huesillo) cooked in

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...

water Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...

and

cinnamon Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several tree species from the genus ''Cinnamomum''. Cinnamon is used mainly as an aromatic condiment and flavouring additive in a wide variety of cuisines, sweet and savoury dishes, biscuits, b ...

, and then once cooled, mixed with fresh cooked husked wheat berries (mote). The sweet clear nectar is usually made with

, but can also be supplemented or replaced with

molasses Molasses () is a viscous byproduct, principally obtained from the refining of sugarcane or sugar beet juice into sugar. Molasses varies in the amount of sugar, the method of extraction, and the age of the plant. Sugarcane molasses is usuall ...

. When the drink is served without the dried peaches, it is called a "descarozados". On occasion, it may also be served with dried

prunes A prune is a dried plum, most commonly from the European plum (''Prunus domestica'') tree. Not all plum species or varieties can be dried into prunes. Use of the term ''prune'' for fresh plums is obsolete except when applied to varieties of ...

, however this is less common. Another modern option is to use peach preserves in place of the dried peaches. Both the mote and huesillo correspond to

Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate ( ), also called a dry summer climate, described by Köppen and Trewartha as ''Cs'', is a temperate climate type that occurs in the lower mid-latitudes (normally 30 to 44 north and south latitude). Such climates typic ...

s, like that of

central Chile Central Chile (''Zona central'') is one of the five natural regions into which CORFO divided continental Chile in 1950. It is home to a majority of the Chilean population and includes the three largest metropolitan areas—Santiago, Valparaí ...

. This drink is very popular during summer months and is sold by street vendors on rolling carts or stands. It is also a very popular homemade recipe, for which the ingredients are readily available in supermarkets, small grocery stores and

farmers' market A farmers' market (or farmers market according to the AP stylebook, also farmer's market in the Cambridge Dictionary) is a physical retail marketplace intended to sell foods directly by farmers to consumers. Farmers' markets may be indoors or ...

s. Bottled, canned or store packaged versions of mote con huesillo are limited and thus, not common.

Preparation

The huesillos, or dried peaches, are washed and soaked the night prior to preparation in order to rehydrate them. Once

hydrate In chemistry, a hydrate is a substance that contains water or its constituent elements. The chemical state of the water varies widely between different classes of hydrates, some of which were so labeled before their chemical structure was understo ...

d, they are cooked for thirty minutes or more in a sugar and water mixture, optionally with some natural

sticks. To give the drink its honey hue, sugar is heated in a sauce pan in order to caramelize it and bring it to a rich orange ruby color, which is added to the syrup mixture although this method is not always used. While the huesillos are cooking, the mote, or husked wheat, is cooked in water until tender. Once the mote are cooked, they are drained and added to the sweet huesillos drink, and left to cool. This combination is served chilled, in a tall glass with a tall

dessert spoon A dessert spoon is a spoon designed specifically for eating dessert. Similar in size to a soup spoon (intermediate between a teaspoon and a tablespoon) but with an oval rather than round bowl, it typically has a capacity around twice that of a ...

for easy serving.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mote Con Huesillo Chilean desserts Non-alcoholic drinks