Living in Peru : your everyday companion

• Business Directory
• News
• Classifieds
• Movies
• Events Calendar
• Features
• Travel
• Business
• Gastronomy
• Peru This Week E-Magazine

• Forum
• e-Cards
• Galleries
• Downloads
• Suggestions
• Tell a Friend

Gastronomy

by Chef David Jesson

Peru alive with fresh juices and creative refreshments.

Freshly made juice was a staple when I was growing up. I can remember my mom making fresh orange juice and the difference the pulp made in my mouth. It was a special trip when we could go to my uncle’s health food store where I always knew he would run fresh carrots and an array of other vegetables through his industrial juicer. Much to my surprise, I found the same fresh juice when I came to Perú.

Juice is made in every corner of Perú. Some of it made from the thousand or so tropical fruits that exist and where you can go to a juice stand (jugería) and be bewildered at their choice of selections and combinations. If you have a problem with sugar, make sure to ask how much is used in the particular juice you may order. Some of the more tart ones may have quite a bit of sugar actually.

I will never forget the first time I tasted a refresco (refreshment) made from maracuyá. Its taste rivaled that of any other fruit-flavored juice I had tasted. I thought anything that tastes this good has to be bad for you, and although it has to be sweetened with sugar, its health properties outweigh any misconception of this being unbeneficial. Maracuyá has properties that have been proven to help reduce hypertension and is loaded with vitamins and minerals.

Most resfrescos are made with the actual juice of a fruit. In many cases it is not all pure juice but the major proportion that imparts the essence and identity to the drink. Camu Camu (a small round red fruit that holds the title of having the most vitamin C than any other fruit and makes a pink colored drink), cocona, and aguage (looks like a mini handgerande) are some of the more popular fruits used to make these refreshments. These fruits can be very tart or too strong to just use pure juice, so water and sugar are added proportionately to make a wonderful drink. Jungle Juice can be taken literally here.

Being frugal, or not letting anything go to waste, is a great quality possessed by many Peruvians. One of the drinks that come from this good stewardship is agua de piña (pineapple water) made from boiling the rinds of the pineapple and then adding sugar and cinnamon. Once it is chilled it is a fantastic drink. This quality has allowed for many unique thirst quenching creations to evolve over the centuries.

Chicha is a term used to describe most drinks that are made from fermentation processes, usually with corn. It seems as if everything or anything can be used in the making of Chicha. There is Chicha in the Andes called Seven Seeds made with barley, corn, garbanzos, and wheat. Others are made with strawberries, bananas, peanuts, and even one that has been flavored with beef foot.

There is one Chicha (chicha morada) that is not fermented. It is the most popular chilled refreshment in all Perú. This drink gets its flavor from boiling purple corn (maíz morado), pineapple, quince, cinnamon and sugar. One of the most common fermented chichas used in cooking is chicha de jora. This is made from yellow corn and is fermented. It reminds me of hard cider. It is used in many dishes including my favorite, cabrito a la norteña (a stew of goat that has been marinated in chicha de jora).

Living in the land of such culinary riches allows life to be diverse and share in the bounty our creator has for us to enjoy. Whether it be a halved coconut of gurapo (a drink boiled down from sugar cane), or a fresh glass of mixed papaya, melon and orange juice, you realize life is too short not to stop and enjoy the treasures at our fingertips- “Bottoms Up,” or as they would say here, “Salud”.

Name :

E-Mail


Code :

• Comments are the property of their respective authors, and LivinginPeru.com is not responsible for the content of these comments
• Only comments in English will be published
• Por ahora solo se permiten comentarios en ingles.
• Any offensive, injurious, profane or disrespectful comments will not be published
• You must include a real email address (this WILL be verified) for your comments to be published
• Repeat comments, or comments of a similar nature written by the same person will not be published
• All comments are sent to a moderator before publication
• Referring to the topic indicated in the article will increase your chances of publication
• Repeat offenses of the above guidelines will result in the removal of your ability to comment