Tepache Recipe

Before you start

Tepache is a Mexican fermented drink made from pineapple peels and cores, sweetened with piloncillo and warmed with cinnamon and cloves. Wild yeasts and bacteria living on the rind feed on the sugar for a couple of days, turning it tangy, faintly fizzy and fruity. It is a good way to use the parts of a pineapple most people throw away.

This method ferments in an open jar covered with cloth, never a sealed bottle, so gas can escape. Warmth drives speed: at about 24°C (75°F) it is usually ready in 2 days, while a cool kitchen can take 3. Taste daily and stop when it is pleasantly tart; past that point it turns vinegary. Strain, chill, and drink it within a week. Like any wild ferment it contains a small amount of alcohol, which rises the longer it ferments.

Ingredients

• Rind and core of 1 ripe pineapple — about 500 g; save the flesh for eating
• 200 g (about 1 cone) piloncillo — or 200 g (1 cup packed) dark brown sugar
• 2 liters (8½ cups) water — divided; filtered if your tap water is heavily chlorinated
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 3 whole cloves
• 1 cup (about 150 g) per glass ice cubes — for serving

Method

1. Scrub the whole pineapple under running water with a soft brush, then dry it. Cut off the top, slice away the rind in thick strips and cut out the core. Keep the flesh for eating.
2. Put the piloncillo and 500 ml of the water in a small saucepan. Warm over medium heat, stirring and breaking up the cone, until dissolved. Cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes.
3. Put the rind, core, cinnamon and cloves in the clean jar. Pour in the cooled syrup and the remaining 1.5 liters of water. Press the rinds down so they are mostly submerged.
4. Cover the mouth with a clean towel or cheesecloth secured with a band. Leave it out of direct sun at about 20 to 26°C (68 to 79°F).
5. After 12 to 24 hours, look for small bubbles and a thin white foam on top. Skim off the foam with a clean spoon. This is normal.
6. Taste from day 2 using a clean spoon. It is ready when it is sweet-tart, smells of pineapple and spice, and prickles lightly on the tongue.
7. Strain through a fine strainer into clean bottles or jars, leaving the lids loose or using a cloth, and refrigerate at once. Discard the rinds.
8. Serve cold over ice. Stir before pouring, since sediment collects at the bottom.

Tips for success

• Use an organic or untreated pineapple if you can. The yeasts that start the ferment live on the rind, so do not peel it with soap or bleach.
• Keep a note of your room temperature. Fermentation slows sharply below about 20°C (68°F) and speeds up quickly in a hot kitchen.
• If it tastes too sweet at the end, give it a few more hours. If it is too sour, dilute each glass with cold water or soda water.

Substitutions

Piloncillo

Dark brown sugar works well and is easier to dissolve. Plain white sugar ferments fine but loses the deep caramel flavor.

Cinnamon and cloves

Add a few slices of fresh ginger or a dried chile for heat, or a star anise pod. Keep spices whole so they strain out easily.

Still serving

Top each glass with soda water for more fizz rather than sealing bottles to build carbonation.

Variations

Tepache with beer-style fizz

Pour 150 ml chilled tepache over ice and top with 90 ml cold soda water and a squeeze of lime.

Ginger tepache

Add 30 g sliced fresh ginger to the jar with the rinds.

Troubleshooting

Nothing is happening after 2 days

The room is cold or the rind was washed too aggressively. Move the jar somewhere warmer and give it another day.

Fuzzy blue, green or black spots appear

That is mold. Discard the whole batch, clean the jar thoroughly and keep the rinds submerged next time.

It tastes like vinegar

It fermented too long or too warm. Taste earlier and refrigerate as soon as it turns pleasantly tart.

It smells unpleasant or rotten

Discard it. A healthy tepache smells fruity and tangy, never putrid or like nail polish.

Storage

Keep strained tepache in the refrigerator with loose lids, since it keeps fermenting slowly and releasing gas. Drink it within 1 week. Do not store it in tightly sealed bottles; pressure can build. Discard it if mold appears or it smells off.

Safety notes

Wild fermentation produces a small amount of alcohol that increases the longer tepache ferments, so it may not suit anyone avoiding alcohol entirely. Wash the pineapple well before cutting. Discard any batch that shows mold.