Tepache (Mexican Fermented Pineapple Drink with Piloncillo and Cinnamon)

Ingredients

Method

1. 01
   Choose a ripe organic pineapple — the wild yeast lives on the skin, and conventional pineapples may be coated with antifungal agents that kill fermentation. Wash the pineapple thoroughly with cool water; do not scrub with soap or detergent, this also kills the yeast. Cut off the crown and base, then peel the pineapple in big chunks leaving about 1 cm of fruit attached to each piece of skin. Cut the core into thick wedges. Save the inner flesh for another use — fresh slices, salsa, or smoothies. The peel and core are what go into the tepache.
2. 02
   Put the piloncillo in a saucepan with 500 ml of the filtered water and 1 cinnamon stick. Heat over medium-low until the piloncillo dissolves completely — this takes 8 to 10 minutes since piloncillo is a hard cone, you may need to break it with a spoon as it softens. Do not boil hard; simmer gently. Once dissolved, take off the heat and let the syrup cool to room temperature, about 25 minutes. Pouring hot syrup over pineapple kills the wild yeast — temperature is critical here.
3. 03
   Get out a 4-litre clear glass jar (no plastic, no metal — both block fermentation or impart off flavours). Put the pineapple peels and core wedges into the jar. Pour in the cooled piloncillo syrup, the second cinnamon stick, the cloves, and the remaining 1.5 litres of filtered water. The water must be filtered or boiled and cooled — chlorinated tap water kills the wild yeast and fermentation will not start.
4. 04
   Press the pineapple pieces down to fully submerge them under the liquid. Use a small clean glass plate or a fermentation weight to keep them under — pineapple peel that floats above the surface grows mold within 12 hours. Cover the jar with a clean cotton cloth or a few layers of paper towel and secure with a rubber band. Do not seal tightly: fermentation produces CO2 and sealed jars can crack or explode.
5. 05
   Place the jar in a warm spot at 22 to 26°C, out of direct sunlight (a kitchen counter away from a window works). Fermentation takes 48 to 72 hours. After the first 24 hours you will see small bubbles rising from the bottom and white foam forming on the surface; this is normal — skim the foam off with a clean spoon every 12 hours. Mold (fuzzy white, gray, or black patches) is not normal — if you see it, throw out the whole batch and start over with cleaner equipment.
6. 06
   Start tasting at 36 hours by drawing some out with a clean straw. The tepache is ready when it tastes pleasantly sweet with a slight tang and reads as fizzy on the tongue. Most batches hit the sweet spot at 48 to 60 hours. Beyond 72 hours the drink starts shifting into pineapple vinegar territory — still drinkable but sharp, better for marinades than for sipping.
7. 07
   Strain the tepache through a fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth into clean glass bottles, leaving 5 cm headspace at the top of each bottle for gas pressure. Cap loosely and refrigerate immediately. Cold storage slows fermentation almost to a stop. Serve very cold over ice, garnished with a slice of fresh pineapple or a thin orange slice. Keeps 7 to 10 days in the fridge — the flavour deepens for the first 3 days, then begins to turn vinegary.

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