Mote con huesillo

Ingredients

Peaches

• 12huesillos, whole sun-dried peaches with stones
• 2 litreswater

Syrup

• 250 gsugar
• 2cinnamon sticks
• a strip of orange peel
• 4cloves, optional

Wheat

• 250 gmote de trigo, husked wheat
• water, for boiling

To serve

• tall glasses
• a long spoon

Directions

1. Soak the dried peaches overnight in cold water. Boiled from dry they stay leathery in the middle however long you cook them.
2. Pour the soaking water in carefully, standing back, because it will spit and seize. Add water to caramel rather than caramel to water, and pour away from yourself.
3. Add the peaches, the rest of the sugar, the cinnamon and the orange peel, and simmer gently for about an hour. Keep it at a gentle simmer so the peaches stay whole rather than falling apart.
4. Cook until the peaches are plump and completely soft and the syrup is deep amber and tastes strongly of peach and cinnamon. Let it cool in the syrup, then chill it thoroughly. Cooling in the liquid is when the peaches really take on the flavour.
5. Cook the wheat separately, in plain water, and never in the syrup. It is ready when the grains have swollen and split and are soft with the faintest bite left.
6. Drain the mote, rinse it in cold water, and keep it in cold water until you serve. Rinse the cooked wheat well, because the surface starch makes the finished drink slimy.
7. Add two whole peaches on top of the wheat. Fill the glass with the cold syrup, right to the top. Serve very cold with a long spoon, and warn people that the stones are still in the peaches.

Technique

• Mote de trigo is sold ready-husked in Chilean and Latin shops and is worth seeking out.
• It is a snack rather than a drink and it is genuinely filling.
• Both parts keep separately for several days in the fridge.

Substitutions

• Pearl barley or peeled wheat berries in place of mote.
• Ordinary dried peach halves, which give a weaker drink and no whole fruit.

Variations

• Made with dried apricots.
• With more cinnamon and clove.
• Mocochinchi, the Bolivian version without the wheat.

History

A cold drink combining cooked husked wheat, called mote, with dried peaches, called huesillos, rehydrated and stewed in a cinnamon-and-sugar syrup, developed in Chile as a refreshing summer drink and street food, sold especially by vendors during the country’s hot summer months, particularly around the September Independence Day holiday period when outdoor gatherings and street food consumption both peak. Its combination of chewy grain and soft, syrup-soaked dried fruit gives it a genuinely distinct texture compared to most other cold beverages, closer in some ways to a not-quite-dessert than a simple drink. It remains one of Chile’s most recognized specifically national street beverages, rarely found in similar form outside the country.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mote con huesillo?

Mote con huesillo is a drink from Chile: sun-dried peach nectar with husked wheat, summer street cooler. A cold drink combining cooked husked wheat, called mote, with dried peaches, called huesillos, rehydrated and stewed in a cinnamon-and-sugar syrup, developed in Chile as a refreshing summer drink and street food, sold especially by vendors during the country’s hot summer months, particularly around the September Independence Day holiday period when outdoor gatherings and street food consumption both peak. Its combination of chewy grain and soft, syrup-soaked dried fruit gives it a genuinely distinct texture compared to most other cold beverages, closer in some ways to a not-quite-dessert than a simple drink. It remains one of Chile’s most recognized specifically national street beverages, rarely found in similar form outside the country.

How long does Mote con huesillo take to make?

Mote con huesillo takes 15 min plus overnight soaking of preparation and 1 hr 30 min of cooking. The recipe makes 6 servings. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Mote con huesillo?

Yes, within limits. Pearl barley or peeled wheat berries in place of mote. Ordinary dried peach halves, which give a weaker drink and no whole fruit.

What is the most important thing to get right in Mote con huesillo?

Pour the soaking water in carefully, standing back, because it will spit and seize. Add water to caramel rather than caramel to water, and pour away from yourself.