Cloudy maize beer served in large glasses at rural chicherías. It has been brewed from germinated maize since Inca times, and Andean chicherías still hang a red flag or a plastic bag on a pole to show a fresh batch is ready.
Producing alcohol at home is licensed or restricted in most of the atlas’s readership, and the ferment depends on a culture living in clay jars used across generations.
What goes into it
- jora — germinated and dried maize
- water
- sometimes panela
How it is made
Maize is soaked and left to sprout over several days, then dried and ground into jora. The jora is boiled for hours into a sweet wort, strained, cooled, and left to ferment in large clay jars for several days. The porous jars carry the yeast and lactic culture from one batch to the next, which is why a chichería’s chicha is specific to its own vessels.
How long it takes: a week or more from soaking the maize to serving
How it is eaten
From a large glass or a gourd at a chichería, with the first splash tipped to the ground for the Pachamama.
History
Brewed from germinated maize since Inca times; Andean chicherias still hang a red flag or plastic bag to show a fresh batch.
Frequently asked questions
What is Chicha de jora?
Chicha de jora is a wine & spirit from Peru: cloudy maize beer served in large glasses at rural chicherias. Brewed from germinated maize since Inca times; Andean chicherias still hang a red flag or plastic bag to show a fresh batch.
How is Chicha de jora made?
Maize is soaked and left to sprout over several days, then dried and ground into jora. The jora is boiled for hours into a sweet wort, strained, cooled, and left to ferment in large clay jars for several days. The porous jars carry the yeast and lactic culture from one batch to the next, which is why a chichería’s chicha is specific to its own vessels. It takes a week or more from soaking the maize to serving.
Can I make Chicha de jora at home?
No, and the atlas gives no method for it. Producing alcohol at home is licensed or restricted in most of the atlas’s readership, and the ferment depends on a culture living in clay jars used across generations.
What goes into Chicha de jora?
Jora — germinated and dried maize, water, sometimes panela.
How is Chicha de jora eaten?
From a large glass or a gourd at a chichería, with the first splash tipped to the ground for the Pachamama.
