Lightly fermented maize beer, poured from clay jars in Bogotá’s chicherías. It was a Muisca ritual drink; Law 34 of 1948 restricted chicha after the Bogotazo riots, a measure that conveniently favoured industrial brewers, and it took decades to come back.
Home production of alcohol is licensed or restricted in most of the atlas’s readership, and the ferment depends on the culture living in jars used repeatedly.
What goes into it
- maize
- panela or raw sugar
- water
How it is made
Maize is ground and cooked into a thick porridge, sweetened with panela and left in a clay jar to ferment for several days with the wild yeasts and lactic bacteria of the vessel. It is drunk cloudy and only lightly alcoholic, and it turns sour within days.
How long it takes: three to eight days of fermentation
How it is eaten
From a clay bowl at a chichería in La Candelaria, often with an arepa.
History
A Muisca ritual drink; Law 34 of 1948 restricted chicha after the Bogotazo riots, a measure that favoured industrial brewers.
Frequently asked questions
What is Chicha?
Chicha is a wine & spirit from Colombia: lightly fermented maize beer poured from clay jars in Bogota chicherias. A Muisca ritual drink; Law 34 of 1948 restricted chicha after the Bogotazo riots, a measure that favoured industrial brewers.
How is Chicha made?
Maize is ground and cooked into a thick porridge, sweetened with panela and left in a clay jar to ferment for several days with the wild yeasts and lactic bacteria of the vessel. It is drunk cloudy and only lightly alcoholic, and it turns sour within days. It takes three to eight days of fermentation.
Can I make Chicha at home?
No, and the atlas gives no method for it. Home production of alcohol is licensed or restricted in most of the atlas’s readership, and the ferment depends on the culture living in jars used repeatedly.
What goes into Chicha?
Maize, panela or raw sugar, water.
How is Chicha eaten?
From a clay bowl at a chichería in La Candelaria, often with an arepa.
