A lightly fermented pink wine of prickly pear fruit, drunk young. It is a pre-Hispanic drink of the arid altiplano, made each summer when the tunas ripen in San Luis Potosí and Zacatecas.
Producing alcohol at home is licensed or restricted in most of the atlas’s readership, the fruit is covered in barbed glochids that have to be handled with equipment, and the drink does not keep beyond days.
What goes into it
- red prickly pear fruit — tunas
- sometimes a little cane sugar
How it is made
The fruit is peeled, mashed and strained, and the juice left in a covered vessel where wild yeasts already on the fruit ferment it over two to five days. It is drunk cloudy and pink and only lightly alcoholic, within days of being made — it turns to vinegar quickly.
How long it takes: two to five days
How it is eaten
Cold from a jug in the weeks the tunas are ripe.
History
A pre-Hispanic drink of the arid altiplano, made each summer when the tunas ripen in San Luis Potosí and Zacatecas.
Frequently asked questions
What is Colonche?
Colonche is a wine & spirit from Mexico: lightly fermented pink wine of prickly pear fruit, drunk young. A pre-Hispanic drink of the arid altiplano, made each summer when the tunas ripen in San Luis Potosí and Zacatecas.
How is Colonche made?
The fruit is peeled, mashed and strained, and the juice left in a covered vessel where wild yeasts already on the fruit ferment it over two to five days. It is drunk cloudy and pink and only lightly alcoholic, within days of being made — it turns to vinegar quickly. It takes two to five days.
Can I make Colonche 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, the fruit is covered in barbed glochids that have to be handled with equipment, and the drink does not keep beyond days.
What goes into Colonche?
Red prickly pear fruit — tunas, sometimes a little cane sugar.
How is Colonche eaten?
Cold from a jug in the weeks the tunas are ripe.
