Pulque: The drink of the Gods

 

Mexico is highly known for its Tequila and Mezcal, but did you know we have another traditional drink that also comes from a maguey, called ‘Pulque’? A pre-Hispanic recipe that has had its ups and downs and now only few keep making due to its hard working process.

What was once a drink reserved only for priests and elderly, had a huge step-back after the revolution –almost pushing it to extinction– due to it being associated with low class people and a myth that said that cow feces were used in the process. Today, it’s considered an essential part of Mexico’s identity and served at the best restaurants alongside Mezcal, Tequila or any other alcohol.

 

“Pulque bendito, dulce tormento ¿qué haces afuera?
¡Vamos pa’ dentro!”

Blessed pulque, sweetest agony, what are you doing out there?
Get inside my system!

-A famous saying heard in pulquerías-

 

The extraction

Every day Don Javier heads out to the maguey plantations, outside Hacienda San Diego Xochuca, with a donkey that carries a couple of large empty tins, also known as ‘castañas’.

As he makes his rounds amongst the oldest magueys, he marks the ones that are almost ready to be used and checks out those that have been cut into to take out the ‘aguamiel’, a sweet liquid that’s stored in the heart of the plant and is used to make pulque.

 

 

When a maguey reaches 10-12 years of age, just before its ‘quiote’ (stem with flower) comes out, the plant is castrated by eliminating the central leaves. It is Don Javier’s duty to make sure this process is done at the right moment or the plant will give little to none aguamiel.

Once castrated, the plant is left to sit for six months. After that, Don Javier makes a hole into its core where he introduces the ‘acocote’ (the green long pipe-like instrument on the photo), suctions through the other end to fill it with aguamiel and then empties it into the tins.

 

 

Twice a day, at sunrise and sunset, for about 2-3 hours, Don Javier drains all magueys and scrapes the walls of their core in order to open the pores and allow the production of more aguamiel. He then covers the hole with plants and rocks to avoid possums and skunks from drinking it all, which happens regularly.

Each maguey produces aguamiel for 6 months before dying. After that, the dried leaves are used as firewood and its fiber as material to make bath scourers and crafts. In pre-Hispanic times, the spines were employed to cut oneself in sacrifice for the gods and the fiber, to make the paper for the codices.

 

Pulque Recipe

Once the tins are filled, the donkey heads back to the hacienda into a special room where everything is emptied into vats. According to Don Javier, the best vats are the ones covered in cattle skin, because they add an interesting flavor into the mix.

The first bits of aguamiel are fermented for about 20 days, to obtain the ‘pulque madre’ (the seed from which the pulque will grow). Then, the rest of the aguamiel is poured regularly as needed, until it has a nice milky and foamy consistency.

 

Those who work with pulque say that the drink is very picky, so it has to be stored in a dark and quiet room with little ventilation –one even has to whisper when going inside–. And because the slightest thing can ruin the whole process, extreme hygiene and care is needed; sometimes even the caretakers sleep next to the vats to check its viability hourly.

 

How to tell if it’s a good pulque

According to Don Javier there are three main tips:

-It has to have foam.

-It has to have a slightly slimy consistency.

-It needs to be more sweet than sour.
A very sour pulque means the maguey wasn’t mature enough or the aguamiel got contaminated in the process.

 

 

Nowadays, pulque is mostly served ‘curated’, which means they add flavor into the batches: cranberry, pineapple, pine nut… you name it they have it. So, bottoms up! And let us know what you think. If you need an excuse, pulque only has 3 to 6 degrees of alcohol and is very rich in proteins, minerals, amino acids and probiotics.