Tejate is a cold, foam-topped maize and cacao drink from the Zapotec region of the Central Valleys of Oaxaca, Mexico. It has long been ceremonially important and also a staple during hard fieldwork, and today it’s sold in Oaxacan markets – and by migrant vendors as far away as California (Sotelo et al., 2012). The thick, pale foam (flor) that rises to the top is its signature.
Is Tejate Fermented?
No. Despite often being listed with Mexico’s fermented drinks, the published descriptions of tejate are of nixtamalized maize – maize cooked with wood ash or lime – ground with toasted cacao and other ingredients and beaten with cold water (Sotelo et al., 2012; Pérez-Ramírez et al., 2021). Nothing is left to ferment. If you’re looking for a fermented maize-and-cacao drink, that’s pozol from Chiapas and Tabasco, or Jalisco’s fermented maize drink tejuino.
The Four Ingredients
- Maize, nixtamalized – traditionally with wood ash rather than lime – and ground.
- Cacao beans (Theobroma cacao), toasted.
- Mamey sapote seed (Pouteria sapota, called pixtle), toasted.
- Cacao flower (rosita de cacao, the dried flower of Quararibea funebris), toasted – it gives tejate its floral aroma. The flowers are rich in polyphenols and aromatic compounds (Jiménez-Fernández et al., 2023).
A study that worked out a standardized traditional recipe with an expert tasting panel settled on, per kilogram of maize nixtamalized with wood ash: 100 g cacao beans, 30 g mamey seed and 20 g cacao flowers, all toasted separately, ground together with the maize into a paste, then mixed with 2.7 litres of cold water per kilogram of paste (Pérez-Ramírez et al., 2021). The recipe card below is that formulation, scaled down.
What’s in It
Analyses of tejate from three Central Valley communities, Oaxacan market vendors and a California vendor found it a source of energy, fat, potassium, iron and other minerals, and of methylxanthines (the caffeine-like stimulants in cacao), with protein comparable to the same serving of tortillas. The researchers warned that replacing tejate with sodas and other high-glycemic drinks could have negative nutritional, health and cultural consequences (Sotelo et al., 2012).
Making It at Home
The hard part is sourcing: cacao flowers and mamey seeds are sold in Oaxacan and some Mexican markets, and online. Fresh nixtamalized masa from a tortillería saves the nixtamalization step. The paste is beaten by hand in cold water – lifting and dropping it – until the fat-rich foam forms; ice-cold water helps. Because nothing is cooked after mixing, use safe drinking water and ice and drink it the same day. For another Mexican drink that is fermented, try tepache.