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Tejuino Recipe: Mexico’s Cold Fermented Corn Drink With Lime and Salt

By Updated 2 min read

Tejuino is Jalisco’s beloved cold fermented corn street drink — masa and piloncillo cooked to a thick base, lacto-fermented 2–4 days, then served ice cold with fresh lime, salt, and lime sorbet. Discover its deep roots in pre-Columbian corn fermentation, its probiotic benefits, the Guadalajara street food culture surrounding it, and a step-by-step recipe for making authentic tejuino at home.

At a glance

Tejuino is a cold fermented maize drink from western Mexico (Jalisco, Nayarit and neighboring states). Street tejuino is nixtamalized maize dough cooked with piloncillo and water, fermented for about 12–48 hours, then served over ice with lime, salt and often lime sorbet. Artisanal Wixárika tejuino uses sprouted maize and ferments up to a week. Studied samples had a pH of 3.2–3.6 and contained some ethanol.

  • Street tejuino: masa and piloncillo, fermented about 12–24 hours, often started with 'tejuino viejo'.
  • Artisanal Wixárika tejuino: germinated, sun-dried maize fermented up to about a week.
  • pH 3.20 (artisanal) and 3.62 (commercial) in a 2021 Nayarit study.
  • Yeasts (Saccharomyces, Pichia) and lactic acid bacteria (L. fermentum, L. plantarum) ferment it.
  • Served over ice with lime juice, salt and lime sorbet.

Ferment profile

Origin
Western and northwestern Mexico (Jalisco, Nayarit, Zacatecas, Sinaloa, Sonora, Chihuahua)
Fermentation
Mixed (lactic + alcoholic)
Main microbes
Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Pichia yeasts; Limosilactobacillus fermentum, Lactiplantibacillus plantarum; Enterococcus
Live cultures
Yes
Alcohol
Low (under 2%)

Tejuino is a cold, sweet-sour fermented maize drink from western and northwestern Mexico – Jalisco, Nayarit, Zacatecas, Sinaloa, Sonora and Chihuahua (Rubio-Castillo et al., 2021). The street version is thick, brown and tangy from piloncillo (unrefined cane sugar) and a short fermentation, and it’s served over ice with lime juice and salt, often with a scoop of lime sorbet (nieve de limón).

Two Kinds of Tejuino

A 2021 study of tejuino in Nayarit described two quite different drinks (Rubio-Castillo et al., 2021):

  • Street (commercial) tejuino: nixtamalized maize dough cooked with piloncillo and water, then fermented for just 12–24 hours – often started with a little “tejuino viejo” from the last batch – and finished with salt and lime.
  • Artisanal tejuino of the Wixárika (Huichol) people: maize is germinated in the dark and sun-dried for 2–3 days before being mixed with water and fermented for up to about a week, which makes it more sour and more alcoholic. It’s close to the sprouted-maize beer of the Rarámuri, tesgüino.

What’s in It

In the same study, artisanal tejuino had a pH of 3.20 and commercial tejuino 3.62. The artisanal samples contained the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and the lactic acid bacterium Limosilactobacillus fermentum; commercial ones contained Pichia yeasts and Lactiplantibacillus plantarum, and Enterococcus turned up in both. Ethanol was the most abundant aroma compound, especially in the artisanal drinks, so tejuino contains some alcohol, particularly the longer-fermented kind. Total coliform bacteria were absent from all samples (Rubio-Castillo et al., 2021).

Street tejuino is a sweet drink: the piloncillo is added for flavor and to feed the fermentation, so treat it as a treat rather than a health drink.

Serving Tejuino

  • Thin the fermented base with cold water to a pourable, nectar-like consistency.
  • Fill a glass with crushed ice or a scoop of lime sorbet, pour over the tejuino and add plenty of fresh lime juice.
  • Salt the rim or stir in a pinch of salt; some vendors add chamoy and chili powder.

Mexico’s other maize drinks: pozol (fermented maize dough, from the southeast) and Oaxacan tejate (maize and cacao, not fermented). For a fermented fruit drink, try tepache; in the Andes, maize becomes chicha de jora. Bolivia also brews quinoa into chicha de quinoa.

Recipe: Street-Style Tejuino

Makes
About 2 litres (6–8 glasses)
Hands-on
30 min
Fermentation
12–48 hours at room temperature
Temperature
Room temperature, about 22–27°C (72–80°F)
Difficulty
Easy

Equipment

  • Saucepan and whisk
  • 2–3 litre glass jar or crock
  • Clean cloth

Ingredients

  • 250 g masa harina (nixtamalized maize flour) (or about 500 g fresh masa)
  • 200 g piloncillo (or dark brown sugar)
  • 1.5 litres water (plus cold water to thin)
  • Pinch salt
  • To serve limes, salt, crushed ice, lime sorbet

Method

  1. Dissolve the piloncillo in the water over medium heat.
  2. Whisk in the masa harina in a thin stream and cook, whisking constantly, for 10–15 minutes until thick and smooth, like a thin porridge. Add the salt.
  3. Cool to room temperature, pour into the clean jar, cover with a cloth and leave at 22–27°C.
  4. Stir once a day and taste: it's ready when pleasantly sour, usually after 12–48 hours.
  5. Refrigerate the base; drink within a few days. Keep a cupful to start the next batch, if you like.
  6. To serve, thin with cold water and pour over ice or lime sorbet with plenty of lime juice and salt.
  7. Discard the base if it grows fuzzy or colored mold or smells putrid rather than sour.

Frequently asked questions

What is tejuino?

A cold fermented maize drink from western Mexico, made from masa and piloncillo, fermented briefly and served over ice with lime, salt and often lime sorbet.

Is tejuino alcoholic?

Slightly. Its yeasts make some ethanol – more in long-fermented artisanal tejuino than in the 12–24-hour street version.

What does tejuino taste like?

Sweet and sour with a cooked-corn, molasses-like flavor; the lime and salt make it tangy and refreshing.

Where is tejuino from?

Western and northwestern Mexico – especially Jalisco and Nayarit, where it's sold on the street; the Wixárika people make an artisanal version from sprouted maize.

Is tejuino the same as tesgüino?

They're related. Tesgüino is the Rarámuri sprouted-maize beer; artisanal Wixárika tejuino is made in a similar way, while street tejuino uses masa and piloncillo.

Is tejuino probiotic?

Fresh tejuino contains live yeasts and lactic acid bacteria, but there are no human studies of health effects, and it's a sugary drink.

How long does tejuino last?

A few days in the fridge, getting more sour. Thin and serve it cold.

Sources

  1. Rubio-Castillo ÁE et al. (2021). Tejuino, a traditional fermented beverage: composition, safety quality, and microbial identification. Foods 10(10):2446. Link
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