Tepache

How to Make Tepache

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1. Rinse the pineapple skins briefly in cold water. Do not scrub — the yeast you need is on them.

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2. Dissolve the piloncillo in a little warm water, then combine with the rest of the water in a large jar or crock.

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3. Add the skins, cinnamon, cloves and salt. The skins must stay submerged; weigh them down with a small plate.

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4. Cover with a cloth, not a lid, and leave somewhere warm out of direct sun.

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5. After 24 hours a white foam will form. Skim it off.

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6. From 48 hours, taste daily. It is ready when it smells yeasty and slightly sour and tastes lightly fizzy and no longer sweet — usually 2 to 4 days.

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7. Strain, bottle and refrigerate, which stops the fermentation.

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8. Serve cold, over ice, cut with a little sparkling water if it is stronger than you want.

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Small Things That Help

• Cloth, not a sealed lid. A sealed jar builds pressure and can burst.
• Taste from day two. Left too long it turns to pineapple vinegar, which is useful but is not tepache.
• Refrigeration is the brake. Once it tastes right, get it cold.

Serving Suggestions

• Tacos de carnitas
• A hot afternoon
• Cut half and half with a light beer, which is common

Leftovers and Storage

Refrigerated it keeps a week and goes gradually more sour and less sweet. It will still be fizzy; open bottles carefully over a sink.

What's in a Serving

Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. How the figures are worked out.