Tepache – A Simple Tasty Beverage

Tepache is an ancient style of fermented beverage which has its origins in Pre-Columbian Mexico. It is a popular drink among the Nahua people of central Mexico. In the Nahuatl language, the word tepiātl means “drink made from maize (corn)”, as the first versions were made from that grain. Today, there are many varieties of tepache, with the most common being made from pineapple rinds.

While the Vaqueros of Las Californias probably made some similar brew and brought the recipes with them when they came to our islands, I do not have documentation of that. I first learned about tepache from a lovely haole friend who is something of a foodie. She brought some over for lunch. I then asked a Mexican friend about it, and he shared his recipe.

Since learning about this beverage, I have been making it with with everything from pineapple to coffee cherry pulp to mangos. They all have been delicious! Some have had more “buzz” than others. I really should ante up and get a hydrometer so I can measure just how much alcohol is in each batch!

Anyway, here is the recipe I currently use:

1 quart pineapple peels and/or ripe fruit, chopped roughly
1 cup piloncillo (Mexican brown cane sugar) grated (when available) or turbinado sugar
handful of cinnamon sticks, number depends on how fresh/strong they are
cloves, again, depends on how fresh/strong they are
2 quarts filtered water

Place all of the ingredients in a large sterilized glass container. I like to cover tightly with cheesecloth so no insects can get in, and then put a cover lightly over that because the fermenting juice attracts fruit flies and geckos, and I do not want to share!

Check your tepache each morning and evening. Skim off the white foam. After 24 hours, taste test a little. When it seems right (in 2 to 4 days), strain and refrigerate. Serve chilled.

You will want to use it up within a couple of days because it will continue to ferment and quickly turn to vinegar. Of course, a nice vinegar has many uses, too!

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Celebrating Hawaiʻi Foods and Lifestyles since 1983

Kau kau (pronounced “cow cow”) means “food,” or “meal” in Hawaiian pidgin. It is also used to mean “to eat,” as in “let’s go kau kau” – “let’s go eat.”

The Kau Kau Kitchen cooking column started in 1983 in the Hawaiʻi Tribune Herald. Then-editor Sherm Frederick was looking for a new cooking column. I suggested my mother. Sherm was excited, and said he’d love to have a local person write the column. I eplained that my mother actually lives in California. Ok, that would not do. So I asked if he minded if I wrote the column, myself. He invited me to submit some columns, and thus my writing career began.

The first column was on the Kona Coffee Festival. I’ve still got a copy of it somewhere. As soon as I find it, I’ll post it.

After writing it for a year or so, I self-syndicated and it began appearing in the Maui Sun newspaper, a small magazine in Las Vegas, and a few other publications catering to HawaiÊ»i expats. It also grew into a radio show on KHLO, and a short-lived TV show on Hilo’s old Channel 2. Diamond Papaya did a Kau Kau Kitchen special on Papayas, and the brand was featured in some local cooking events created to promote local agriculture and food products. Some cookbooks and kitchen products also spun off the original column.

I was fortunate to be invited to lots of great foodie events I never would have otherwise seen, and I got to meet many wonderful folks in the industry. But juggling all of that was a lot of work. I ended up putting Kau Kau Kitchen on “autopilot” for a few years and returned to school, seeking a degree in journalism.

After a number of career twists and turns, with Kau Kau Kitchen cruising along, primarily existing as books and occasional event or media appearances, the Internet was born. Kau Kau Kitchen went on-line.

I’d already been producing Kaʻahele Hawaiʻi (by now the world’s oldest Hawaiian culture and arts website), for a few years. Konabob Stoffer of KonaWeb had helped me to set it up. So putting Kau Kau Kitchen online seemed quite doable. It was much more cost effective than paper publishing, and I could reach far more people.

Now, after 40 years of covering Hawaiʻi’s mixed-plate food and culture, I am looking forward to what the future will bring!

A hui hou!
~Leilehua