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Fermentation Atlas

Soft drinks from Mexico

Pozolpozol

sour, refreshing maize drink (80-1000 g dough per person per day). Made in 4 steps over 25 h – 14 days. The longest step, wrap in banana leaves and ferment, takes 24 h – 14 days (Haard N.F. et al. 1999) and runs at 28 °C (Haard N.F. et al. 1999). Leuconostoc mesenteroides and Lactiplantibacillus plantarum do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step24 h – 14 daysReported[fao138-ch4]Wrap in banana leaves and ferment
Temperature28 °CMeasured[fao138-ch4]Wrap in banana leaves and ferment
AciditypH 7.3 → 3.9Measured[fao138-ch4]Wrap in banana leaves and ferment
DocumentedSoft drinks25 h – 14 daysMore soft drinksMore from Mexico

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedWhat goes in. No source gives amounts for this ferment.
white maize
lime (Ca(OH)2)
optional cacao or coconut
Starter: spontaneous

Total time across the recorded steps: 25 h – 14 days

Start
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pH 5.7 → 7.5

What changes: Maize boils in lime water and is rinsed

Step 1 of 4
Nixtamalise
Time
1 h
Reported
Temperature
~100
Unconfirmed
Salt
None given
Acidity
pH 5.7 → 7.5
Reported
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Yeasts
Moulds
Lactic acid bacteria

Output: nixtamal (rinsed).

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

heat kills; lime loosens pericarp, frees niacin

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

Variants

  • Chorote (Tabasco)cacao added
  • Pozol blanco, pozol de cacao, pozol negro, pozol agrio (Tabasco)four Tabasco types; agrio = long-fermented
  • Yucatán pozole with coconutcoconut

Safety

Some aflatoxin survives nixtamalisation and fermentation.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Maya-Chontal; named pozol after 1519; 1579 Tabasco government declared it typical regional drink.

  1. [fao138-ch4] Haard N.F. et al. 1999, Fermented cereals: a global perspective, FAO Agricultural Services Bulletin 138, ch. 4 (Wacher, Ulloa et al.)gov
  2. [wp-pozol] Wikipedia, Pozol, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pozolwiki
  3. [tamang2016] Tamang J.P., Watanabe K., Holzapfel W.H. 2016, Review: Diversity of microorganisms in global fermented foods and beverages, Frontiers in Microbiology 7:377paper