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Fermentation Atlas

Alcoholic drinks from Sierra Tarahumara

Tesgüino (Rarámuri maize beer)batári (Rarámuri)

Maize kernels are soaked, sprouted in the dark, ground and boiled for many hours until the mash turns yellow. The liquid is poured into a clay pot kept only for tesgüino, plant "catalysts" such as bark, leaves or lichen are added, and it ferments for 2 to 3 days into a sour, slurry-like maize beer drunk at communal tesgüinadas. Made in 7 steps over 7.3 days – 8.5 days. The longest step, sprout in the dark, takes 5 days (Ojeda-Linares C. et al. 2021). Saccharomyces cerevisiae, found in tesgüino from many places and Lactic acid bacteria (Lactobacillus, Leuconostoc, Pediococcus, Streptococcus), present from the cooled gruel onward and rising through fermentation do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step5 daysReported[ojeda2021]Sprout in the dark

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe common Rarámuri method as summarised by FAO from Taboada and colleagues (1977), starting from about 10 kg of maize. Each family scales it to the gathering.
About 10 kgDry maize kernels[fao1999]
Water · To soak the kernels and to boil the ground sprouts[fao1999]
Plant catalysts · Near Urique, chopped bark of batari or kakwara (Randia echinocarpa, R. watsonii, R. laevigata) and kaya (Coutarea pterosperma), boiled for hours first; higher up in the pine forest, leaves of Stevia serrata, Chimaphila maculata and Datura, grass stems and roots[fao1999]
Usnea lichen · Added as a catalyst[ojeda2021]
Starterspontaneous, carried over in the clay pot (tesgüinera) and on the utensils

Total time across the recorded steps: 7.3 days – 8.5 days

Start
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Close-up: water moving into a piece

What changes: Dry maize kernels soak up water

Step 1 of 7
Soak the kernels
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Lactobacillus
Leuconostoc
Pediococcus
Lactic acid bacteria

Soaked for several days, then drained. Output: swollen kernels.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

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

What makes this one different

Unlike tejuino, a maize-dough drink sweetened with brown sugar, tesgüino is a beer of sprouted maize, fermented with plant catalysts. Its yeasts live in the clay pot itself, so the pot is never used for anything else, and its broken pieces go into the next one.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Stalk-juice tesgüino (paciki; Tepehuan vougadi navaitai)Fresh or dry maize stalks are pounded on a rock, rinsed through a reed or willow sieve, and the juice is boiled with water for hours, given catalysts and fermented 2 to 3 days in the dark.
  • Mestizo tesgüinoLower in alcohol; a refreshing drink in hot weather rather than a staple.

History and sources

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

The name tesgüino, like tejuino, comes from the Nahuatl tecuin, meaning heartbeat. Among the Rarámuri, the tesgüinada is one of the most important events of life, and players take tesgüino to the ball games and drink it for strength.

  1. [fao1999] Haard N.F., Odunfa S.A., Lee C.-H., Quintero-Ramírez R., Lorence-Quiñones A., Wacher-Radarte C. 1999, Fermented cereals, a global perspective, FAO Agricultural Services Bulletin 138, chapter 4 (Latin America), section on tesgüino citing Taboada et al. 1977, Ulloa et al. 1987 and Wacher-Rodarte 1995gov
  2. [ojeda2021] Ojeda-Linares C. et al. 2021, Traditional fermented beverages of Mexico: a biocultural unseen foodscape, Foods 10(10):2390paper