How to make sugar-free tiger nut horchata

Horchata de chufa is one of the favourite plant milks for many (mine certainly is!), and you will surely love to know that homemade horchata is a milk with infinite and highly valued nutritional properties, but we are often prevented from enjoying it by the sugar that has traditionally been added to it. But this is going to change today, with this recipe for homemade horchata without sugar and super delicious!

I hope that in this post you will find all the important details when preparing horchata valenciana . You will also see 2 ways to prepare horchata:

Things to keep in mind when making horchata at home

1. Making traditional Valencian horchata is very easy. We saw it in the recipe you have on the blog from a few years ago. In this time, one thing has changed that you will love: now, we have the Vegan Milker to make vegetable milks (and of course horchata) in the easiest and most efficient way. In fact, the Vegan Milker (popularly known as "Chufamix") was born as a tool to make horchara at home, and it allows you to squeeze out all the flavour of the tiger nut in a very easy and clean way (as well as almonds, hazelnuts, rice... or any milk you are going to make, among others). So today we make the recipe with the Chufamix, although you can use a cotton mesh if you prefer.
2. Tiger nuts are very sensitive to temperature, and should not be exposed to more than 20 ºC when you soak them (otherwise, the fermentation process will be accelerated, and the horchata will not last even 2 days). For this reason, and especially from spring and summer onwards, it is important, when you soak tiger nuts, to leave them to soak in the fridge if the ambient temperature is above 20 ºC.

Sugar-free horchata recipe

Ingredients

• 200 grams of whole tiger nuts*
• 1 liter of water
• 4 pitted dates**
• lemon zest (optional)

*The ratio of 200 g of tiger nuts per 1 L of water is the ideal ratio to make an exquisite traditional Mediterranean-style horchata. If you like a lighter horchata, you can increase the amount of water (or reduce to 150 g of tiger nuts/1 L of water).

**Dates are the trick to sweeten horchata without using sugar. If you want to use sugar instead, replace the dates with 60 g of white sugar (or cane sugar if you prefer).

1) Preparation with the Vegan Milker Chufamix:

1. In a bowl, put the 200 g of tiger nuts with water, enough to cover them, and leave them to soak for 8 hours (remember to leave them in the fridge in summer, and not to exceed that time).
2. After 8 hours, remove from the refrigerator and drain.
3. Put half of the soaked tiger nuts into the Vegan Milker filter (approximately 100 g), add the 4 pitted dates and the lemon peel (optional), and place the full filter into the container that is part of the Vegan Milker pack.
4. Add 1 litre of water into the container (the vegan milker filter will be wrapped and filled with water as well).
5. Place the blender inside the filter and blend for approximately 2 minutes. Add the rest of the soaked tiger nut to the same filter and blend for two more minutes. With this blend, you are completely emulsifying the tiger nut, and extracting all its flavour.
6. Once blended, remove the blender and let it rest for 15 minutes with the filter filled with the blended tiger nut in the water, so that the water is completely infused with the tiger nut flavour (in the fridge if the room temperature is warm, to avoid maceration of the tiger nut).
7. Next, lift the filter out of the water and insert the Vegan Milker mortar into the filter, squeezing out all the pulp. Press several times, squeezing and extracting all the flavour of the tiger nut. You now have your horchata! Cover it with the lid of the Vegan Milker container and leave it in the fridge to cool.
8. Let it cool for at least 2-4 hours and always shake before serving.

• See the notes below to see that you can get even more horchata with a second extraction.

2) Preparation with a traditional or Chinese cotton mesh

1. In a bowl, put the 200 g of tiger nuts with water, enough to cover them, and leave them to soak for 8 hours (remember to leave them in the fridge in summer, and not to exceed that time).
2. After 8 hours, remove from the refrigerator and drain.
3. Put the soaked tiger nut in a bowl, add the 4 pitted dates, the lemon peel (optional), and add 1L of water to the container.
4. Beat for approximately 2 minutes .
5. Remove the blender and let it sit for 15 minutes with the filter filled with the ground tiger nut in the water, so that the water is completely infused with the tiger nut flavour (in the fridge if the room temperature is warm, to prevent the tiger nut from macerating).
6. Next, place a cotton mesh (or a Chinese strainer if you don't have one) in another bowl and pour the previous mixture into it. Filter well, raising the mesh, closing it and completely draining all the pulp. Press several times, squeezing and extracting all the flavour you can from the tiger nut. You now have your horchata!
7. Cover (or transfer to a bottle or jar) and chill in the refrigerator.
8. Let it cool for at least 2-4 hours and always shake before serving.

Other things you'll love to know to get the most out of tiger nuts

• You can add a pinch of cinnamon! It's an ideal option to change the way you drink it or enjoy a different horchata from time to time (I personally like to do it a lot). With a touch of cinnamon it's also ideal if you're going to use that horchata in making cakes.

• Remember that you can squeeze the pulp you just made horchata with a second time (that's why we also love the Vegan Milker), and get even more. Simply add about 400 ml of water to another container, put the filter with the pulp inside, blend again for 2 minutes with the hand blender to emulsify, and extract all the flavour by squeezing with the mortar. Store that almost half a litre of horchata in the fridge! You'll see that it's a little less concentrated than the first one, but it's also delicious. You can add it to the previous horchata (knowing that you'll make it a little lighter) or what I always do is keep it aside, either to drink or to make a dessert or smoothie.
• You can use the crushed pulp to add to salads, yogurts or, what I love, to muesli for breakfast to enjoy with yogurt and fruit. You can also use it to make bread or cakes (you'll see how delicious they are with the background flavor of the tiger nut!).
• Finally, a curiosity! Did you know that the tiger nut is also known as the tiger nut? The tiger nut is a small, sweet tuber that grows on the Cyperus esculentus plant, also known as the "tiger sedge" or "edible sedge". In English, these tiger nuts are called " tiger nuts " (hence the literal translation, tiger nuts), although they are not nuts, but tubers. I heard this a little while ago and thought it was a very apt name for the beautiful tiger nuts.

You can see how the vegan milker works to make horchata (and any other vegetable milk) in the video they made and that you will see below. Despite being a very homemade video, it explains very well how to use it and how to make homemade horchata (remember that the Vegan Milker was made by master craftsmen of Valencian horchata, so they have a lot to tell and learn from):