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Alcoholic drinks from State of Mexico

Sambudia (sambumbia, State of Mexico)sambumbia

A lightly fermented, sweet drink from the State of Mexico. In the study's variety 1, toasted ground rice and spices are mixed with water and piloncillo (unrefined cane sugar), and a little pulque is added to start a 36–48 hour ferment in a clay pot. It is served at the Cabildo festival of San Martín Ocoxochitepec.

Fully documentedAlcoholic drinks36 h – 2 days

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceVariety 1 of four recorded in San Martín Ocoxochitepec in 2008–2009, given as proportions by the study (they are printed as given and add to more than 100 %). Makers adjust the amounts to the pot.
Rice, washed, toasted and ground10 %[quintero2012]
Spices, ground with the rice2 % cinnamon, 1 % clove, 1 % black pepper[quintero2012]
Water66 %[quintero2012]
Piloncillo (unrefined cane sugar)20 %[quintero2012]
Pulque, to start the fermentation10 %[quintero2012]
Starterpulque (a little of its sediment, according to one maker), and the remnants of past ferments in the clay pot (Ojeda-Linares et al. 2021); tibicos in a non-traditional version

Total time across the recorded steps: 36 h – 2 days

Start
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What changes: Washed rice is toasted on a comal

Step 1 of 4
Wash and toast the rice
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Yeasts

Toasted in a frying pan or on a comal. Barley was used before rice took its place. Output: toasted rice.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
white to toasted brown

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

At a glance

A lightly fermented, sweet drink from the State of Mexico. In the study's variety 1, toasted ground rice and spices are mixed with water and piloncillo (unrefined cane sugar), and a little pulque is added to start a 36–48 hour ferment in a clay pot. It is served at the Cabildo festival of San Martín Ocoxochitepec. Made in 4 steps over 36 h – 2 days. The longest step, start it with pulque and let it ferment, takes 36 h – 2 days (Quintero-Salazar B 2012). Pulque, the starter, carries Lactobacillus and Leuconostoc lactic acid bacteria, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Zymomonas mobilis does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step36 h – 2 daysReported[quintero2012]Start it with pulque and let it ferment

What makes this one different

Modern sambudia is started with pulque and ferments for only 36–48 hours, with piloncillo, rice and spices. The 18th-century zambumbia was toasted barley in water fermented four or five days and sweetened afterwards. Fruit versions with pineapple or orange are, to some makers, really tepache.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Varieties 2 and 3No grain; water 62 %, piloncillo 25 %, spices and pulque 10 %, fermented 36–48 h.
  • Maize variety (4)Maize 15 %, cinnamon 3 %, water 52 %, piloncillo 20 %, pulque 10 %, fermented 48 h.
  • Pineapple-peel sambudiaIn El Oro made by fermenting pineapple peel; in Zacazonapan from Bromelia fruit with pineapple peel, maize leaf and ground maize (as cited by the study). Some makers call fruit versions tepache.

Safety

One maker told the study that strained sambudia keeps up to a month in a washed, closed bottle in the refrigerator, that straining removes what ferments it so it does not spoil, and that the bottle should be opened slowly because it foams a lot. She washes the bottle, treats it with Microdyn and rinses it.

History and sources

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

A drink called sambumbia or zambumbia is recorded in New Spain in the 18th century. A 2012 ethnographic study found it still made in three communities of Ixtapan del Oro, most of all in San Martín Ocoxochitepec, where each new mayordomo brings a flower-decked clay jar of it to the Cabildo festival on the second Monday of Easter. Of the households that knew how to make it, 53 % no longer did.

Temperature, salt and pH
The sources we found give no temperature, salt or pH figure for any of its steps.
  1. [quintero2012] Quintero-Salazar B., Bernáldez Camiruaga A.I., Dublán-García O., Barrera García V.D., Favila Cisneros H.J. 2012, Consumo y conocimiento actual de una bebida fermentada tradicional en Ixtapan del Oro, México - la sambumbia, Alteridades 22(44):115–129 (Cuadro 1)paper
  2. [OJEDA2021] Ojeda-Linares C. et al. 2021, Traditional Fermented Beverages of Mexico - A Biocultural Unseen Foodscape, Foods 10(10):2390paper
  3. [escalante2016] Escalante A., López Soto D.R., Velázquez Gutiérrez J.E., Giles-Gómez M., Bolívar F. and López-Munguía A. 2016, Pulque, a traditional Mexican alcoholic fermented beverage - historical, microbiological, and technical aspects, Frontiers in Microbiology 7:1026 (the starter's microbes)paper