Mercado de San Juan ★ 4.6
Mercado de San Juan in Mexico City is the gourmet specialty market on Ernesto Pugibet in Centro Historico, the city's only such market with exotic meats.
History
Aguas frescas trace to pre-Hispanic Mexico, where Aztecs in Tenochtitlan made cold drinks from cacao, fruit and seeds chilled with volcanic ice carried down from Popocatepetl. The colonial Spanish brought horchata de chufa from Valencia, which was reinvented in Mexico with rice. Jamaica (hibiscus) and tamarindo arrived through the colonial trade networks from West Africa and Asia. By the 19th century the vitrolera was a market fixture across Mexico City; today every market and most taquerias carry at least four aguas, refilled fresh daily, costing 25 to 45 pesos per glass.
Make it at home
Ingredients
- For agua de jamaica: 100g dried hibiscus flowers; 2L water; 150g caster sugar; 1 stick cinnamon
- For horchata: 200g long-grain white rice
- 2 sticks cinnamon
- 80g blanched almonds
- 1.5L water
- 500ml whole milk
- 200g caster sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- For tamarindo: 250g tamarind pods (shelled and de-seeded) or 200g tamarind paste
- 2L water
- 200g caster sugar
- pinch salt
- small pinch chilli powder (optional)
- Ice and lime wedges to serve
Method
- JAMAICA: bring 1L water to a boil with cinnamon. Add hibiscus, remove from heat, steep 1 hour. Strain (squeeze the flowers). Add sugar and stir to dissolve. Top up with cold water to 2L. Chill.
- HORCHATA: rinse the rice, then soak with cinnamon and almonds in 1L water for 6 to 8 hours (overnight is easiest).
- Blend the soaked rice, cinnamon, almonds and soaking water on full power for 3 minutes.
- Strain through fine muslin or a clean tea towel into a jug; squeeze hard.
- Stir in milk, sugar, vanilla and 500ml cold water. Chill.
- TAMARINDO: if using pods, simmer in 500ml water for 20 minutes, then push through a sieve to remove the strings. Discard solids.
- Mix tamarind pulp (or paste) with the remaining 1.5L water, sugar, salt and chilli powder. Stir until sugar dissolves. Chill.
- Serve each agua over ice with a lime wedge. The Mexico City standard is to keep the aguas mildly sweet so they refresh in heat without cloying.
Tip from the editors. Soak the rice for horchata at least 6 hours, ideally overnight; a shorter soak leaves the drink chalky rather than silky.
Where to eat aguas frescas
Aguas frescas in Mexico City
Mercado de Coyoacan ★ 4.5
Mercado de Coyoacan in Mexico City is the southern neighbourhood market on Ignacio Allende near the Frida Kahlo Museum, a 350-vendor traditional market.
Mercado Medellin ★ 4.3
Mercado Medellin in Mexico City is the Roma Sur Latin American import market on Campeche, the pan-Latin grocery hall with Cuban, Colombian and Argentine.
Mercado de la Merced ★ 4.4
Mercado de la Merced in Mexico City is the 1957 mega-market east of the Zocalo, the largest retail market in the city with 88,000 sq m and 5,525 vendors.
Mercado Roma ★ 4.3
Mercado Roma in Mexico City is the Roma Norte gourmet food hall on Queretaro, a three-floor market with 50-plus vendors covering Mexican, Italian, Venezuelan.
Mercado de la Merced ★ 4.4
Mercado de la Merced in Mexico City is the 1957 mega-market east of the Zocalo, the largest retail market in the city with 88,000 sq m and 5,525 vendors.
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