Horchata
Have you tried horchata? It’s a sweet and refreshing Valencian drink which originally comes from Alboraya, a village on the city outskirts. It’s made with water, sugar and tiger nuts.
Tiger nuts are a type of edible tuber which have a sweet and starchy flavour. They can be eaten raw, but they are mostly used to make horchata.
Now the weather is beginning to warm up, horchata is one of the drinks Valencians turn to most often to cool down.
You can buy horchata in all supermarkets. However, if you’d like to try traditional horchata you should go to Alboraya and visit Horchatería Daniel. Ask for a slushy horchata (granizada) or liquid (líquida) with some fartons. Horchatería Daniel, the most famous horchata café in Valencia, was founded in 1960, although the family began making horchata in 1949.
To find out more about horchata and how it’s made, we recommend you visit the Horchata and Tiger Nut Museum (Museo de la Horchata y la Chufa) which is in La Alquería el Machistre in Alboraya. La Alquería is beautiful and at the museum they will show you the traditional methods used to make the drink.
This is a trip Route 66 Idiomas organises as an excursion for its students. So if you want to learn Spanish and find out more about Valencian traditions and culture, sign up for a language course at our school and join our family.