MAKING CHICHA BEER THE OLD WAY

Must fix these pictures. Still trying to figure it out.







Photos: 1) Tia Rosa's kitchen with chicha room in back at right, 2) chicha oven, 3) two stages of fermentation, 4) three stages of fermentation, 5) bottles ready to be filled, 6) workers buy & drink chicha at Tia Rosa's, 6) Kika says "delicious!"

CHICHA DE JORA (chicha from corn flour)

It is possible that chicha has been made in Perú since before the Incas. This post describes chicha as it has been made in Monsefú, Perú for at least 75 years. The chicha maker in the picture is Rosa Hemerajinda Chafloque Pisfil. “Tia Rosa” celebrated her 87^th birthday on January 13, 2007 (the picture was taken in 1986). She stopped making chicha about 8 years ago. Her chicha was very different from today’s chicha which is made in aluminum or stainless steel vats, uses sugar rather than molasses, and is bottled in plastic. Tia Rosa’s chicha was cooked in an oven of ceramic vats about 3 feet tall by 2 ½ feet wide at the top. The vats were tapered. The quantity made was enough for over 100 bottles.

Ingredients: corn flour (made from alazan corn, a reddish medium kernel corn, which was soaked in well water until it germinated, dried in the sun {this took days}, brought to the mill to be ground when thoroughly dry, and ground to a medium coarse grind), well water, and molasses from sugar cane.

Preparation: The germination and drying of the corn takes two to three days depending on the heat of the sun. In the ceramic vats 50 kilos of ground corn and about 8 gallons of water were added. This was brought to a boil over a wood fire inside the oven (see photo of oven). It was left to boil for 12 hours. Every time the boiling made foam, it had to be stirred with a wooden ladle. This was about every half hour. After 12 hours, it was left to sit without heat until it no longer showed any signs of boiling.

Next it was strained with a coarse cloth; shaking and then squeezing the cloth with one’s hands. The residue left in this cloth was squeezed through the hands until the dry residue was captured. This “afrecho” was given to the animals (pigs, chickens, ducks, etc.). The liquid from the hands was caught in a pot, sweetened with sugar, and given as a warm drink to children. Though the children were given this “chufla” for nutrition, adults liked it too. After this stage of straining the liquid it was left to cool for about 2 days. Then it is strained again with a finer cloth. The residue of this is called “ñuto.” This watery residue is heated, sweetened, and drunk. Sometimes cinnamon and apples are added.

Then the finely strained liquid in the vat was transferred to barrels (see photo) or taller ceramic vats and sweetened with about 4 gallons of molasses. This was left to rest in order that fermentation would begin. This took about 1-2 days. Then it was tasted for sweetness. More molasses was added if needed and it was left for a few hours to further ferment. When ready, it was poured into dark green or brown (glass) beer bottles and corked (see photo). The cork was tied with string so that the gass produced would not pop the cork. The bottles were left for two days. Both the taste and the potency could vary from cooking to cooking. If the bottles were left for more than 2 days its potency was increased. Sometimes bottles were buried in the ground for a month to produce a type of corn brandy. The sediment that formed at the bottom of the bottles was saved to use as a vinegar. The better the filtration, the less the sediment.

Chicha was generally drunk in small, dried halves of gourds which had decorations of leaves, flowers, and (sometimes) sayings burnt into the surface. Unfortunately, this delicious brew is no longer being made in this way.