July 2024
Tepache and it's many uses in our kitchen. And Preorder your Friday Feast!!
Hello friends,
I hope you are all having a lovely start to you summer.
I am going to glaze over the fact that in the last newsletter I promised I would write newsletters more often and every two weeks. That didn’t happen and I won’t make any more promises. Just know that my energy has been spent toward a few (somewhat fun) projects.
Tortilla Oven Update: We are so close to installing our tortilla oven and will be rolling out tortillas in July. It’s been an absurdly long project involving updating electrical, updating gas lines, starting and stopping, learning how to rivet, buying/using new tools. We are getting closer to our goal of offering tortillas soon.
In the meantime, tell your friends, tell your favorite restaurants/shops to carry Bolita, share our posts, leave us a review on Google or Yelp. All these little things make a huge difference, especially in a world driven by social media views and interactions.
TEPACHE
Pineapples are one of my favorite fruits and flavors. Their austere, prickly exterior protects and surrounds one of the sweetest fruits imaginable. Eat too much and all the acidity and bromelain will rip up your mouth. It’s kinda telling you to stay away.
Pineapples were seen as a symbol of hospitality and exuberance. They have a long history of being used to show wealth and generosity. Hosts would display them in their homes to show how much they cared for their guests, having gone out of their way to acquire such a rare and exotic fruit. Pineapples still carry a certain symbolism, so be mindful of that upside down pineapple in your cart next time you’re picking up a snack at Safeway ;)
Currently, we have incredible access to pineapples. Almost every grocery store carries them year round. It’s easy to take them for granted, and to see them as ordinary. So, let’s take this fruit and honor it by using every bit of it.
Tepache is a delicious, bubbly fermented beverage made from pineapple. In it’s original state, tepache was a maíz based beverage. “Tepache" comes from the Nahuatl word tepiātl, a beverage made from fermenting fresh maíz with water, letting it ferment until foamy.
Our current understanding of Tepache is that of a fermented beverage made with pineapple scraps and skins, with bit of added sugar to feed the yeasts and bacteria naturally living on the skins. Taking this idea, a very simple combination of fruit and sugar, Tepache is open to experimentation and adaptation. My kitchen mate, Jacob Croom (My Friend Fernando) made a squash tepache using leftover squash skin and flesh. We have played with maple syrup, honey, different sugars and spices. We’ve made tepache with pineapple guava and persimmon, the latter being quite the of delicious. I bet cherries would make a good tepache.
Here is a recipe for our regular Honey-Piña Tepache that we then reduce to a syrup to glaze ribs. We will be selling Tepache Glazed Ribs this Friday, get your order in. Come support our little business.
Recipe: Honey-Piña Tepache
Ingredients
4 L Filtereed Water, (at body temp/warm)
200 g Honey
600 g Pineapple skins, cores, and chopped up flesh
6 Peppercorns, 1 Stick cinnamon, 1 Star Anise Pod, 4 Cardamom pods, 2 dried Chiles (habanero or arbol taste best)
To Prepare
Dissolve honey in water and add pineapple.
Lightly toast spices and chile, and adde to the pineppale-honey water.
Keep in a warm, dark corner of your kitchen, checking and stirring every 12 hours or so. Taste it every day. Depending on ambient temperature, it can be ready in 3-7 days. It should be slightly tart, eathry and very fragrant.
USES
Drink over ice, with sparkling water or with rum. Yum.
Add more sugar/honey and let it continue to ferment an additional 6-8 days, it will become very tart and sour. We use it as we do vinegar - “Tepache Vinegar”
Reduce 4 L Tepache, 2 L“Tepache Vinegar”, 100 g honey, 300 g charred onion, 60 g charred garlic. until liquid is reduced by 80%. Blend and strain, now you have our famous “Tepache Glaze” for our ribs and occasionally for chicken.
Dehydrate the solids and make blend in a spice grinder to make Tepache Salt - use for your cocktails or to season ribs before glazing
Friday 7/5- Hammerling Winery First Friday, 1350 Fifth St, 4:00-7:00pm
Order your Friday Feast meal from us. Tepache glazed ribs. Lamb Shank Barbacoa. Summer Veggies. Come through and show your support. Pre-Order Soon
Sunday 7/14- Foodwise Summer Bash, 1 Ferry Building San Francisco, CA 94111, 5:30 - 8:00pm
More info and tickets HERE
Saturday 7/20- Thirst Trap Wine Fair, 1350 Fifth St, 11:00am-4:00pm
Thank you for supporting Bolita! We hope to see you soon and can’t wait to feed you!
