Tesguino

Tesgüino is a corn beer made by the Tarahumara Indians of Sierra Madre in Mexico [ [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4532569 NPR: The Sacred Corn Beer of the Tarahumara ] ] . The Tarahumara regard the beer as sacred, and it forms a significant part of their society [ [http://www.ic.arizona.edu/~agave/ceram_feast_tarah01.htm Southwest Agave Project ] ] . Anthropologist John Kennedy reports that "the average Tarahumara spends at least 100 days per year directly concerned with tesgüino and much of this time under its influence or aftereffects." [John G. Kennedy, Tarahumara of the Sierra Madre, AHM Publishing] .

Varieties

The general Tarahumara term for an alcoholic beverage is "Sugíki"; "batári" is used when the beer is specifically made from corn or lichen flour [ [http://www.utexas.edu/courses/stross/ant322m_files/tarahumara04.htm TARAHUMARA (rarámuri) ] ] ; "paciki" is used when the beer is made from fresh corn stalks [Pennington, C. W. (1983). Tarahumara. In W. C. Sturtevant (Ed.), The handbook of North American Indians, Vol. 10. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution.] . While tesguino made from corn is considered the most sacred, the Tarahumara also make beer from agaveref|2 and wheatref|1, as well as other alcoholic beverages made from fruits such as peaches, berries, crabapples, cactus fruits,and Mesquite seeds [ [http://www.questconnect.org/tara_tesguino.htm Tesguino ] ] .

Production

The beer is made from corn kernels which are soaked, then ground up, boiled and left to ferment naturally with wild yeast. A local grass is used in place of hops for flavouring.

References

Notes

# Boza is a European beer made from wheat.
# Pulque is a Mexican alcoholic beverage made from agave.