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1
Soak the Dried Peaches Overnight
12 Hrs (Passive)
Room temperature, ~20°C (68°F)
Put the rinsed dried peaches in a large bowl, cover with 1 litre of cold water and leave to soak for at least 12 hours, or overnight. The peaches will swell to nearly double their size and the soaking water will turn lightly golden.
Soak in the fridge if your kitchen is very warm; keep the soaking water — it becomes the syrup.
Done when: Peaches are plump, soft to the touch and visibly swollen.
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2
Cook the Mote Until Chewy
40 Mins
Simmer, ~100°C (212°F)
Put the rinsed mote in a saucepan with 1 litre of fresh water, bring to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 35–40 minutes until the kernels are tender but still chewy. Drain and rinse briefly under cold water, then set aside.
Taste at 30 minutes — mote goes from chewy to mushy quickly, and mushy mote clouds the drink.
Done when: Kernels are tender with a firm, chewy bite; none are split open.
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3
Simmer the Peaches in Spiced Syrup
30 Mins
Simmer, ~100°C (212°F)
Tip the soaked peaches with their soaking water into a large pot. Add the sugar, chopped chancaca, cinnamon sticks and orange peel. Bring to the boil, stirring until the sugar and chancaca dissolve, then simmer gently for 25–30 minutes until the peaches are soft all the way through and the liquid has turned into a clear amber syrup.
Keep the simmer gentle — hard boiling breaks the peaches apart and the syrup goes cloudy.
Done when: Peaches yield easily to a spoon and the syrup coats the back of the spoon lightly.
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4
Chill Until Ice-Cold
2 Hrs (Passive)
Fridge, ~4°C (39°F)
Take the pot off the heat, lift out the cinnamon sticks and orange peel, and leave the peaches in their syrup to cool to room temperature. Cover and chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours — mote con huesillo is only ever served ice-cold.
Chill the peaches in the syrup, not separately — they keep absorbing sweetness as they cool.
Done when: Syrup and peaches are cold right through, about 4°C (39°F).
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5
Assemble the Glasses and Serve
5 Mins
Serve cold, ~4°C (39°F)
Spoon 2–3 tablespoons of cooked mote into the bottom of each tall glass, add one or two whole peaches, then ladle over the cold syrup until the glass is full. Serve at once with a long spoon so everyone can eat the wheat and the peach with the syrup — one glass is about 400 g.
Stir each glass before drinking: the mote settles at the bottom and the first sips should carry both wheat and syrup.
Done when: Each glass shows pale mote at the bottom, a whole peach in amber syrup, and is served ice-cold.
auto_awesome Finishing Touches & Plating
Serve ice-cold in tall glasses with a long spoon — in Chile this is a street-corner summer ritual, drunk slowly in the shade.
Chile
35m
