Mote con Huesillos

Chile's most beloved summer street drink: dried peaches simmered in dark panela syrup poured over plump cooked wheat berries, served cold in a tall glass with a long spoon: sweet, tangy, starchy and refreshing all at once

Origin: Central Chile

From the journey of Peach.

Mote con huesillos is the unofficial national summer drink of Chile; sold from carts and kiosks across Santiago and every town from October to March. 'Mote' refers to cooked wheat berries (husked wheat), and 'huesillos' are dried peaches preserved whole from the summer harvest. The drink is ancient in its components; wheat cultivation in Chile predates Spanish colonisation, and the drying of stone fruits was an Indigenous technique across the Andes. Though the dish is primarily associated with peaches, the same technique is applied to strawberries (the Chilean Fragaria chiloensis) during strawberry season in regions like Biobío and La Araucanía. A strawberry version, with sliced fresh frutillas and their syrup, is made at home during the brief wild strawberry season and is closely associated with the Mapuche tradition of celebrating the new harvest. The drink is not expensive; it is the taste of summer, street food, and Chilean identity.

Ingredients

Fruit

  • 200 g dried peaches (huesillos) or dried apricots

Grain

  • 300 g pearled wheat (mote de trigo) or wheat berries, soaked overnight in cold water

Sweetener

  • 200 g panela (unrefined cane sugar) or dark brown sugar

Spice

  • 1 stick cinnamon
  • 3 whole cloves

Liquid

  • 1.5 litres water

Optional

  • 200 g fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced (optional, for strawberry version)

Acid

  • 1 tbsp lemon juice

Method

  1. Soak the dried peaches in 500ml of cold water overnight. Drain, reserving the soaking water.
  2. Drain the soaked wheat. Place in a pot with fresh cold water to cover by 5cm. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 45–60 minutes until tender but with a slight chew; like al dente pasta. Drain and cool under cold water. Set aside.
  3. In a separate pot, combine the peach soaking water, remaining 1 litre of fresh water, panela or sugar, cinnamon stick and cloves. Bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar.
  4. Add the soaked peaches to the syrup. Simmer gently for 20–25 minutes until the peaches have softened and plumped and the syrup has turned a deep amber colour. Add the lemon juice. Remove from heat.
  5. If making the strawberry version: fold the sliced fresh strawberries into the warm syrup after removing from the heat. Allow to cool; the strawberries will macerate into the syrup, turning it pink and giving a fresh berry fragrance.
  6. To assemble: place a generous spoonful of cooked wheat into a tall glass. Ladle the peach (or strawberry) syrup over the wheat until the glass is about two-thirds full. Add one or two pieces of fruit.
  7. Serve immediately with ice and a long spoon. The drink should be drunk partly as a beverage (the cold sweet syrup) and partly eaten (the wheat and fruit at the bottom, scooped with the spoon).

Notes

The quality of the dried peaches is everything in this drink. Chilean huesillos are a specific variety of small, intensely flavoured dried peach; if you can source them from a Latin American grocery, the difference is remarkable. The panela (raw cane sugar block) gives a caramel, molasses note that white sugar cannot replicate. The drink must be served very cold; this is essential for the refreshing contrast with the warm Chilean summer.

The Gastrographer

The Gastrographer

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