Chicha can be made a multitude of different ways with different things. Every family had their own recipe and way
of brewing their chicha. Most of the time chicha was brewed with corn or maize but people also used berries and other fruits and plants as well. Even though there are so many varieties of corn and ways of making it, there is still a basic procedure to the chicha manufacturing.
There are two basic stages to making chicha; pachucho or jora and then making chicha out of the pachucho. The first stage be
gins with picking the maize to use for the batch and picking
the kernels off. Then they’re put in a large vessel that sits in a hole in the ground for at least 12 hours, usually over night. The next step is to pull the kernels out and spread them in a dark, enclosed area for about three days to allow them to germinate. The germination is a difficult part because it’s supposed to maintain the same temperature but during those times it wasn’t easy to regulate so it was done by look, feel and taste to judge when it was ready. The next step is called humeo in which the germinated corn is heaped up into a pile and covered with layers of thick fabric. Humeo means smoke so the maize is left alone for two days because the heat produced in this oven of fabric is enough to burn someone. The humeo process is finished when the maize looks burnt and has a layer of ash over the whole bunch. After the maize is taken out of the humeo it’s spread out in the sun for a number of days, varying depending on how long it takes the corn to be completely dried out, until it is ready to be ground down. The final product is a powdery substance that is called pachucho and is ready to be made into chicha.
Chicha is made by simply mixing the pachucho and water into a brew. Except it’s not so simple. The first stage of boiling requires very hot fires for a few hours in which time water is constantly being added due to evaporation and constant stirring with a special stick called a chicula. After the initial boil comes a period of slow cooking that takes about a day on low heat. Then the chicha is cooled completely and another special process is began. It’s called raspeo, because they use a raspador which is a stick of rough wood, and they scoop handfuls of boiled pachucho from a different pot onto the stick and let it drip down into the chicha. It takes a full day of doing this and they do it to sweeten the chicha. The next day it is boiled again for about four hours and then is left to sit without disturbance so that everything settles and is able to clear of any contaminants that may have been picked up during the process. Then it gets strained through a piece of fabric in an elaborate process that requires two people to complete correctly. It drips in
to special containers that are pre-inoculated with yeast and the fermentation process begins. It ferments for
about a day or until it no longer tastes sweet but has a bit of a bite to it. Then it’s considered true chicha and ready to drink. The pots get divided from the top and bottom layers, the bottom layer being thicker and sweeter. The chicha must be drank within a few days or it turns into vinegar.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/4015729
Lock, Carrie. “Original Microbrews.” Science News Vol. 166. No. 14 (Oct. 2, 2004): pp. 216+218. Online.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/4252195
Nicholson, G. Edward. “Maize Types and Chicha Manufacture in Peru.” Economic Botany Vol. 14. No. 4 (Oct. – Dec., 1960): pp. 290-299. Online.
Picture 1-https://www.flickr.com/photos/buggs_moran/6187175739/?rb=1
Picture 2-http://prescribe-nutrition.com/supe-rfoods-sunday-maca/
Picture 3-http://bolivia.for91days.com/2011/08/07/learning-to-love-chicha/
Picture 4-http://bellaremyphotography.com/2012/03/20/wp-weekly-photo-challenge-unusual/