AGUA DE HORCHATA

By DaleLee

Ingredients

• • 3/4 cup uncooked, long grain rice
• • 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• • 1 1/2 teaspoons good quality vanilla extract
• • 1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
• • 7 cups, cold filtered water
• • Ice cubes for serving
• • Whole cinnamon sticks for garnish

Details

Servings 2

Preparation

Step 1

1. Place the rice in a medium-sized bowl and add enough water to cover by one inch. Place the bowl in the refrigerator to soak overnight.
2. The following morning, place the rice and its soaking liquid into a blender. Add the cinnamon and vanilla and blend on high for at least 30 seconds. Pour the blended rice, cinnamon and vanilla mixture through a fine mesh sieve into a large serving pitcher, reserving the sandy rice sediment.
3. Return the reserved sediment to the jar of the blender and add the sweetened condensed milk along with 2 cups of cold water. Blend again on high for at least 30 seconds. Repeat the same straining procedure as in step 2, making sure to press on the rice solids to extract as much liquid as possible. You may now discard the rice sediment.
4. Rinse your strainer thoroughly before lining it with two layers of dampened cheesecloth. Pour the contents of the pitcher back through the cheesecloth lined strainer into a large bowl. Pour the contents of the bowl into the pitcher for the last and final strain. Add 3 more cups of water to further dilute the mixture. Make sure to stir the pitcher before serving in order to reincorporate the sediment. Serve over ice and garnish with a cinnamon stick.