What is "colonche"

Colonche is an alcoholic red coloured drink made by Mexicans for thousands of years with tuna, the fruits of " nopal" ( Opuntia cacti), especially with "tuna cardona", the fruits of Opuntia streptacantha.

It is prepared in the states where wild nopal is abundant ( Aguascalientes, San Luis Potosi and Zacatecas).

It is a sweet, fizzy beverage. For preparation, the cactus fruits are peeled and crushed to obtain the juice, which is boiled for 2-3 hours. After cooling, the juice is allowed to ferment for a few days. Sometimes old colonche is added as a starter. Another possible starter is " tibicos". Tibicos are gelatinous masses of yeasts and bacteria, grown in water with brown sugar.

Amongst other microorganisms responsible for the spontaneous fermentation of colonche, a yeast, Torulopsis taboadae (syn. Torulaspora delbrueckii?), has been isolated.

In 2003, Teófilo Herrera Suárez, a Mexican mycologist, published a book entitled: “Más allá del pulque y el tepache” (“Beyond pulque and tepache”), in which he writes about traditional Mexican alcoholic beverages such as “ pozol”, “ tesgüino” and “colonche”.