Horchata

Ingredients

• 1½ cups rice
  • 3 tsp ground cinnamon (Gray's tip: omit this and allow people to control their own amount when they pour)
  • pinch ground cloves
  • 1½ tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 14.5 oz (or 1 can) evaporated milk
  • 7.5 oz (or ½ can) sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 cup sugar (Gray's tip: This was originally 2½ cups, but I thought it too sweet.)
  • 6.5 liters water

To Prepare

1. Pulverize the rice in a spice grinder or blender. Take your time and make sure it reaches a fine powder.
2. Soak rice powder in 3 cups (700 ml) of the water (hot) for at least 3 hours so that it gets soft.
3. Make a simple syrup by cooking the sugar in ½ cup (120 ml) of the water in a saucepan.
4. Blend the soaked rice powder until completely smooth (can take awhile, like 10 minutes).
5. Add cinnamon (unless keeping separate), cloves, vanilla, salt, evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, and simple syrup. Combine thoroughly.
1. Add remaining water (5.68 liters) and stir.

There may be a thick rice powder sludge left on the bottom of your mixing bowl. That can be either stirred up into the drink or discarded, depending on the texture you want.