The best horchata in the world is produced and served here.

Tiger nut horchata has managed to leap over the ancient city walls of Valencia and carve out a niche throughout the Iberian Peninsula and the islands, as well as in Japan and the United States, where it's considered a trending drink . However, there is a great deal of ignorance about how this beverage is made and, more specifically, about how Valencians enjoy it in its "ground zero," Alboraia, a municipality in the Horta Nord region, home to the best horchaterías in the world.

Alboraia begins where Valencia ends and is known for being the birthplace of horchata, having been cultivated there, in the heart of the orchard, for centuries. Until well into the 20th century, Valencian farmers loaded the sand they collected from the beaches of Malvarrosa and Patacona (located just a stone's throw from the huts and farmhouses of Alboraia) onto mule-drawn carts and then mixed it with the soil from their fields to make it loamier and give the tiger nut skin a finer, more fleshy texture.

The tiger nut is a one-centimeter-long tuber that has a sweet flavor.

According to Francesc Espinosa, president of the Horchata de Valencia designation of origin, tiger nuts are grown in sixteen towns in the Horta Nord region, as their lands possess ideal characteristics and climatic conditions, making it the only area in Spain where the tuber is harvested. Valencia, Alboraia, Almàssera, and Meliana are the towns renowned for serving the best horchata.

This region currently produces approximately 5.3 million kilos of dried tiger nuts, 90% of which are protected by the designation of origin. In addition to Valencian tiger nuts, in recent years some manufacturers have begun importing tiger nuts from Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Senegal, due to their lower cost, though less sweetness.

Those sitting right now with a glass of horchata in this part of Valencia , rice straw in hand, are very fond of signature horchata and mix the liquid horchata with the slushy horchata in personal, non-transferable proportions, although it's common to include 50% of each (this type of horchata is called "mixed"). It's also very typical to accompany horchata with fartons, long, fluffy buns that are dipped in the drink. Years ago, however, it was common to cut the bread into strips and toast it.

Dalí, Gala, Alberti and Orson Welles, horchateros of pro

In the second half of the 20th century, celebrities such as Salvador Dalí (who traveled to the capital of the Túria in a Rolls Royce, accompanied by Gala), Rafael Alberti, the Saudi prince Sultan Bin Turik (who arrived by helicopter to have a horchata and the next day repeated it in a limousine), not to mention politicians such as Olof Palme and Giscard d'Estaing, singers such as Georges Moustaki, actors such as Viggo Mortensen and directors such as Orson Welles, have paraded through the horchaterías of Alboraia. A list of famous names that has illuminated, over time, a new gastronomic religion of global reach whose number of believers has not stopped growing: horchatismo .

In this area, for example, there's the Daniel horchatería (after opening his first establishment in 1960 on the ground floor of his own house), but also Panach (another legendary establishment). In 1971, José Panach Riera and Amparo Ferrer Martínez, two farmers from Alboraia, found themselves with a bumper crop of tiger nuts that were being sold at bargain prices, so they decided to open a horchatería, according to their son José Ramón. Over time, that artisanal concoction has given rise to the Panach Group, which currently exports horchata to the United States, Japan, China, and Mexico, among other countries, in addition to having two of its own brands.

The traditional recipe for this horchatería, José Ramón Panach reveals, consists of mixing 3.75 liters of water with one kilo of squeezed tiger nuts, 110 grams of sugar, and a little cinnamon, "but only to round out the flavor," he says. The result is a horchata with a much higher percentage of tiger nuts than other non-artisanal horchatas, which are typically made with eight liters of water and one of tiger nuts, so the percentage of raw materials rarely exceeds 15%.

The tiger nut is a centimeter-long tuber with a sweet, crunchy flavor. Until around 1980, it was common to find street stalls in Valencia selling tiger nuts by weight, submerged in tubs of water to keep them fresher, and bought by children in cardboard boxes.

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Now, the taste of tiger nuts, and by extension, of horchata, leaves no one indifferent: you either love it or you don't like it at all, with almost no middle ground. Its flavor, Panach confesses, hasn't quite caught on in Europe. It's quite common to find Europeans who, upon trying it for the first time, grimace, but after trying it a couple of times, end up becoming international horchata brigade members.

For José Ramón Panach, horchata has great potential in China (where a large portion of the population is lactose intolerant) and the United States (although distribution costs hinder its profitability), but especially in Japan, where the Japanese "love its flavor," he says. Regarding the Peninsula and islands, 50% of the national market is concentrated in Valencia, Castellón, and Alicante (and also in Murcia), 30% in Catalonia, while the remainder is distributed between Madrid and Andalusia and tourist locations, since its consumption is minimal in northern Spain.

A short distance from Avenida de la Horchata, where some of Valencia's favorite horchaterías are located, is the headquarters of the Valencian Tiger Nut Designation of Origin. Its president, Quico Espinosa, also admits to ordering the mixed horchata (50% liquid and 50% slushy), as does José Ramón Panach. Both explain, in their own way, that horchata makers are pushing for their product to be marketed as a plant-based drink, although Panach warns that horchata, with its unique character, doesn't pair well (for now, work is being done on that...) with coffee, unlike oat or soy.

Likewise, to adapt to changing times, sugar-free horchata has emerged. This horchata has already arrived in Barcelona and can be found, for example, at the Orxateria Sirvent on Parlament Street. "Some customers ask us to serve them 50% regular horchata and 50% sugar-free," a saleswoman admits.

For a horchata to live up to its name, Espinosa explains, it must contain at least 110 grams of sugar per liter of water. However, the producers' intention is to distance themselves from sugary soft drinks. "Artisans are the only ones who can make horchata with less sugar, since they don't bottle it," Espinosa continues. For this reason, it's currently possible to find both sugar-sweetened and sugar-free horchata. A compromise is to mix both in equal parts so that the resulting liquid has half the sugar and a stronger tiger nut flavor.

The goal is to make this drink, which is best served very cold, at around two degrees Celsius, even healthier. Horchata, in addition to providing minerals (potassium, phosphorus, calcium, iron, and magnesium), is low in fat, and the fat it does provide is similar to that of olive oil. It also provides fiber, vitamins E and B, folic acid, antioxidants, and essential amino acids like arginine. The goal is for it, in addition to the pleasure horchata provides when consumed occasionally, to become part of a daily diet, although there's still a long way to go...

From the Valencian garden to the glass

Originating in ancient Egypt (vessels containing remains of tiger nuts have been found as part of some funerary trousseaus), horchata spread throughout the Iberian Peninsula in the Middle Ages with the Islamic era. Since then, the tuber has been planted between late March, April, and May in Valencian vegetable gardens, where the plants reach 50 centimeters in height. Harvesting is usually in November, but before that, in September, when the leaves are already dry, it is often burned, as José Ramón Panach does, "because extracting them manually is laborious," he notes. Once the tiger nuts are harvested, they are scattered on the ground and dried.

This process, which lasts three months, involves stirring the tubers (up to twice a day) to ensure even drying. The tiger nuts are then ground in a mill, followed by water: approximately three liters of water per kilo of dried tiger nuts (for this reason, the artisanal horchatas drunk by Valencians can contain up to 25% raw material). Finally, the starches in the tiger nuts are converted into sugar and fat, and the horchata acquires body and flavor. In fact, one clue to whether a horchata is artisanal is that it tends to be somewhat darker in color and also leaves a residue, as the starch settles at the bottom.