flipMote con huesillos (wheat and dried peach in syrup)
Mote con huesillos (wheat and dried peach in syrup)
Why this dish? A popular dessert-drink of central Chile, *mote con huesillos* was sold on streets and squares in O'Higgins's time as it is today. Combining the *mote* of the countryside and dried peaches of summer, it was the refreshing treat of the common people that the Supreme Director wished to serve.
A simple glass: dried peaches (*huesillos*) rehydrated in an amber syrup perfumed with cinnamon, over a bed of tender hulled wheat grains. Drunk and eaten with a spoon, sweet and tart, thirst-quenching.
The people, for whom I fought, do not need great feasts to rejoice: a glass of *mote con huesillos* in the square suffices. See these peaches that summer has dried, plumped in a golden cinnamon syrup, resting on the tender wheat — that is the treat of poor and rich alike. It is sold on street corners, and no Chilean can resist it. Drink it chilled in the hot hours: it is my entire land in a glass.
- •Huesillos (dried peaches) — a handful (fruit in syrup)
- •Mote (cooked hulled wheat) — a measure (soft base)
- •Chancaca or honey — to taste (sweeten the syrup)
- •Cinnamon — one stick (perfume)
Mote con huesillos (wheat and dried peach in syrup)
A simple glass: dried peaches (*huesillos*) rehydrated in an amber syrup perfumed with cinnamon, over a bed of tender hulled wheat grains. Drunk and eaten with a spoon, sweet and tart, thirst-quenching.
Why this dish? A popular dessert-drink of central Chile, *mote con huesillos* was sold on streets and squares in O'Higgins's time as it is today. Combining the *mote* of the countryside and dried peaches of summer, it was the refreshing treat of the common people that the Supreme Director wished to serve.
The people, for whom I fought, do not need great feasts to rejoice: a glass of *mote con huesillos* in the square suffices. See these peaches that summer has dried, plumped in a golden cinnamon syrup, resting on the tender wheat — that is the treat of poor and rich alike. It is sold on street corners, and no Chilean can resist it. Drink it chilled in the hot hours: it is my entire land in a glass.
Ingredients (period version)
- Huesillos (dried peaches) — a handful (fruit in syrup)
- Mote (cooked hulled wheat) — a measure (soft base)
- Chancaca or honey — to taste (sweeten the syrup)
- Cinnamon — one stick (perfume)
Ingredients
- Dried peaches (huesillos, or dried apricots as substitute) — 8 (fruit in syrup)
- Hulled wheat (mote) — 200 g cooked (soft base)
- Brown sugar or chancaca — 150 g (syrup)
- Cinnamon stick — 1 (perfume)
- Water — 1.5 liters (syrup and cooking)
Method
- Soak the dried peaches for several hours (or overnight) in cold water.
- Cook the peaches in their water with the brown sugar and cinnamon for 40 minutes, until tender and the liquid is syrupy. Let cool.
- Cook the hulled wheat separately in water until tender (40 to 50 min), then drain and rinse.
- In each tall glass, place a spoonful of wheat, add one or two peaches, and cover with well-chilled syrup.
- Serve very cold, with a spoon, as at a street stall.
How it was made : *Mote con huesillos* combines two traditional preserves: *mote* (wheat boiled with a little ash then hulled) and *huesillos* (whole peaches sun-dried with their pits). This pairing allowed enjoying summer fruits all year round; sweetened with *chancaca* (unrefined cane sugar) and perfumed with cinnamon, it became the refreshing emblem of Chilean streets.
The contemporary twist : Presented in a tall transparent glass showing the wheat-peach-syrup layers, with a long spoon; a street classic still served as is in Chile.
Sources : Eugenio Pereira Salas, Apuntes para la historia de la cocina chilena, 1943 · Oreste Plath, Folklore chileno
Bernardo O'Higgins · Charactorium
