Chicha de Piña (Fermented Pineapple Drink)

This is very popular drink in the Valle del Cauca region in Colombia. It is very refreshing for those hot summer days and very easy to make.

Ingredients:

• The skin and core of one Pinneaple
• 1/2 pound panela o piloncillo (raw sugar cane or brown sugar will work too)
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 8 cups of water

Preparation:

Peel the pineapple and reserve the skin. Rinse in abundant water, cleaning all dirt. 

Place preferably in a clay pot the skin and the core, add the panela broken in chunks and the cinnamon sticks. Cover and let sit at room temperature at least for 2 days. It gets fizzier if you let it ferment longer.

Strain with a colander and drink cold.

Note: you can add more panela and water and reuse the skin for up to a week. it gets alcoholic if fermented for 2 or more weeks.