Brad Makes a Fermented Mexican Pineapple Drink (Tepache) | It's Alive | Bon Appétit

okay, so let's try it, okay, thank you, okay, so today we're going to make a little

fermented

drink

called tapache and it's just a

fermented

pineapple

drink

with some spices, very nice and refreshing tapache. vans poche we call it apache oh, what is this tapache? So you want to get a good jar, a jar that can be closed, you want something that can seal it well, uh, what I've done, I fixed it up a little bit, is where I put a little elastic band here and another one there to keep it closed. Vinnie, are you recording?

I would just let the pressure out. Ginger is very active when it comes to fermentation on its own. I mean, there's this thing called, I think they call it ginger bug, which is like a fermented ginger product and I wash it really well. I just cut it a little. remove the tips ah you don't need to peel it but what I do is smash it open you know get the juices then we're going to use these peppers I'm not going to cut them otherwise I'd be wearing gloves but I only have them to open them so I cut the top, you don't need that and I cut the bottom off, I don't wash it because it tends to take off the outside, the skin tends to have a lot of it has its own yeast and that's also very good for fermentation and then I like to cut it into a quarter big like that.

I cut a little bit of that off the inner core, I think I can make it a little bitter. Sometimes the Rhine is a little woody, but if it is very ripe it is quite good. I don't go crazy. I just cut about half an inch off that little corner, you see, and then cut it into pieces. Alright. pieces we will do that with all of them, place the old brown sugar here. I'm going to add a little bit of water now, so I'm just going to put a little bit of water here, not a lot because like we put. the more

pineapple

there is, we won't know how much liquid, you know, we don't want it to be too full and I'll just shake it a little bit, I just want to dissolve the sugar and the brown sugar, it'll sweeten it.

Not that you know pineapple is very sweet, but it will sweeten it and give it a nice dark color. They use another ingredient in Mexico. I think brown sugar is an alternative. I forgot what it was called. I understand what it is. I called one more time for the camera Rick, yeah, now we have it all mixed together, we'll add a little more pineapple in the popup Ok. I have this cool little tool that this company sent me called crowdsource. He looks like a giant. We'll go look for her. that and it's for fermentation let's say you're making sauerkraut or I want to use it I just want to break up that pineapple a little pop up keep things down yeah that can't hurt you know well ginger I mean cinnamon in there I'll give it a little shake over the sink, Vince , and we will mix it again.

If you tried that now, it would be very, very sweet, but when it ferments, the bacteria and yeast eat a lot of the sugar, so that's it, just to add more water, here we go, fermentation. You know, many jars are not made for fermentation, so you get what you pay for. It's worth doing a little research because many glass bottles are just decorative. If you prefer that, things will explode, you become very dangerous, yes Vinnie, things have exploded on me, it's okay, I don't want to talk about it, oh no, that was the basement gruff that was a failed attempt to do. a homemade liquor, but I took the bottle, went to open it, boom, it didn't spin the sand, so be careful getting it wasn't in a fermentation grade bottle, you live and learn well, so we're ready here.

I'm going to let the temperature of this living room start to bubble. uh, it should be very active when monday rolls around. Yes, this is the opportunity. I thought, let's shake it a little, let me see all those bubbles coming out, that's all the fermentation. So now what we're going to do, we're going to strain this and then you can drink it straight from there, which I like to do. I'll put it in these fermentation bottles, so I'll cover them and we'll put them back on the counter for about two or three days and that's where it will start to carbonate, oh yeah, it smells a little bit. kinda like uh, it's got a little yeast in it, a little bit of beer, beer, I don't know if that's a word, but it is today, folks, this isn't a new shirt, vinny, thanks for asking.

I've had this for a while, bought it. in a good thrift store and look at those details, so it's got all these little threads on the inside that look a little like you know, I don't know and on the outside it looks like I don't know, that's cool, man. one of my best shirts okay award vinnie today for the show back to business vinny now let's put these things in the bottles look how nice no spills no spills all the emotions now like with the me no. I know if you've seen the kombucha video and I really just want to, oh gosh, oh gosh, I'll cut every time you're making a fermented drink in glass bottles that you want to leave like a solid inch of headroom at the top of the Glass, what that does is it gives space for the pressure to build up again and reconstitute in the liquid, I think, but it also prevents it from exploding and then you just want to cover it up and we're going to let that hang. there in the fermentation station for about three or four days three days let's do two like two and a half three days you know I was even thinking you could add water to this and do it again you know this It's a test kitchen so maybe let's make it a little spicy, meaning the ginger and habanero that we put in there, but that's good, I like it and it has a little bit of sweetness, but not as sweet as you might think. we put in a cup of brown sugar and pineapple, which is super sweet to begin with, but there's enough sugar in there for the second fermentation to create the carbonation.

It's magical, vince, something less magical. I like to rinse them because you know not to. I want to have to be clingy and stuff, you know, that's how you get ants, forget the numbers, but I think the ant population of humans on Earth is like 100 to 1 or something, so we'll go back and We'll open some bottles and try it. The finished product will return in two days. Look at that microphone work. I should have been a spy. Oh wait, how did I do it last time? Oh, that's it, oh no, it's not like that. So where do we leave it?

I added a little bit of brown sugar, about two tablespoons, just to give it a little bite. It's very active as you can see a lot of bubbles there, so I'm going to open the top and it should be quite active, oh yeah. It works, we have a nice little secondary, we'll bottle it just like we did the first one, so by doing two rounds you can double your yield. I have one in the refrigerator. Vinny, do you want to cool it before you open it. Oh yes, carbonated pineapple. the ginger is very active, you just want to go, we went two days and it seemed to work very well, oh yes that's the good thing, it smells like beer, a little yeasty, in a good way, quite pleasant, a little sweet.

Take that chili, it's a fermented drink so it has probiotics and promotes good gut health, which we love, but if you want to get a little wild, this would go great with a little rum, maybe even a little tequila. In the afternoon we can start drinking cabbage ah, are you kidding me? A little peaceful. Oh, let's make some beer there. Not bad for beer. You know, it's good, it's good, make your own. It has a nice funk feel to it. Can? Say there you go, oh that's pretty good, I love it, this is really going to be a drink that all summer long you heard it here first, now a quick word from our sponsors, oh, what's that?

So, oh, we don't have sponsors, but man, yeah. some good drinks and bon appetit hey food, what are you doing? What's happening? Let's try that for me it's not poisonous. She closes her eyes. Where are you? Yes, with a little Pacific. Oh, let's try to find. rappo no rappo do you know where rappo is no no there's no way I'm going in there buddy you gotta respect man's boundaries let me try hey let's check out that vinny right there by the statue of freedom, it almost looks like a scientific research ship which is where we are going to photograph next, Vinny, a little place called Ellis Island.