Chef Lupita
Agua de Alfalfa
Ciudad de México's highland market agua fresca, fresh alfalfa blended with pineapple and lime until bright green, strained clean, and poured cold from the vitrolero.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Curado de Guayaba Hidalguense
Created by
Hidalgo's guava curado starts with fresh pulque from the Altiplano, ripe yellow guavas, piloncillo, and a pinch of cinnamon. It is a living drink, not a bottled cocktail.
Beverages
Mexican
Celebration
Outdoor Dining
20 min
Active Time
8 min cook•35 min total
Yield6 servings
Hidalgo, especially the Altiplano around Apan and the old pulque towns, is where this curado belongs. The maguey fields there sit in dry air and hard light, and the pulque has a sour, living body that can carry fruit without turning childish. This is not a blender cocktail. This is pulque cured with guayaba, the fruit folded into the drink so the maguey still tastes like maguey.
The guava matters. It should be yellow, ripe, fragrant, almost floral when you cut it open. If the guavas at the market smell like nothing, don't make curado de guayaba today. Make curado de avena or piñón, or drink the pulque blanco as it is. Mexican grandmothers cook with what the mercado is selling today, not what a recipe demands from bad fruit.
I learned this version from a señora outside a pulquería near Apan who used piloncillo, not white sugar, and only a pinch of canela. She cooked the guava just enough to loosen the pulp, strained the seeds with the patience of someone who has broken a tooth before, then stirred the fruit into cold pulque by hand. No me vengas con atajos. The seeds come out. The pulque stays cold. The drink is made and served the same day.
Cada estado, su propia cocina. Hidalgo's curado is generous, sour-sweet, and alive. Saber cocinar es saber vivir, and sometimes saber beber también.
Pulque was consumed in central Mexico long before the Spanish conquest, especially among Nahua, Otomí, and other peoples of the maguey-growing highlands, where fermented aguamiel carried ritual and medicinal importance. Hidalgo became one of the great pulque-producing states in the 19th century, when the pulque haciendas of the Llanos de Apan supplied Mexico City by rail. Fruit curados developed as pulquerías expanded their offerings, but the base remained the same: fresh pulque from maguey, alive and perishable, meant to be consumed quickly.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
fresh pulque blanco
Quantity
6 cups
cold and active
ripe yellow guavas
Quantity
1 pound
washed, stem ends trimmed, and quartered
water
Quantity
1/2 cup
piloncillo
Quantity
3 ounces
grated or chopped
Mexican cinnamon stick
Quantity
1 small
fine sea salt
Quantity
1 pinch
fresh lime juice (optional)
Quantity
1 tablespoon
only if the guavas are very sweet
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| fresh pulque blancocold and active | 6 cups |
| ripe yellow guavaswashed, stem ends trimmed, and quartered | 1 pound |
| water | 1/2 cup |
| piloncillograted or chopped | 3 ounces |
| Mexican cinnamon stick | 1 small |
| fine sea salt | 1 pinch |
| fresh lime juice (optional)only if the guavas are very sweet | 1 tablespoon |
Equipment Needed
- •Small saucepan
- •High-powered blender
- •Fine-mesh strainer
- •Clay pitcher or glass jar
- •Wooden spoon
Instructions
- 1
Check the pulque
Taste the pulque before you touch the guavas. It should be lightly sour, faintly sweet, thick enough to coat the glass, and alive on the tongue. If it smells rotten or harsh, do not use it. Curado does not rescue bad pulque. Si no conoces el mercado, no conoces la cocina.
- 2
Soften the guavas
Put the quartered guavas, water, piloncillo, cinnamon stick, and salt in a small saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat for 6 to 8 minutes, just until the guava flesh softens and the piloncillo dissolves. Do not boil it hard. You are loosening the fruit and waking up the cinnamon, not making jam.
- 3
Cool completely
Remove the cinnamon stick and let the guava mixture cool to room temperature. Then chill it until cold. This matters. Hot fruit will damage the pulque and flatten its life. Pulque is fermented maguey sap, not syrup from a bottle. Treat it with respect.
- 4
Blend and strain
Blend the cold guava mixture with 1 cup of the pulque until smooth. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing firmly with a spoon to push through the pulp and leave the hard seeds behind. Guava seeds have no mercy on your teeth. The texture should be creamy, not gritty.
Do not blend all the pulque. Blend only enough to move the fruit. Too much time in the blender beats the drink into foam and dulls the body. - 5
Fold into pulque
Pour the strained guava base into a clay pitcher or glass jar. Add the remaining 5 cups cold pulque and stir gently with a wooden spoon. Taste. If the guavas were very sweet and the drink needs a sharper edge, add the lime juice. If the pulque is already tangy, leave it alone. The maguey should still speak.
- 6
Serve the same day
Serve cold in clay jarritos or thick pulqueria glasses. Give each glass a small pinch of ground cinnamon if your family serves it that way. Drink it the day it is made, preferably within 4 hours. Curado keeps fermenting, and by tomorrow the balance is gone. Así se hace y punto.
Chef Tips
- •Buy pulque the day you serve it. Ask when it was drawn and whether it is fuerte or suave. For guava curado, suave is easier because the fruit does not have to fight so hard.
- •If you cannot find fresh pulque, do not make this with canned pulque and pretend it is the same. A substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade. Canned pulque lacks the living texture that makes curado work.
- •Use Mexican canela, the thin, brittle cinnamon that breaks easily, not hard cassia bark. Canela gives warmth without bullying the guava.
- •Do not add ice to the pitcher. It waters down the pulque and throws off the fermentation. Chill the pulque and guava base separately, then combine.
Advance Preparation
- •The guava base can be cooked, strained, and chilled up to 8 hours ahead.
- •Do not combine the guava base with the pulque until shortly before serving. Once mixed, drink the curado within 4 hours.
- •Keep the pulque refrigerated until the moment you use it. Warm pulque turns sharp quickly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 330g)
Calories
210 calories
Total Fat
1 g
Saturated Fat
0 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
1 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
35 mg
Total Carbohydrates
47 g
Dietary Fiber
3 g
Sugars
43 g
Protein
3 g
Where cooking meets culture.
Culinary guides, cultural storytelling, and the editorial depth that makes cooking meaningful.
Discover Culinary ExplorerMore from Central Mexican Beverages
Browse the full collection
Chef Lupita
Agua de Jamaica del Valle de Mexico
Ciudad de Mexico's market-table agua fresca, made from dried flor de jamaica simmered until the water turns garnet, then chilled and poured over ice for hot afternoons.
Chef Lupita
Agua de Limón con Chía
Ciudad de México's market limeade, built from limón criollo, bloomed chia, cane sugar, and cold water, the glass vitrolero drink that keeps an outdoor table steady.
Chef Lupita
Agua de Tamarindo
Ciudad de Mexico's mercado agua fresca, made from whole tamarind pods boiled, rested, pressed, sweetened, and chilled until the glass tastes sweet, sour, and honest.