Aloja de chaucha is an alcoholic drink made by fermenting the fruit of the white or black carob tree (Prosopis alba or Prosopis nigra) in Argentina
Aloja de chaucha is traditionally prepared in northwestern Argentina and in the Argentine Chaco region. It is an alcoholic drink made by fermenting the fruit of the white or black carob tree (Prosopis alba or Prosopis nigra).
A paste of crushed ripe carob pods, known as chauchas de algarrobo, is combined with water and left to ferment in a dark place for several days or for more than two weeks. This fermentation process gives the drink a pleasant flavour, an orange-like tone and an alcoholic content that increases with prolonged fermentation.
It is recommended to drink it cold, and it is traditionally consumed during the community ceremony known as the Fiesta del Chiqui, held in villages in the provinces of La Rioja and Catamarca.
Aloja de chaucha is made by fermenting the fruit of the white or black carob tree (Prosopis alba or Prosopis nigra).
It is not sold commercially, although it is often available at certain kiosks linked to tourism: “Despite the continuing tradition of drinking aloja de chaucha among local communities, consumption of this drink has fallen significantly, partly because of its complex production process and partly because it is unknown to most younger generations”.
A little sugar can be added, but according to those who know the drink, this “distorts the final flavour”. During production, the container is placed in a dark environment for a period of approximately 4 days, during which enough ethyl alcohol is generated to turn it into a drink with a very pleasant taste.
The fermentation process gives the drink a pleasant flavour, an orange-like tone and an alcoholic content that rises with prolonged fermentation.
The longer the preparation is left, the higher the alcoholic strength it reaches, although it is not advisable to leave it for more than two weeks. It is frequently orange in colour. Once the desired strength is reached, the carob pods are removed and the drink can be kept refrigerated.
It is a typical drink of northern Argentina and of the Argentine Chaco region, places where carob trees are abundant. Until the 1960s it was common to sell aloja in special kiosks, street stalls located in the squares of cities such as San Miguel de Tucumán. The aloja kiosks were metal structures that, because of their shape, were often called “campanas”. There are other variants of aloja depending on the main ingredient used, for example peanut aloja, maize aloja and others.
Aloja in other versions
In Chile, there is aloja de culén. It is also used in the preparation of “ponche de culén”, a traditional spirit drink made to celebrate Christmas and New Year: fresh, peeled culén sticks are boiled in water, strained, and the liquid and sugar are used to make a syrup, to which aguardiente is added once it is cold.
In the locality of San Pedro de Atacama, Antofagasta Region, the indigenous Lickanantai people, also known as Atacamas or Atacameños, prepare a fermented alcoholic drink based on water and fruits of the creole carob tree (Prosophis alba), which the Spaniards, when they arrived in the region, called aloja.
In Spain, meanwhile, aloja was the name given to a drink served in the corrales de comedias in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It was made of water, honey and spices, such as cinnamon or white pepper, and was sold by the alojeros when there was a performance.
The relationship with theatre
Aloja was, 400 years ago, the typical drink of the theatres. At that time, Shakespeare in England was earning his place in history and Spain was living its golden age of theatre, the Siglo de Oro, one of the peaks of theatrical art, with invaluable talents such as Lope de Vega and Calderón de la Barca. Those days saw the appearance of the first public theatres and, right at the entrance, the “alojeros” were placed, responsible for selling aloja and other foods such as nuts and seasonal fruit.
Aloja was, 400 years ago, the typical drink of the theatres. Aloja was the sensation drink of the Spanish Golden Age, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; however, it gradually disappeared, displaced by new and “modern” drinks. A writer, Doctor Thebussem, said in 1881: “Fashion and progress, refining people’s palates, have already replaced hippocras, mead and aloja with punch, coffee and chocolate”.
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