¡Això es or, xata!

There is a fun little legend about this very Valencian drink got its name. The legend says that in the 8th century, while València was being conquered by the Christians, the king, Jaume I, was offered this white, frothy drink by a young woman. 

He asked her, ¿Què és això? (what is this?) to which she excitedly replied, ¨És llet de xufa¨ (it´s tigernut milk), and he responded, ¨Aixó no és llet, això és or, xata¨(that´s not milk, that is gold, darling!). Over time, that became orxata, or horchata as its called in the U.S. 

Like a lot of things, horchata in the U.S. tastes nothing like the real thing. It´s more like a rice pudding milkshake. The actual drink is nearly impossible to find outside of Spain because xufa, (tigernuts) is grown regionally (it´s not actually a nut, but a tuber that is dried). 

The closest thing you can compare it to outside of Spain is really sweet almond milk. It´s everywhere in the summer! 

Who knows how true this legend is, but for something that is so regionally loved, I always thought this was a cute way to explain how it got its name.