Peruvian Drinks

Our group has tried to be adventurous with tasting traditional Peruvian drinks

. We have tried a variety of juices from fruits and vegetables native to the region such as chicha morada which is made of fermented dark corn. This past weekend we visited a remote chicheria on our way back from the Maras salt mines. The woman who worked in the kitchen let us try a traditional flavored chicha that was made out of yellow corn and a strawberry chicha that had fruits added to the corn beer. This was an interesting contrast to the Pisco that we had previously tried during our gastronomy tour. Pisco is a grape brandy that began production when Spain outlawed the import of Peruvian wines. The regulations for a grape brandy to be considered Pisco are very strict and the grapes must originate from one of only a handful of regions in Peru. In the restaurant that we visited there were flavored Piscos including hot peppers and different fruits. The bartender used these to make a traditional Peruvian drink called a pisco sour that is made using egg whites pictured below.