Mote con Huesillos

During Chilean summers, city streets are filled with carts selling a sweet refresher known as mote con huesillos. The fruity beverage, with its husked wheat, sun-dried peaches, and thick, amber-colored syrup, offers a unique combination of textures and flavors. 

To make the sweet drink, vendors start by soaking dried peaches (huesillos) in water overnight. Then they cook the fruits in a syrup made from caramelized sugar, cinnamon, and water, and allow it to cool. When it’s ready to serve, they’ll layer a plastic cup with a base of cooked wheat kernels (mote), then the peaches, and finally a generous ladle of the syrup. It all adds up to an undeniably sweet treat that Chileans sip or scoop with a spoon.

The drink is such an iconic part of Chilean cuisine that there’s even a popular saying about it: “más Chileno que un mote con huesillos” (“more Chilean than a mote con huesillos”). During Fiestas Patrias, the Chilean Independence Day celebrations in September, mote con huesillos is served alongside other traditional dishes and drinks such as empanadas, Chilean barbecue, and the terremoto cocktail. 

Although it’s available throughout Chile, the drink is especially popular in its central zones. One of the best places to have a cup of mote con huesillos is at the top of Santiago’s mountains, Cerro San Cristóbal and Cerro Santa Lucía. After a hot, sweaty hike, visitors can reward themselves with the refreshing beverage while taking in the surrounding views of the city.

But if a hike up a mountain sounds a little too daunting, just start with a cold mote con huesillos during an afternoon stroll.