Colonche is an alcoholic red coloured drink from
Mexico prepared with tuna, the fruits of "
nopal" (Opuntia cacti), especially with tuna cardona, the fruits of Opuntia streptacantha.
It is a sweet, fizzy
beverage. For preparation, the cactus fruits are peeled and crushed to obtain the juice, which is boiled for 2–3 hours. After cooling, the juice is allowed to
ferment for a few days. Sometimes old colonche is added as a starter. Another possible starter is "
tibicos". Tibicos are gelatinous masses of yeasts and bacteria, grown in water with brown sugar.[1]
In 2003,
Teófilo Herrera Suárez, a Mexican
mycologist, published a book titled Más allá del pulque y el tepache (Beyond Pulque and Tepache), in which he writes about traditional Mexican alcoholic beverages such as "
pozol", "
tesgüino" and "colonche".[3]