Post #337414 by The Gnomon on Tue, Oct 9, 2007 12:03 PM

On 2007-10-08 14:51, KuKuAhu wrote:
And actually, horchata and orgeat have little to do with one another outside of being similar grain emulsions.

I think I mentioned something to that effect a couple of months ago or so.

Orge is French for barley. Orgeat was barely water before it became almond water (presumably sometime after the crusades... around the time marzipan was invented). For instance, "barley water" in Italian is "orzata". Italian for almond is "mandorla", and Spanish for almond is "almendra".

Yep. Orgeat and horchata don't have to do with the almond, but rather the milk product.

Also, for your enjoyment...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almond#Sweet_and_bitter_almonds

...

On 2007-10-08 15:13, KuKuAhu wrote:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horchata

Similar roots, but orgeat is not "french horchata" anymore than black bean dip is "mexican hummus".

Both started as barley waters, and actually came from the Spanish "orxata".

There is a strong etymological belief that orxata came from ordiata, but apparently it's not conclusive. I don't know why it's not known for sure.

I've seen both of these Wikipedia entries many times in the past. Thanks for reminding me. That's it. "Hordeata" is the Latin I was thinking of "made with barley".

The drink has its origin (if I recall correctly—I was there :) ) in ancient Egypt where it was made with chufa (tiger nut) and brought to Spain by the Arabs. I'll have to go back and dig up my research one of these days (in some box in a 10 x 15 self-storage bin). I always thought it was amusing that "barley milk" was made out of almonds, or rice, or a host of other things including chufa, which I believe may have been the ancient original.

Spelling! Sheesh!

[ Edited by: The Gnomon 2007-10-10 06:25 ]