Tascalate

Tascalate is a traditional non-alcoholic drink of Chiapas in southern Mexico, made from a reddish-pink powder of toasted maize and cacao coloured with achiote (annatto) and scented with cinnamon, all ground fine and stirred into cold water or milk with sugar. Of pre-Hispanic Maya lineage, it is at once a refreshing cold drink and a kind of instant chocolate-maize beverage, since the keeping-powder is mixed to order. Earthy and toasty from the corn, gently chocolatey, faintly peppery from the achiote and warm with canela, it is one of the signature regional drinks of Chiapas.