Colada Morada (Ecuadorian Spiced Purple Corn and Berry Drink)

Every year around November 2, Día de los Difuntos, families all over Ecuador make big pots of colada morada. It’s a thick, warm drink made with purple corn flour, blackberries, blueberries, pineapple and strawberries, perfumed with cinnamon, cloves and fragrant herbs. It’s traditionally served with guaguas de pan, sweet breads shaped like little babies, but it’s delicious any time of year.

• Servings: 10 to 12 cups
• Prep time: 25 minutes
• Cook time: 1 hour 15 minutes
• Total time: 1 hour 40 minutes

Ingredients

For the spiced base

• 1 fresh pineapple, peel and core reserved, flesh diced small
• 4 cinnamon sticks, 8 whole cloves, 8 allspice berries and 2 star anise
• 2 stalks lemongrass (hierba luisa), a few lemon verbena (cedrón) leaves and 4 orange or lime leaves
• 1 cup (200 g) sugar, or 8 oz (225 g) grated panela
• 14 cups (3.3 L) water

For the colada

• 1 cup (130 g) purple corn flour (harina de maíz morado)
• 2 cups (300 g) blackberries
• 2 cups (300 g) blueberries (the closest substitute for Andean mortiño), divided
• 1 1/2 cups (220 g) strawberries, diced
• Juice of 4 naranjillas, or 1/2 cup orange juice plus the juice of 1 lime

Instructions

1. Make the spiced water. In a very large pot, bring 12 cups of the water to a boil with the pineapple peel and core, the spices and the sugar. Simmer 20 minutes. Add the herbs, simmer 10 more minutes, then strain and return the liquid to the pot.
2. Soak the flour. Meanwhile, whisk the purple corn flour with the remaining 2 cups of cold water until smooth. Let it sit 15 minutes.
3. Cook the berries. Simmer the blackberries and 1 cup of the blueberries with 1 cup of the spiced water for 10 minutes. Blend and strain through a fine sieve, pressing to extract all the juice. Add it to the pot.
4. Thicken. Bring the pot to a simmer and slowly pour in the corn flour mixture, whisking constantly. Cook over low heat for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring often, until thick enough to coat a spoon.
5. Add the fruit. Stir in the diced pineapple, the remaining blueberries and the naranjilla juice and cook 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and add the strawberries.
6. Serve warm or cold, with guaguas de pan or sweet bread.

Tips

• Where to find purple corn flour: Latin markets and online. Peruvian brands sell it as harina de maíz morado.
• Keep stirring while it thickens, or the flour will stick to the bottom and form lumps.
• Storage: keeps 5 days in the fridge. It thickens when cold, so add a splash of water when reheating.

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