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Pilgrimage Drink · Fermented Rice

Mazato de Chiquinquirá

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Vendors have sold mazato outside the Basilica of Chiquinquirá for generations, timing their biggest batches to the crowds arriving for the town's Marian pilgrimage each July.

Rice is soaked, ground, and mixed with water, sugar, and spices, then left to ferment lightly for a day or two into a tangy, milky drink. Sellers outside Chiquinquirá's cathedral pour it from large jugs into plastic cups for pilgrims and market-goers.

Why it's made this way: Chiquinquirá, Boyacá's pilgrimage town for Colombia's patron Virgin, built mazato into part of the visiting experience, selling it specifically to the crowds the shrine draws.
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