Horchata is completely customizable. First, I’m calling for jasmine rice, but feel free to use whatever rice you have in your house, whatever you like, or whatever you’re used to eating. I prefer jasmine rice because I think it has a floral, slightly sweet flavor that pairs really well with the canela. I always have jasmine rice in my pantry, but I probably wouldn’t go buy a bag of jasmine rice specifically to make horchata. Or maybe I would.
In any case, the idea is that if there’s a particular type of rice you like and you’re fond of its flavor, use that rice. Otherwise, any long-grain store-bought rice you already have in your pantry is going to work just fine.
In terms of dairy, I’m not a big fan of adding it to my horchata, but I know a lot of people do. Some people use sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, heavy cream, half-and-half, or whole milk. If that’s what you enjoy, go for it. I’m not opposed to it. It’s not that I don’t like it. If you took this recipe and substituted sweetened condensed milk for the sugar, it would be delicious.
But for me, it becomes a little too heavy and rich. I’m typically drinking horchata with tacos or some other Mexican food, and I don’t want to get full on the drink. I want to get full on the tacos.
