Tiger Nut Milk

Despite the name, the tiger nut is no nut at all but a small, sweet tuber — and one of humanity's oldest foods. Tiger nuts were cherished in ancient Egypt, turning up in tombs and temple records, before the Moors carried them to Spain, where Valencia made them immortal as horchata de chufa: a chilled, cinnamon-scented drink sipped with fluffy fartons on hot afternoons. Producers such as Valencia's Món Orxata still sell it fresh from horchata carts, while America's Organic Gemini cold-presses a TigerNut version in Brooklyn. The taste is naturally sweet and nutty, somewhere between almond and coconut, with a gentle earthy depth. Serve it ice-cold on a summer's day, pour it over granola, or blend it into smoothies. And no, there isn't a nut in it.