ABSTRACT
Horchata de chufa is a tigernut-based drink. Most nonalcoholic soft drinks are not nutrients. However, nutritional advantages exist in horchata without industrial processing. Natural horchata is rich in phospholipids, arginine, and biotin than industrial one. It presents healthy properties and properties of prevention of digestive diseases. The nutritional content of natural horchata turns it into an interesting vegetal milk. It is ideal in human nutrition, as it not only presents nutritional components but also has features of functional food, because of its additional values such as digestive eupeptic, hypolipe- miant, and immunomodulator, and should be considered as a component of Mediterranean diet. It has a loss of nutritional value when it is subjected to the thermal processes that prolong its expiration date.
