Recipe

Ecuador → Pichincha (Andes)

🥤 DRINK

Colada Morada

Name: Colada Morada
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 75 min
Total time: 95 min
Yield: 8 servings
Cuisine: Ecuadorian
Ingredients: 1 cup purple corn flour (harina de maíz morado); 2 cups blackberries (mora); 1 cup blueberries, or mortiño if you can find it; 1 small pineapple, chopped, plus the peel and core for the infusion; 1 cup naranjilla pulp, or pineapple juice with a little lime; 1 1/2 cups panela or brown sugar, grated; 2 cinnamon sticks; 6 whole cloves; 8 allspice berries; from 1 orange orange peel; a small handful lemongrass and lemon verbena leaves; 10 cups water

Ecuador's deep-purple Day of the Deceased drink: purple corn flour thickened with Andean berries, tropical fruit, and warm spices.

Ecuadorian · medium · serves 8

prep 20 min · cook 75 min

~276 cal · 3g protein · 69g carbs · 0g fat · 3g fiber · 50g sugars · 0g sat fat (estimated, per serving)

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AI-generated illustration

Colada morada is the drink of Ecuador's Día de los Difuntos, the Day of the Deceased on November 2, when families visit cemeteries and share it with a doll-shaped sweet bread called guagua de pan. Thick, warm, and a deep purple-red, it is one of the country's most important seasonal recipes, made in great pots through October and early November.

Its colour comes from harina de maíz morado, purple corn flour, cooked with dark Andean berries: mora (blackberry) and mortiño, a small wild blueberry. A fragrant base is built first by simmering water with panela, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, orange peel, and aromatic herbs, then tart naranjilla and pineapple go in, and the corn flour thickens it all to the body of a loose custard.

The result is fruity, warmly spiced, and gently sweet, served hot or cold and always a little better the next day as the flavours settle. Rooted in Andean corn traditions that predate the Spanish, colada morada is remembrance you can drink, tying the living table to the ancestors it honours.

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Make it yours

✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and gluten-, dairy-, egg-, nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.

Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.

🥕 Vegetarian

🌱 Vegan

🌾 Gluten-Free

🥛 Dairy-Free

🥜 Nut-Free

🥚 Egg-Free

🐖 Pork-Free

Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.

Ingredients

Metric

Serves 8

1 cup purple corn flour (harina de maíz morado)

Hard to find? cornstarch - thickens the drink but adds no purple colour and gives a glossier texture; the corn flour is what makes it morada

2 cups blackberries (mora)

1 cup blueberries, or mortiño if you can find it

1 small pineapple, chopped, plus the peel and core for the infusion

1 cup naranjilla pulp, or pineapple juice with a little lime

1 1/2 cups panela or brown sugar, grated

2 cinnamon sticks

6 whole cloves

8 allspice berries

from 1 orange orange peel

a small handful and lemon verbena leaves

10 cups water

Instructions

Simmer the water with the pineapple peel and core, panela, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, orange peel, lemongrass, and verbena for about 30 minutes to build a fragrant, dark infusion, then strain.

✎ Chef’s note

Building this spiced herb base first, then straining it, is what gives colada morada its depth; the fruit and flour go into the strained liquid.

Simmer the blackberries and blueberries in a little of the infusion until soft, then blend and sieve out the seeds.

Return the berry purée, naranjilla pulp, and the rest of the infusion to the pot over low heat.

Whisk the purple corn flour with a cup of cold water until smooth, then pour it slowly into the pot, stirring constantly so it does not lump.

Add the chopped pineapple and cook, stirring, for about 20 minutes until thickened and glossy, then serve hot or cold with guaguas de pan.

Pichincha Día de los Difuntos tradition.

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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination

📍

Pichincha (Andes). The Quito plate is assembled rather than served. Hornado, a pig roasted whole in a wood oven, is pulled apart and set out with llapingachos, potato cakes griddled with cheese inside, plus mote hominy, toasted maize and a sauce made from tree tomato and aji. Sangolqui, just outside the city, runs a market of competing hornado stalls.

🗺️

Ecuador. Ecuadorian food shifts from coast to Andes, bright ceviches and plantain on the coast, hearty potato and hominy soups in the highlands. Llapingachos, encebollado, and aji sauces define its regional variety.

🌍

South America. The Andes are the potato's homeland and still hold something like four thousand native varieties, selected over thousands of years for altitude, colour and texture. The high plateau also worked out how to keep them: frozen overnight in the cold, trodden to press the water out, then dried in the sun into chuno, which stores for years.

The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.

Good to know

You’ll need: Pot or saucepan, Blender, Whisk.

Storing it: Keep chilled and covered, and enjoy within 2 to 3 days.

Make it a Ecuador meal

LlapingachosDinner

Higos con QuesoDessert

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Drinks

Drinks of the World

Frequently asked questions

What is Colada Morada?

Ecuador's deep-purple Day of the Deceased drink: purple corn flour thickened with Andean berries, tropical fruit, and warm spices.

Where does Colada Morada come from?

Colada Morada is a Ecuadorian dish from Pichincha (Andes), Ecuador.

Can Colada Morada be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?

This Colada Morada recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.

Is Colada Morada safe for people with food allergies?

Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.

How long does Colada Morada take to make?

About 95 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 75 minutes cooking), serving 8.

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