An alcoholic beverage made from honey and the bark of a Maya tree, traditionally consumed in Mayan and Caribbean cultures.
From Maya languages, specifically 'bal-che,' referring to both the tree (Lonchocarpus violaceus) and the fermented drink made from it. The word preserves an ancient Mesoamerican tradition of beverage-making.
Balche was consumed in Mayan religious ceremonies for thousands of years—it's one of the oldest fermented beverages in the Americas, predating European contact by millennia!
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