Casilda has since passed away, but Oaxacan authorities had the wherewithal to publish a long interview with her during her life. Her generational knowledge of horchata and other agua frescas is an invaluable insight into the milky past of Mexican refreshments, with or without almonds.

In 1989, the Dirección General de Culturas Populares and Dirección de Educación, Cultura y Bienestar Social visited Casilda in her home to reflect on her family history selling drinks in Oaxaca. The interview drew on 100 years of intergenerational experience in the production and sale of these drinks and proves that something as seemingly simple as horchata can be innovated upon. 

Casilda told the interviewers that her family started selling local culinary staples back in 1890. At that time, they only sold pineapple beer, nicuatole, and agua de chilacayota. Nicuatole is not a drink (despite the term atole,) rather a gelatinous dessert. The other two, however, are drinks. Agua de chilacayota, a refreshment made from a gourd, is still extremely common throughout Oaxaca. Pineapple beer, however, is extinct. 

Even in 1989, at the time of the interview, Casilda stated that pineapple beer had long ago disappeared. Fermented pineapple is commonly called tepache, but Casilda insisted that this drink was unique. She stated, “And the difference that there is between pineapple beer and tepache is that the beer is made only with the rind of criolla pineapple and tepache includes castilla plantain peel, cinnamon, piloncillo, toasted corn, peppers, pineapple rind, and a piece of wood I can’t remember.”