US celebrity chef Rick Browne of the Kansas City Barbecue Society is currently in Valencia where he is recording an episode of his PBS TV show 'Barbecue America'.

However, on his arrival in Valencia, he became enchanted with 'horchata', and decided to feature a piece on its elaboration, as well as describe the Valencian cuisine, for a programme that is to be transmitted to an audience of 44 million in the United States next Spring.

Mr Browne is the latest convert to 'horchata' after Pope Benedict XVI who expressed a liking for the sugary tiger nut (chufa) drink when he was in Valencia for the World Family Forum in July 2006.

As a result, the regional Agriculture minister hastily arranged for several cartons of the drink to be placed on the papal aircraft prior to its departure for Rome.