This Post combines two of my favourite things when it comes to Mesoamerican food science. Quelites and mole. Now by and large quelites are plants we would (in some parts anyway) consider to be weeds, both agricultural and urban, but these plants are some of the most nutritious and medicinal that nature has to offer us. We underestimate these plants at every turn. Mole is … Continue reading Quelites y Mole
Cover image via Antojitos Mexican Curious on Facebook Typically tacos al pastor are made with marinated pork which has been stacked onto a vertical spit known as a trompo and cooked much in the same was as the Middle eastern doner kebab (1). The doner kebab (and tacos arabes) are of course not made with the forbidden flesh of the swine but the meats more … Continue reading Recipe : Al Pastor
Alrighty then whingers, it turns out there is a growing undercurrent of distaste for food blogs that expound unnecessarily. This does not bug me at all. I want the story. I want the history. I want some kind of cultural understanding of the dish (if this is relevant). The recipe is the climax. I want foreplay. I want the whole experience. My Recipe Posts however … Continue reading Recipe : Mole Colorado
also called : chepil, chepilin, cascabel de vibora, chapilin, chinchín de zope, chipilín de zope, chipilín de caballo, chipilino, garbancillo, parrajachel, tcap-in, tronador, longbeak rattlebox. Some 600 or more species of Crotalaria are described worldwide, mostly from the tropics with at least 500 species known from Africa: 19 species are native to Australia (Ryan etal 2011). The common name rattlepod or rattlebox is derived from … Continue reading Chipilin : Crotalaria longirostrata
Amaranth was an important grain in Mesoamerica. Known to the Aztecs as huauhtli they are believed to have dedicated more than 5000 hectares of land to its growth and produced between 15 and 20 tons of grain per year (1). This is just the Aztecs. Amaranth was in high demand as a tribute and annually 20 provinces supplied amaranth to Tenochtitlan as part of their … Continue reading Recipe : Alegrias de Amaranto : Amaranth Joys.
Aguas frescas (1) are fresh (non-alcoholic) drinks made from various fruits (2), cereals (3), flowers (4), or seeds (5) blended with sugar and water. They are ubiquitous in Mexico and Central America and are regularly purchased from street vendors. “cool waters”, or literally “fresh waters” : also called refrescos. Refrescos are also a name for commercially bottled carbonated drinks mango, pineapple, guava, kiwi fruit, cucumber, … Continue reading Recipe : Agua de Jamaica
Soy la mariposa negra del fin del mundo danzo feliz sobre sus tumbas. I am the black butterfly at the end of the world I dance happily on their graves. Mictlanpapalotl : excerpt of a poem by Maria De La Luz Carillo Romero / México These insects belong to the Lepidoptera order, Arsenura armada C. genus/species (1). Arsenura armida Syn: Phalaena armida Cuetlas (1) are … Continue reading Edible Insects : Cuetla
Erythrina americana, E.flabelliformis, E.coralloides (Tzompanquahuitl) Also called : Alcaparra, chacmolcé, cuchillitos (little knives), chiil, chocolín, chumpancle, colorín, ccolorin grande, oral bean, equimite, espadita, flor de pita, flor de pitillo, flor de pito, gallitos, gasparita, gasparito, gásparo, lalhni, machetito, machetitos (little machetes), Michoacán (parensuri, puregue) patol, pemuche, pemuchi, permuche, pichocho, pichoco, pichojo, pinñón espinoso, pispirique, pito, poró, quemique, tenek, tlalhne, tsentse tsentse, tzonpantli, tzompantli, Whistle tree, … Continue reading Las Flores Comestibles : Edible Flowers : Colorin
Chiles en Nogada (1) Chiles en Nogada is a dish comprised of my favourite fresh chile, the poblano, which has been stuffed. The stuffed chile is then bathed in a walnut sauce and garnished with pomegranate seeds, and fresh parsley. The garnishes represent each colour on the Mexican flag (2), as the dish commemorates Mexican Independence. The dish was first introduced (3) in August 1821, … Continue reading Chiles en Nogada
Mexico (and the Americas in general) has given much to the worlds food larder. We are familiar with many of these foods even though we might not know where exactly the came from (1). We can thank the Americas for staple foods such as corn, potatoes, tomatoes, beans (2), squashes, chiles, avocados, the turkey, vanilla and cacao (3) as well as the highly nutritious seeds … Continue reading 31 Alimentos que México dio al mundo : 31 foods that Mexico gave to the World
Masa Americana 