Category: Gardening

Herbs from a Mexican Garden: Old Kitchen Pals and Exotic New Friends

Fresh hierbabuena (mint) growing in a Morelia friend's garden.

The cuisines of Mexico–and there are many–are a fantastic amalgam of indigenous corn-based food preparations with a heavy overlay of Spanish ingredients, a strong influence of Moorish flavors, and a lagniappe of French artifice from the mid-19th Century. There is no one cuisine in this big country, although some popular dishes are found in every region. Not every cook prepares enchiladas with the same list of ingredients; tacos, although ubiquitous in Mexico, can be different at every crowded taco stand.

Mexico Cooks! stores garlic in this 3" diameter wire basket, hanging from a cup hook on the side of a cupboard. Circulating air keeps the garlic fresh for quite a while.

Many of the herbs and spices that you use in your own North of the Border kitchen are also used in the Mexican kitchen. Garlic, cinnamon, oregano, and thyme are in widespread use here. Cumin, cloves, tarragon, and mint show up frequently. Lemon grass, which we usually think of as an ingredient in Thai or Vietnamese dishes, is commonly grown in many parts of Mexico and is used to make tea.

A good part of the differences in the regional cuisines of Mexico is each region's use of herbs. Some of those herbs are completely unknown to those of us whose familiarity with Mexican food stops with Pepe's Taco Hut on Main Street, USA. Pepe, whose mother's family emigrated to the USA from the Mexican state of Hidalgo, prepares the restaurant's platillos fuertes (main dishes) from recipes passed down from his abuelita (grandmother), who lived for 97 years in the same Hidalgo village. He's adapted those recipes to include the ingredients he can find in the States and to the palates of his customers.

This herb, a large-leafed, strong-flavored variety of oregano called orégano orejón (big-ear oregano), is unusual even in Mexico. Mexico Cooks! once had a pot of it, but it has unfortunately gone to the great beyond. I'd love to have another pot of it.

Oregano is quite common in Mexican cooking. It can be used either fresh or dried. A small pot of oregano in a sunny spot of your kitchen garden will usually be plenty for all your cooking needs. If you live in a place where the growing season is short, harvest oregano periodically through the summer, tie the stems in small bunches, and hang upside down in a dark place to dry. It dries very fast and retains most of its aroma and flavor. Discard the stems and store the crisp leaves in an airtight, lightproof containers.

Because the growing season in most parts of Mexico is almost year-round, I can always cut a fresh sprig of oregano or two to use when making spaghetti sauce, pescado a la veracruzana, (fish prepared in the style of Veracruz) or other tomato-based sauces. I wash the sprigs and either strip off the leaves into the pot or put the entire sprig into the sauce for seasoning.

The Mexican kitchen uses a wide range of other herbs. The Spanish names read like a mysterious litany: albahaca, epazote, estragón, hoja santa, hierbabuena; comino, clavo, and romero. In English, they are (in order) basil, wormweed, tarragon, holy leaf, mint, cumin, cloves, and rosemary.

Epazote grows wild all over Mexico and in parts of the United States. Several months ago I paid ten pesos at a tianguis (street market) for a pot of it to plant in my garden. As I was carrying the pot home, my neighbor, Doña Mago, saw me and exclaimed, "Porque compraste eso?" ("Why did you buy that?").

"Well, you know" I answered, "I like it to cook in my beans, to make quesadillas, for the flavor—"

"No, no, no, amiga!" she cried, and pointed a finger toward the corner. "It grows up through the cracks in the sidewalk just down the street. You should have asked me to show you where to find it. You could have saved your money. When I want some, I just go over there and cut a piece." It's true. When I was out for a walk the next day, I noticed for the first time the epazote plant she had mentioned.

Regardless of my profligate waste of ten pesos, I do like to cook a big sprig of epazote in a pot of beans. The herb is originally from Mexico and Central America. The indigenous language name that was given to epazote is derived from the Nahuatl words 'epti' and 'zotle': the combined word means 'skunk sweat'. As you can imagine, the herb has a very strong and distinctive flavor. According to Mexican kitchen lore, epazote also has anti-flatulent properties, which is why it might be smart to add it to the boiling bean pot.
Pescado en hoja de plátano (fish cooked in banana leaf). Restaurante San Miguelito, Morelia, Michoacán.

Other plants used to give uncommon seasonings to the cuisines of Mexico are hoja de plátano (banana leaf) and hoja de aguacate (avocado leaf). You won't be able to run right out to your nearest Safeway or HEB store to find these. If you live in an area where there's a large Asian population, you'll find packages of frozen banana leaves in any well-stocked Asian food market. As for avocado leaves—well, if you or your neighbor are lucky enough to have an avocado tree, you can just go pick some. Unfortunately there's no seasoning substitute for them.

Hoja santa (holy leaf) is also known as acuyo.

Hoja santa is used extensively in Mexican cooking. It's a large, heart-shaped leaf that comes from a tall, bushy plant—a plant that will take over the garden space that it's planted in and then some, if you let it. It's a native of Mexico and has medicinal properties as well as seasoning uses. The flavor of hoja santa is reminiscent of licorice, and it combines exceptionally well with fish or chicken.

Banana leaves are used for wrapping meats to prepare barbacoa (southeastern Mexican barbecue, cooked in a pit) and for wrapping and flavoring tamales from the Yucatán Peninsula in far southeastern Mexico. Dried avocado leaves are also used as a flavoring agent; like hoja santa, they have a mild taste similar to that of licorice.

As you can see, Mexican home cooking is far more than tacos and enchiladas. The more unusual kitchen herbs of Mexican cuisine add intense flavor without adding that blast of spiciness that we so often mistake for the only seasoning of Mexico.

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30 de August de 2014
Mexico City’s Wholesale Flower Market: Mercado de Jamaica

Spring arrives in Mexico City in February, with the purple-blossoming jacaranda trees you see in the foreground. Behind the trees, our Centro Histórico's (historic center) iconic dome of the Palacio de Bellas Artes and behind that, the emblematic Torre Latinoamericana. All photos copywrite Mexico Cooks! unless noted otherwise.

Spring comes early to central Mexico. The sun's new strength brings sweater-shedding warmth, gusty breezes, and flowers by the millions. Bougainvillea, jacaranda, and primavera (Tabebuia chrysotricha, above photo) trees riot into bloom. We sigh over our streets, temporary rainbows of fallen blossoms. Photo courtesy Javier Palafox.

For indoor flowers–arrangements for any occasion from birth to the tomb, or for fresh cut flowers to arrange yourself, for corsages, and even for big plastic bags of rose petals–your first stop in Mexico City is the Mercado de Jamaica: our wholesale flower market. It's a snap for Mexico Cooks! to hop on the Metro closest to our home (the Chilpancingo stop along Metro Line 9, third from left in the photo), ride four stops, and hop off at Metro Jamaica. Yes, the market has its own Metro stop! Its symbol is an ear of corn. Click on any photo to enlarge the image for a better look. Photo courtesy Metro DF.

On the Saturday before Palm Sunday, I took a friend on his first visit to this magical market. When you exit the Metro and enter the shopping area, the Mercado de Jamaica looks like most Mexico City markets: as far as the eye can see, it's stalls of vendors selling everything from pet supplies to piñatas and from pirate CDs to plastic gewgaws, doodads, and thingamajigs. Above, small candies for sale by the gram or the kilo.

Still in the produce section of the market, we found a basket of huitlacoche (corn fungus). To the left and at bottom, you see fungus that has been cut off the cob. At the top and right are ears of corn fungus, still in the fresh green husks. It just doesn't get any fresher than this.

If you keep walking toward what you might think is the back of the market, you will pass through a section devoted to meat vendors and chicken vendors. The photo above is a tub of unlaid egg yolks, taken from recently-butchered hens.

Pass through a slightly damp passageway and you reach your reward: the enormous market section of wholesale flower vendors. It's a revelation, I promise you, and one that will leave you delighted. For example, several vendors were selling these roses and others of all colors in bundles of six dozen–for 30 pesos (about $2.00 USD). One of the vendors told me that at special flower-oriented times of year like Valentine's Day and Mother's Day, the same bundles sell for 120 pesos (just over $9.00 USD). At either price, they're a bargain.

At this season of the year, lilies are what's in order. From casablanca to stargazer to standard-issue day lilies, you'll find what you want for an Easter bouquet.

These alstromeria-filled small bird cages hung from bare-branched tree limbs. The cages also held rose buds, daisies, and baby's breath. They'd be just the ticket to decorate for a bridal shower or quinceañera (girl's 15th birthday). With so wide a range of colors available in both alstromerias and roses, you could match any dress tones.

Many vendors offered woven palms for sale, especially for Palm Sunday. These included purple statice and fresh rosemary.

These figures, about six inches high, depict Christ carrying the cross. The heads, hands, and arms are made of straw. Again, these are special for Palm Sunday and Good Friday.

In this part of Mexico, funeral flowers are always white. These crosses are designed to be sent to a funeral home or to the home of the person who has passed away. Many deceased are still 'waked' at home. In addition, for Catholics, the rosary is usually said at home for nine days after a death. Flowers and candles are pure white. The many-colored bouquets behind and to the side of the crosses are for wedding or other party decor.

Spring has sprung! Some of the vendors at the Mercado de Jamaica specialize in exotic flowers, like the ones at the far right center of the photo. Many vendors call their blooms by really colloquial and/or regional names. My friend asked the name of the grayish-green leaves in the center of the photo; the vendor said, "dólar" (dollar). You probably know the plant as silver dollar eucalyptus.

This delightful young man sat talking with a friend while he held a charmingly feminine bouquet. We joked about whether he was to be the bride, which tickled him no end. He turned the same pink as the roses!

Alcatraces (calla lilies) sold in bud, like these, will open up little by little in your home. Did you know that Alcatraz, the prison near San Francisco, California, is named for this flower?

Believe it or not, this is just one small corner of the baby's breath for sale by one vendor. In Spanish, baby's breath is called nube (cloud). Almost every arrangement has some, filling in any available space.

Hortensias (hydrangeas), in shades ranging from white to purple. Similar plants, in full flower and with the pots gussied up with ivy, moss, and ribbons, graced the tables at a party at our former home in Morelia. They made perfect and very inexpensive centerpieces.

One corner of our Morelia garden, dressed to the nines for the party. When the festivities were over, we planted the hydrangeas in our borders.

These bouquets of roses, bells of Ireland, and baby's breath from the Mercado de Jamaica were arranged on porcelain plates. Aren't they gorgeous? Let's have a party! Better yet, let's take a market tour. You will love a day at the market.

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here: Tours.

24 de May de 2014
Looking for Smut on the Internet?

Not that kind! What in the world do you think we're thinking!

Ustilago maydis, called corn smut, or huitlacoche.

Mexico Cooks! is rejoicing in a wealth of corn smut, known in Mexico as the delicacy huitlacoche (aka cuitlacoche) and known in the rest of the world as disgusting. The word cuitlacoche comes from the Nahuatl word cuitlatl (excrement) and cochi (sleeping). You wanted to know that, didn't you?

Ustilago
maydis (corn smut's biological name) is a fungal disease that most
often attacks corn before the ear forms. Spores enter corn stalks that
have been wounded by hail, insects, or cultivation cuts. The fungus
grows inside the corn kernel, distorting and discoloring it, leaving
only the husk of the kernel remaining. The fungus winters over in the
ground or in old corn stalks left to rot. Smut spores can blow long
distances, invading every cornfield in a region. No country is exempt
from its infection and losses to the fungus may be as high as 20% of a
corn crop. Most of the world's corn growers use every means possible to
stave off the infection, but here in Mexico, we love to see the fungus
come to market.

Here in Mexico City, the huitlacoche season just started. Some of the vegetable vendors at our Tuesday tianguis had piles of it for sale last week, in amongst the broccoli, chiles,
leeks, tomatoes, and the rest of the weekly array in their stands.
Twenty-five pesos (about $2.50 US) per half pound seemed like a fair
price, so we bought a bag of big juicy-looking fungus and brought it
home for comida, our main meal of the day.

The taste of huitlacoche
is deep, rich, earthy, and is frequently compared to truffles. The
texture is meaty, similar to a portabello mushroom. The color–well, we
don't eat many coal black foods, but it's quite elegant on the plate.

In Mexico, huitlacoche is sold either on the cob or loose, by the kilo. Once in a great while, fresh huitlacoche is available in a Latin market outside Mexico. It's said that the canned variety works as well as the fresh, although Mexico Cooks! hasn't used the canned product and makes no guarantees. Look for this variety:

Here's Mexico Cooks!' recipe for our comida muy de la temporada (very seasonal dinner).

Salsa de Huitlacoche con Espagueti y Pechuga de Pollo
(Cuitlacoche Sauce with Spaghetti and Chicken Breast)

Ingredients for the sauce:
1 large clove garlic, minced fine
2 tbsp white onion, minced fine
2 or 3 strips bacon, minced
3 chiles chilacas or 2 chiles poblanos
250 grams (1/2 lb) huitlacoche, roughly chopped
Sea salt to taste
Enough chicken broth to thin sauce to coat the back of a spoon
Bacon drippings plus 2 Tbsp vegetable oil

Utensils:
10-inch nonstick sauté pan
Wooden spoon
Measuring spoons
Blender

Procedure:
Roast the chiles on a dry (not oiled) comal (griddle) until the skins are blistered and nearly black. Put them in a plastic bag and twist it shut. "Sweat" the chiles for about 10 minutes. Remove the stems and seeds and peel the chiles. Roughly chop the prepared chiles and reserve for later use.

Sauté the minced bacon until nearly crisp. Remove from pan and reserve with the chiles. Keep the bacon drippings in the pan. Add the oil.

Sauté the garlic, onion, and huitlacoche in the drippings/oil until the cuitlacoche is soft, about 10-15 minutes. Be careful that the huitlacoche does not become mushy. It should retain some texture. The mixture in your sauté pan will be inky black.

Put the huitlacoche mixture, the reserved chiles
and the bacon in the blender. Add 1/2 cup chicken stock and purée.
The mix should thickly coat the back of a spoon. Add more chicken stock
if needed and blend again. Add sea salt to taste and blend briefly.
Again, the sauce will be black.

Chicken breasts:
Cut
two boneless, skinless chicken breast halves into 1/2" wide strips as
long as each breast. Put 2 Tbsp flour and 1/2 tsp sea salt in a plastic
bag and shake to mix. Add the chicken breast strips and shake to flour
thoroughly. Shake off excess flour. Sauté breast strips in olive oil
until they are golden brown. Be careful not to overcook the breast
strips. Remove and reserve.

Spaghetti:
I used 1/2 lb fettucine and cooked following package directions.

Plating:
Serves two generously.

Put half the spaghetti on each plate. Divide the cuitlacoche
sauce between the two servings of spaghetti. Divide the chicken breast
strips between the two plates, laying them across the spaghetti and
sauce. Drizzle more sauce across the chicken breast strips.

We all but licked our plates.

So…we've got rough stuff (the chopping), breasts (the chicken), and licking (the plates). I guess this really is smut on the Internet!

Provecho!

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25 de May de 2013
Signs of the Times at Mexico City’s Mercado de Jamaica

This man carries his purchase: cempasúchil (marigolds) and crisántamo (chrysanthemums) for the Day of the Dead. Most of the flowers at the market are grown in the State of Mexico, which is separate from but almost completely surrounds Mexico City. In the State of Mexico, flower growing generates a yearly economic bounty of $2,700,000,000 pesos: two billion seven hundred million, folks. It's not a typo.

This truckload of wholesale flowers for the Day of the Dead–golden cempasúchil, white nube (baby's breath), and wine-red cordón del obispo (cockscomb)–was undoubtedly destined for someone's retail flower shop.

In late October, Mexico Cooks! went to the Mercado de Jamaica specifically to find flowers and decorative items to build a home altar for the Day of the Dead. We were quite taken with these veladoras (candles in their holders). We found exactly what we wanted, but that became our secondary objective once we passed into the produce section of the market.

Many of Mexico City's markets use this sort of printed sign to advertise the price of what's for sale–in this case, vine-ripened Roma tomatoes–and every sign has a bit of advice to offer about your potential purchase. I've loved these signs since long before moving to Mexico's capital. On this market jaunt, the lightbulb went on: all of you would love these typical and sometimes funny signs, too. This one urges, "Don't think about it too much…take home a little kilo!".

For already-cut-up calabaza de castilla (a hard-shell Mexican squash): 'money well spent'.

For limón criollo (Mexican limes): I'll be right with you!

Limas–and there really is no translation for this uniquely Mexican fruit. They are neither limes nor lemons, nor are they oranges. But as the sign says: it's scrumptious!

Chile jalapeño: pretty and cheap, at four pesos the quarter kilo.

White potatoes for 10 pesos the kilo: smile.

Beautiful crisp cucumbers: ask for more.

At six pesos the kilo: 'Don't look any further!'

This merchant is offering his chiles jalapeños at 14 pesos the kilo: 'Like you saw on TV'.

This sign is my current favorite. "Ni hablar mujer" means 'Lady, don't even talk about it!'. The phrase is also part of a Pedro Infante song.

Next year, plan to come along with us to this marvelous market. Ahorita la atiendo!

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here: Tours.

12 de January de 2013
The Milpa, Bastion of Biological and Cultural Diversity in Mexico

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYdUpQQ0_Rg&w=370&h=278]
"Las Cuatro Milpas", sung by Los Alegres de Terán. Youtube claims one person as the songwriter, although other sources differ and mention other writers. Whoever wrote it, the song is a classic of Mexico's early 20th century music repetoire.

You might well ask, "What exactly are the cuatro milpas, so sadly lamented in this old song?" The words cuatro milpas come close to translating to 'four cornfields'–but the milpa is far more than a cornfield, in Mexico's ancient agricultural practices. Why is the millenia-old milpa (it is first documented in botanical archeology from about 2400 years ago) still so critically important to Mexico's way of life?

The name milpa is derived from the Náhuatl word milli, sowed ground, combined with the náhuatl word pan, meaning on or in–combined, the literal meaning is "what is grown on the land". The plants grown in the milpa are the fundamental Mesoamerican triad of corn, beans, and squash. Today's milpa, which after thousands of years of cultivation consists of these same plants as well as others (including quelites and tomatoes), produces one and one-half times the yield of modern-day 'improved' corn which is planted in enormous fields without the nutrients that are fed into the soil by the companion plants of the ages-old milpa.

Maíz criollo–native corn–in a few of its more than 60 diverse forms and colors. More of the plant is used than just the elotes (ears of corn). The tassels are used to make tamales, corn silk is used as a medicine, the dried husks are used to wrap tamales, and in Michoacán, the leaves are used to wrap corundas. Dried corn stalks are stored year-round for use as forage for cattle and pigs.

The milpa, where food is grown not only for humans but also for animals, produces crops during the better part of the year. In the milpa, the first crops harvested are the quelites (tender wild greens). Later, the squash plants begin to flower–only the male flowers are harvested for cooking. The female flowers are left to develop squash. If the plants are calabacita (a zucchini-type squash), the first small calabacitas are consumed when they have barely begun to develop.

Drawing dated 1543 of phaseolus vulgaris (the common bean, which originated in Mexico). At about the time that young squash are harvested, beans begin to flower. The flowers are often eaten either in tamales or with the beans themselves. Around this time of year, corn stalks put out their first tender elotes (ears), which are eaten in an infinity of ways, either alone or in combination with fresh beans and wild greens.

In the milpa, corn grows tall, light-weight bean plants twist around the corn stalks for support, and squash plants grow close to the ground so the heavy fruit of the vine has a place to rest among the corn stalks. When you see a small 'corn field' near a house when you're out for a drive in the Mexican countryside, pull off the road and take a closer look. Watch for other crops among the corn. You're looking at a milpa.

Calabaza de castilla (Castilla squash) is one of several squash varieties that grow in the milpa. At the end of the growing season, large hard-shell squash like these are harvested and stored to be used for food throughout the season when the milpa lies fallow. In addition, beans are gathered and dried for food as well as for seed for planting during the following year. Other milpa-grown plants are harvested and stored for animal feed.

Offerings of corn in various forms, from the 16th century Códice Florentino by Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, the first ethnobiologist in the so-called New World. The 14-volume work, written in Náhuatl, describes every detail of the indigenous life found by the Spaniards.

Indigenous woman cooking beans. The curled symbols coming from her mouth are speech indicators; it's quite likely that she is pictured at prayer while placing the beans in her cooking pot. Códice Florentino.

Chile vendor, from the Códice Florentino.

Mural fragment, Hombre de Maíz (Corn Men), Templo Rojo Cacaxtla, Nativitas, Tlaxcala. The mural was painted sometime between 100 and 1100 AD. Corn is thought to be the origin of humankind, its sustenance, and its hope for the future. The image of humans born from corn persists up to the present in some places; in Chiapas in 2008, I saw modern clay sculptures of fetuses curled into corn husks.

Diego Rivera, 1929 portion of a mural depicting a milpa. In the Palacio Nacional, Mexico City.

So what? Why is the milpa so important in today's world of 'improved' crops, modern farming, and agro-industry? In brief, the milpa is the spot where Mexico's rich cultural and agricultural heritage and knowledge join to make use of nature during the entire cultivation cycle. The milpa alone has demonstrated its capacity to sustain the healthy and diverse nourishment of large populations, nourishment sustainable from the pre-Hispanic era to current times. The key word is sustainable: the milpa is the living and lasting foundation of Mexico's biodiversity, renewable with each year's crop cycle.

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1 de September de 2012
Amecameca, Kissing the Feet of Two Volcanoes

The active volcano Popocatépetl is the second-highest mountain in Mexico at 5,452 meters (17,887 feet) above sea level. Some sources say that Popocatépetl is slightly higher than those quoted figures. Only the Pico de Orizaba (5,610 meters or 18,406 feet) is higher. All photos by Mexico Cooks! unless otherwise noted.

During the last few weeks, Mexico City's newspapers have been full of information about Popocatépetl, the Náhuatl word for 'smoking mountain'. This volcano, which sits in the very back yard of the city, has once again been growling and grumbling and belching gases, steam, smoke, and red-hot ash. Its last major 'exhalation' was in December of 2000 and everyone in this vicinity hopes the mountain won't explode again.

In mid-April, curiousity and excitement about Popocatépetl's current activities led us to make a Sunday afternoon trip to Amecameca in the State of Mexico, the town closest to the volcano from our Mexico City neighborhood. The town is southeast of Mexico City and we were there in a bit over an hour. Had we not stopped along the way to take photographs, we could have arrived sooner.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZAvtPJKg8U&w=350&h=267]
Popocatépetl erupts, December 2000. Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhautl straddle the boundaries of three states: Puebla, Morelos, and the State of Mexico. Video courtesy NBC news.

The alert system for possible eruptions ranges from green (no danger) to red (extreme eruption). Currently, Popocatépetl has been at Alert Phase 3 Yellow (magma flow and growing explosions) for about three weeks. Phase 3 Yellow is the alert just before red. In spite of the high alert level, no evacuations from towns around the volcano have been ordered. Click the link for updates to the 'semáforo de alertas' (alert system stoplight): ALERTAS

Iztaccíhautl, the sleeping woman, lies northeast of Popocatépetl and east of the town of Amecameca in the State of Mexico. Mexico Cooks! took this photo from the atrium of the Templo de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción (Church of Our Lady of the Assumption) in Amecameca; you can see one of the church arches in the foreground. The photo shows Iztaccíhuatl's head (far left) and chest.

Full view of volcano Iztaccíhuatl. Her head is at the far left in the photo. The clouds are in fact due to the accumulation of steam and ash emitted by Popocatépetl, just out of camera range to the right. The northwestern sky (behind me as I took the picture) was clear blue and brilliantly sunny.

Of course there is a romantic legend about Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhautl. At the beginning of history, when the Aztecs arrived in the Valley of Anáhuac and before the mountains had reached their permanent form, a beautiful princess named Mixtli was born in the city of Tenochtitlán–today's Mexico City. She was the daughter of Tizoc, the Tlatoani Emperor of the Mexicas (to be known later as the Aztecs). Mixtli was sought after by numerous noblemen, among them Axooxco, a cruel and bloodthirsty man, who demanded the hand of Mixtli in marriage. However, Mixtli's heart belonged instead to a humble peasant named Popoca. Popoca went into battle, to conquer the title of Caballero Aguila (Eagle Knight). If he claimed this title of nobility, Popoca would then be able to fight Axooxco for the hand of Mixtli.

Popoca carries his beloved Mixtli to the snowy mountains.

Mixtli knew the danger Popoca faced in this trial. Finally a messenger brought the news that he had been killed in battle. But the messenger was wrong: Popoca was returning victorious. Not realizing this, Mixtli killed herself, rather than live without Popoca.

When Popoca returned to find Mixtli dead, he picked her up and carried her body into the mountains. Hoping that the cold snow would wake her from sleep to reunite them, Popoca crouched at her feet until he froze there while he prayed for her to awaken.

They have remained there ever since. The body of Mixtli became the volcano Iztaccíhuatl (the Sleeping Woman), the ever-watchful Popoca became the volcano Popocatépetl (the Smoking Mountain). The evil Axooxco became the Cerro Ajusco (the highest point of the Distrito Federal). These volcanoes tower above Mexico City and the romantic legend of this couple has been passed on since the pre-Columbian era as a symbol of enduring and faithful love.

Popocatépetl exhales a huge cloud of steam, gases, and ash on April 18, 2012. Photo courtesy Notimex.

The volcano is generally known by a local nickname: don Goyo. Don is an honorific used to address or refer to any respected well-known man; Goyo is a nickname for Gregorio, in this instance specifically referring to San Gregorio (St. Gregory). Legend says that the volcano once erupted on San Gregorio's March 12 feast day and subsequently received the nickname, but the volcano's feast day (yes, he has one!) is celebrated annually on May 2. On that date, some local residencts carry gifts to the volcano: blankets and una copita (a shot of liquor) to keep him warm, and they pay him their continuing respects. As the white-haired toll booth attendant said when we told him we were on our way to pay a visit to don Goyo, "Be careful up there! He's making all this racket while he's sober–imagine if he had already had his tequila!"

The volcano on the night of April 24, 2012. Streams of molten lava flow down the sides of the crater while fire, steam, smoke, and sparks rise high into the evening sky. The volcano is so loud that some residents find it hard to get a good night's sleep. Photo courtesy MSNBC.

During volcanic activity of this kind, the world keeps turning. Residents in the several towns nearest the volcano go about their normal daily lives while keeping one eye on the top of the mountain and one ear out for the latest alerts. In Amecameca, a delightful old gentleman stopped to chat with us on the street while we were letting a local woman take a close look at the volcano through the camera's telephoto lens. "You know," he ruminated, "we still have to shop, cook, eat, and sleep even though we also have to be prepared for…" he laughed and threw his arms high into the air. "In case it blows!"

Life goes on: inside the municipal market in Amecameca, people shop for food, gossip with their neighbors, and laugh at the latest jokes. Click on any photo to enlarge it for a better view.

Our new guide continued, "You should go outside town for a better view. It's easy to get there…" He proceeded to give excellent directions for heading to the east into the foothills at the base of the volcano. We shook his hand and followed his directions as far as we could, but the rutted, stone-filled path we were driving outside Amecameca was too difficult for our vehicle. We turned onto another, even smaller road that took us to the crest of a hill. From there, we had an unobstructed view of the two lovers, Iztaccíhautl and Popocatépetl. While the wind blew from behind us, we watched as don Goyo sighed several times, sending heavy plumes of steam and ash into the heavens and away from Amecameca.

As the volcano steams and roars, commerce continues as it has for thousands of years. Amecameca has a huge Sunday market in the church atrium outside Templo de Nuestra Señora de la Asunciòn. The peaches, bright-green oval chilacayotes, and round calabacitas (zucchini-type squash) are offered for sale piled up in pyramids, the traditional vendors' display method.

Will the volcano blast off into a major eruption? Will it calm down and wait till another time? No one really knows for sure, not even the scientists who monitor its activity. On April 25, the winds shifted and small amounts of ash began to rain down on Amecameca and some of the other nearby towns. We're watching, along with the rest of the populace. And meantime, our lives go on as usual.

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28 de April de 2012
Organic Food and Locavores in Mexico City: Mercado el 100

Organically grown chilacayote (fig leaf gourd, Cucurbita ficifolia), available at Mercado de 100. In Mexico, the chilacayote is used above all as a vegetable, but it is also often cooked with piloncillo and other sweetening ingredients and eaten as a candy or as a filling for breads or pastries.

The locavore movement began in the United States late in the 1960s at a time when people began to awaken to the notion that it would be healthier for themselves and the planet if their food were produced close to home rather than hundreds or thousands of miles from their kitchens. Today, more people believe that local food systems, often marketing organically-grown products, offer choices that are superior to those proferred by global corporate models. Within the last few years, the locavore movement has come to Mexico City.

This full-size bronze replica of Michelangelo's David gazes from the fountain in the lovely Plaza Rio de Janeiro in Mexico City's Colonia Roma Norte. The Mercado de 100 sets up in this plaza, at the corner of Calle Durango and Calle Orizaba, every other Sunday morning.

In years gone by, all the world consisted of locavores. Produce and meats were not flown or trucked from faraway farms to our supermarkets. We ate what was seasonal, and most often we ate we we ourselves produced. In many parts of Mexico, this is still true today. However, with the country-wide incursion of giant globalized supermarket chains such as Comercial Mexicana, Soriana, Chedraui, Wal-Mart, and others, more and more food is commercially produced and brought to market from enormous distances.

Artisanal breads at Mercado de 100, including crossaints and whole grain loaves produced by Mexico City's Pan 100.

In 2009, a group of friends in Mexico City were the startup group for the non-profit society that directs Mercado de 100. Concerned about the quality of food available in most supermarkets in the city, they believed (and continue to believe) that the population of this enormous metropolis deserves a choice: the opportunity to eat fresh, pesticide free, locally grown food.

Locally grown organic lettuce.

Need an ecological, re-useable market bag? These come in several sizes and terrific colors.

When Mercado el 100 started in 2009, it was peripatetic–moving from one location to another every time it set up. Today, it has a permanent spot at the lovely Plaza Rio de Janeiro, one of the most beautiful small parks in Mexico City. A visit to the market on a sunny Sunday morning can easily entice you to continue your day with a leisurely stroll around this part of Colonia Roma.

Menu of cheeses from Finca VAI in Querétaro. Mexico Cooks! tasted the manchego and the reblochon; both are delicious. One of these days soon we hope to visit Finca VAI for a tour of its operation.

From left to right, organically grown pears, apples, and tomatoes.

Locally bottled salsas and vinegars.

A bird-ish basket full of quail eggs. Mexico Cooks! likes to use them blended raw into a licuado (a thick fruit drink similar to a smoothie) or soft-poached, to garnish individual bowls of Chinese watercress and pork soup.

Herbs and spices, all organically grown (the label attests to that) and pesticide-free. The booth also offers delicious jams and honey. Mexico Cooks! brought home a cup of fresh raspberry jam and a bag of gordolobo (Gnaphalium Sp.), a medicinal flower which is brewed into a tea and used as an expectorant.

A basketful of fresh organic epazote (wormweed), ready for a long simmer in a pot of beans.

Pre-Hispanic era treats in today's Mexico: clockwise from bottom left, dried corn with powdered chile, dried corn with honey and pinole, chapulines (grasshoppers), and pinole.

Artisan-made, locally-produced soaps from Xamania, which also offers earth-friendly body lotions and cosmetics.

Mercado el 100, open every two weeks in Plaza Rio Janeiro (at the corner of Calle Durango and Orizaba), Colonia Roma Norte, Mexico City. Tell them their friends at Mexico Cooks! sent you.

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Disclaimer: Marca País-Imágen de México is a joint public and private sector initiative designed to help promote Mexico as a global business partner and an unrivaled tourist destination. This program is designed to shine a light on the Mexico that its people experience every day. Disclosure: I am being compensated for my work in creating content for the Mexico Today program. All stories, opinions, and passions for all things Mexico that I write on Mexico Cooks! are completely my own.

12 de November de 2011
Oaxaca Santo Domingo Church and Museum: Templo y Museo

In New Spain, 16th century Dominican missionaries laid the cornerstone for Templo Santo Domingo, the Oaxaca church and its former convent. The ex-convent is now a lovely Oaxaca-related museum. The church, which has undergone numerous changes of use–including use as a stable, a hospital, and a prison–is once again being used as a place of worship.

Spanish Dominican missionaries arrived in New Spain in the third quarter of the 16th century. Their purpose, equal to the purposes of the Franciscans, the Jesuits, and other Old World religious orders, was the conversion of indigenous peoples in the New World to Roman Catholic Christianity. The Dominicans designed and the indigenous people built eighteen churches in the southern part of what is now Mexico. Santo Domingo is considered by many people to be the most beautiful–and it is certainly the largest and most ornate.

Chronology of the building and different uses of the Santo Domingo complex. Click on any picture for a larger view.

The church complex, including both the construction and the gardens, covers approximately 4,000 square meters (44,000 square feet)–the measure of four square city blocks. The original building was a chapel dedicated to Nuestra Señora del Rosario (Our Lady of the Rosary), which continues to be in daily use.

Behind the church, the grounds have been converted into a botanical garden filled with native plantings.

The escudo (shield) of the Dominican order of priests and brothers, carved into the ceiling of the church entryway and then painted.

In the museum, artifacts from various pre-Hispanic temples (including Monte Albán) and other Oaxacan archeological sites are on display. This is an actual human skull embedded with turquoise. The lower teeth are natural, but the upper teeth, eyes, and nose are made of shell.

The original construction at the Santo Domingo complex was the chapel of Nuestra Señora del Rosario (Our Lady of the Rosary), connected by an interior door to the main Santo Domingo church. According to Dominican tradition, the Virgin appeared to St. Dominic in answer to his prayers and charged him with spreading the use of the rosary.

The very simple, nearly stern facade of the church of Santo Domingo hides the gilded and ornate Mexican baroque interior. Much of the church–pillars, arches, and the ceiling–is highlighted with 60,000 sheets of 23.5 karat gold leaf. The church closed in 1866 and the convent was used as a military barracks. The church did not open again until 1938.

Santo Domingo ceiling medallion depicting the Blessed Virgin Mary holding the Baby Jesus, surrounded by various Dominican priests and a host of cherubim.

Detail of the near-life-size crucifix in Santo Domingo's Blessed Sacrament chapel.

After long years of secular use (including nearly 100 years as a jail), restoration of the church began in 1993. The restoration was finished in 1999 at a cost of twelve million pesos. The restored church was brought to a glory perhaps unimagined by the early Dominican friars.

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here: Tours.

Disclaimer: Marca País-Imágen de México is a joint public and private sector initiative designed to helppromote Mexico as a global business partner and an unrivaled tourist destination. This program is designed to shine a light on the Mexico that its people experience every day. Disclosure: I am being compensated for my work in creating content for the Mexico Today program. All stories, opinions, and passions for all things Mexico that I write on Mexico Cooks! are completely my own.

22 de October de 2011
De Paseo por Avenida Amsterdam: Out Walking on Avenida Amsterdam, La Condesa, DF

A couple of weeks ago, we went walking around our neighborhood, out for a late afternoon stroll on Avenida Amsterdam. It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood! Sígame…follow this footprint, left for posterity in the cement sidewalk, and let's see what we see.

Azul añil (pronounced ah-ZOOL ah-NYEEL and often called Frida blue) wall with inset tiles and green window bars.

Art Deco era detailing above a window.

French doors and balconies.

Edificio Colonial (Colonial Building) detail with potted plants.

Portion of cast iron window protection.

African iris blossom, Plaza Iztaccihuatl.

Late afternoon light and shadow, Art Deco-era building.

Smoking a hookah is muy de la moda–very much in style.

It's mango season and vendors' carts are out on all our corners. Ten pesos (about 80 cents US) buys the whole mango, cut into the shape of a flower and served estilo mexicano (Mexican style)–liberally spritzed with key lime juice, sprinkled with salt and spiced with powdered chile.

Restaurant wheel-around planter box, a barricade against gawkers peering in from the sidewalk to see what's on your plate. Yes, the plants are real.

Window protection: old wrought iron and copper with white curtain.

Flower seller's stand with sunflower.

Fabulous paint job, beautiful Art Deco-era building.

The Love Ambulance. In case of emergency, CALL! On the ambulance door, it reads, "Emergencies of Love".

We'll go out walking another day, capturing another of La Condesa's marvelous streets. You come too!

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21 de May de 2011
Epiphyllum Crenatum, Pride of the Mexico Cooks! Home Garden, Spring 2011

This article was originally published on April 17, 2010. In February, our just-barely-in-bud epiphyllum moved with us to Mexico City, courtesy of our dear friend Tony Anaya, who carried her pot in his car and kept her in his apartment for a few weeks until we got here. The first of the 2011 blooms opened fully on March 26, 2010. It is thrilling beyond words to watch her develop.

Meet our epiphyllum crenatum, the crenate orchid cactus native to Mexico. Crenate refers to the scalloped shape of the cactus's long, thick leaves. The open flower measures approximately seven to eight inches in diameter.

Sometime during the very early spring of 2009, Mexico Cooks! and several friends took a Sunday drive to Pátzcuaro and beyond. On the return trip, we passed through Tzintzuntzan. As we drove slowly past the market square in town, I suddenly screeched the car to the curb–a display of plants, for sale on the corner, had grabbed my attention. Among her other plants, the vendor's big epiphyllum cactus, potted in a La Morena chile can, made my heart go pitter-patter. Eighty pesos later, we loaded the big cactus into the back of the car and headed home to Morelia.

This tiny can of La Morena chiles chilpotles* adobados is a wee cousin of the six pound chile can that originally held the epiphyllum. La Morena produces canned chiles jalapeños en escabeche (pickled) as well as chiles chilpotles* in adobo. The canned chiles are excellent, the best we've tried.

*Chilpotle is a variant spelling of chipotle.

This group of buds is still relatively closed, although the bud on the right is beginning to show signs of opening. The cactus, growing in a pot on Mexico Cooks!' sunny terrace, has more than 30 buds.

This species was shown at an exhibition at the London Horticultural Society's Garden in 1844 and won highest medal for a new introduction. It had been collected in Honduras 5 years earlier by Georges Ule Skinner, who sent the plant to Sir Charles Lemon. Sir Charles brought the epiphyllum to flower for the first time in 1843.

Barely opened on Saturday evening, this bud opened fully by Sunday morning. Temperatures in Morelia have ranged between 50°and 85° Fahrenheit during this week (April 10-17, 2010).

The thick, fleshy leaves of this cactus can grow as much as two feet high. The leaf skin is smooth and green and the leaves have definite scallops, visible in the photographs.

The fully-opened flower lasts approximately 36 hours before the petals close and the flower droops. Mexico Cooks! expects that the season for this year's buds and flowers will be finished in about two weeks.

Epiphyllum crenatum is easy to cultivate and highly rewarding. After a few months in its new pot, our cactus began to grow new leaves. Late in the winter, we were thrilled to see that buds were beginning to form. According to horticulturalists, the plant will need to be re-potted after it flowers in 2011.

Close-up of the petals, pistils, and stamens. Epiphyllum crenatum belongs to the plant division Magnoliophyta, which has this type reproductive organs.

Epiphyllum crenatum in her pot on the terrace. We and our employees water the epiphyllum three or four times a week during the dry season. During the rainy season (mid-May through early November), Mother Nature keeps the pot plentifully watered.

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2 de April de 2011