Discover and re-discover Mexico’s cuisine, culture and history through the recipes, backyard stories and other interesting findings of an expatriate in Canada
The bean tamales pictured at the top of the post, put together as layered rolls, and steamed, wrapped in corn husks, are a traditional foodstuff to share at the end of the corn harvest in several farming regions of Central and Southern Mexico, from Tonatico and Tlahuac, to the state of Oaxaca ... click on title for more
Temperatures are still going up and down in Southern Ontario, but the morning frost last week killed the tender annuals in my backyard, a sign that it is time to prepare the garden for winter and wrap up the harvest, including my herbs ... click on title for more
El Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is celebrated in Mexico on November 2, and amaranth was an important element in offerings for this occasion in pre-Hispanic times. Not long after the Spanish conquest, the Catholic church sent priests and missionaries to the new lands, taking the colonies by storm; they replaced the native rituals for the dead with great success, and the native amaranth was replaced with European wheat, both as a crop and for religious applications, such as for the now traditional Bread of the Dead (Pan de muerto). Nowadays, amaranth seed has become very popular worldwide, as a healthy cereal substitute; as a way to observe the Day of the Dead, I made a batch of cooked amaranth paste, and formed it into skulls ... click on title for more
Popping seeds is a traditional way to cook amaranth in Mexico, where it is easy to find, as well as many sweets prepared with it. In other countries, raw amaranth seed has become readily available for its health benefits, and once popped at home, it may be used to prepare those traditional Mexican sweets, such as the all-time favourite alegrías - "joys", or wafer sandwiches ... click on title for more
Huauzontle (Chenopodium nuttalliae) was one of my featured crops last year; I allowed a few plants to go to seed, and this spring, I got lots of volunteer sprouts, which grew very differently from last year’s crop ... click on title for more
My Slice of Mexico 