60 Fun Facts About Mexican Food

In which year did UNESCO inscribe traditional Mexican cuisine on its Intangible Cultural Heritage list?

It was one of the first national cuisines to make the list, recognised the same year as the French gastronomic meal.

Roughly how many ingredients does an average mole poblano contain?

And that is on the simple end: mole almendrado averages 26 and some Oaxacan moles pass 30.

Pozole is a hearty Mexican soup built around which key ingredient?

The name comes from Nahuatl pozolli, and it is a fixture on New Year's Eve tables in Mexico and New Mexico.

Tamales are thought to have originated in Mesoamerica as early as roughly when?

The Aztecs and Maya later used them as portable rations for hunting trips and armies on the march.

In tropical parts of Mexico such as Oaxaca, tamales are commonly wrapped in what instead of corn husks?

The larger leaf-wrapped versions in the region are known as pibs.

The green chile, white sauce and red pomegranate of chiles en nogada are meant to represent what?

The dish is poblano chiles stuffed with picadillo, and it is a fixture of Independence Day season in September.

The creamy nogada sauce on chiles en nogada is made from which nut?

The dish is traditionally made in central Mexico in August and early September, when pomegranates are in season.

Legend says chiles en nogada were first prepared in 1821 to entertain which future emperor of Mexico?

He was passing through Puebla after signing the Treaty of Córdoba, which sealed Mexican independence.

The word guacamole comes from Classical Nahuatl and literally translates to what?

It is āhuacatl (avocado) plus mōlli (sauce), the same mōlli that gives us the word mole.

Guacamole is traditionally mashed with salt in which stone tool?

The molcajete is a volcanic-rock mortar; the pestle that goes with it is the tejolote.

In the early 1900s, avocados in the United States often went by what name?

Avocado seeds found in Mexico's Tehuacán Valley date back roughly 9,000 to 10,000 years.

In nixtamalization, corn is soaked and cooked in what kind of solution before grinding?

The alkaline bath loosens the hulls, improves the flavour, and makes the grain far more nutritious.

Nixtamalizing corn makes tryptophan available and helps prevent which deficiency disease?

Populations that adopted corn without the process suffered outbreaks of the disease well into the 20th century.

What is the name of the dough formed from nixtamalized cornmeal that becomes tortillas and tamales?

The word nixtamalization itself is Nahuatl: nextli (ash) plus tamalli (cooked corn dough).

The Aztecs and other Nahuatl speakers called tortillas by what name?

The city of Tlaxcala shares the root, and the Spanish renamed the flatbread after their own round cakes and omelettes.

The Spanish word tortilla, from torta plus a diminutive ending, literally means what?

The discs are traditionally cooked on a very hot iron griddle called a comal.

Elote, Mexican street corn on the cob, is classically dusted with which crumbly grated cheese?

Mayonnaise, chili powder, citrus and salt round out the classic version, often served on a stick at fairs.

Chilaquiles, fried tortilla pieces simmered in salsa, are usually eaten at which meal?

The dish is a classic way to use up leftover tortillas and salsas from the day before.

Which seed gives the Mexican pork dish cochinita pibil its burnt-orange colour?

The meat is marinated in bitter orange juice, then roasted in a píib, a pit dug into the ground.

The word barbacoa, the root of the English word barbecue, comes from which language?

The original term meant a framework of sticks; in Mexico it came to mean meat cooked in a pit lined with maguey leaves.

What does the word carnitas literally mean?

The pork is braised and fried in lard over very low heat until it is tender inside and crisp at the edges.

Carnitas are most closely associated with which Mexican state?

The traditional cuts are heavily marbled shoulder pieces, seasoned and simmered in a thick-bottomed pot.

A churrera pipes churro dough into hot oil through a nozzle of what shape?

That is where the ridges come from; in Mexico churros are often filled with cajeta or dulce de leche.

Cajeta, the caramel famously made in Celaya, is a dulce de leche made from which animal's milk?

Elsewhere in Latin America the same slow-cooked sweet milk goes by arequipe, manjar or manjar blanco.

Flan napolitano, made in parts of Mexico, adds which ingredient to caramel custard for a denser texture?

The base dessert is what the French call crème caramel: baked custard under a layer of clear caramel.

Mexican horchata is typically made from which grain?

The Spanish original, horchata de chufa from Valencia, is made from tiger nuts instead.

Agua de jamaica, one of the most common aguas frescas, is brewed from which flower?

The same deep-red infusion is drunk as sorrel in the Caribbean and West Africa.

Tequila must be distilled from which specific plant?

Jimadores strip the leaves with a knife called a coa to reach the piña, the succulent core that gets cooked and crushed.

In which year was the Agave Landscape around the town of Tequila declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site?

The listing also covers the ancient industrial distilleries; the drink itself can only legally be made in Jalisco and a few municipalities of four other states.

The gusano sometimes added to bottles of mezcal is actually the larva of what?

The practice only began in the 1940s or 1950s, and about 90 percent of Mexican mezcal comes from Oaxaca.

Unlike tequila, mezcal may be made from how many species and varieties of agave?

The piñas are cooked for about three days in earthen pit ovens, which is where the smoky flavour comes from.

One theory says michelada is a blend of 'mi chela helada'. In Mexican slang, what is a chela?

The drink adds lime juice, chili-based sauces and spices, and some versions pour in Clamato.

By tradition, whose tears does the teardrop shape on pan de muerto represent?

The bone-shaped strips on top stand for the deceased, and the bread is set out on ofrendas or taken to the gravesite.

Rosca de reyes, the ring cake with a hidden Child Jesus figurine, is eaten around which date?

Whoever bites into the figurine takes on obligations on February 2, which is why the cakes are baked large enough for a crowd.

In Mexico, whoever finds the figurine in the rosca must host a party or take it to church on which feast day?

Tradition also has them provide tamales that day, an echo of pre-Christian maize offerings.

Which milky, viscous drink of fermented agave sap was considered sacred in pre-Columbian Mexico?

Its use was once restricted to certain classes; today it is served in pulquerías with a sour, yeasty tang.

A chipotle is the smoke-dried, ripened form of which chile?

The name comes from Nahuatl chīlpoctli, 'smoked chili'; the peppers are left on the bush until they turn deep red.

By the 2020s, which region of Mexico was the world's largest producer of habanero peppers?

The pepper actually originated in the Amazon and only later spread north to Mexico.

The habanero pepper is named after which city?

It featured heavily in trade there; in 1999 Guinness listed it as the world's hottest chili at up to 350,000 Scoville units.

In which year did pharmacist Wilbur Scoville devise the test that gave the Scoville heat scale its name?

Bell peppers sit at zero on the scale, while a habanero can reach 350,000.

The original Scoville organoleptic test measured a chile's heat using what?

Extracts were diluted until at least three of five tasters could no longer feel any burn.

When a poblano chile is dried, what is it called?

The name means 'wide' in Spanish; the fresh pepper is the one stuffed for chiles rellenos.

Mexican salsa verde gets its colour and tang from which cooked ingredient?

It is the classic sauce for chilaquiles and enchiladas; the raw chopped tomato-onion-chile mix is salsa cruda.

In 1992, US dollar sales of salsa overtook those of which condiment for the first time?

Traditional Mexican salsas were ground by hand in a stone mortar; blenders do most of the work today.

Oaxaca cheese, the stringy melting cheese rolled up like a ball of yarn, is also known by what name?

It is a pasta filata cheese, stretched into ribbons the way mozzarella is, and it is the go-to filling for quesadillas.

Huitlacoche, a Mexican delicacy stuffed into quesadillas, is what exactly?

US farmers call the same thing corn smut and treat it as a blight to be destroyed.

To coax Americans into eating huitlacoche, promoters rebranded it under what name?

The name still turns up in food writing, but the ingredient has struggled to break into US and European diets.

Chapulines, toasted on a comal with garlic, lime and salt, are what kind of creature?

They belong to the genus Sphenarium and are sold as snacks at sports events in Oaxaca.

Restaurateur Caesar Cardini created the Caesar salad in 1924 in which Mexican city?

The kitchen was overwhelmed and short on ingredients on July 4, and the salad has no connection to Julius Caesar.

Nachos take their name from 'Nacho', a common Spanish nickname for which first name?

He improvised them in 1943 at the Victory Club in Piedras Negras, and October 21 is now the International Day of the Nacho.

Which cheese was used on the very first plate of nachos, improvised at the Victory Club in 1943?

They were served to a group of US army officers’ wives who had crossed the border from Fort Duncan for dinner.

Tacos al pastor adapt a shawarma technique brought to Mexico by immigrants from which country?

The pork is marinated with dried chiles and pineapple, and the style took root in Puebla before spreading to Mexico City's street stands.

The 'drowned' torta ahogada, soaked in chile de árbol sauce, is which city's signature dish?

The crusty birote roll is stuffed with shredded pork, refried beans and onions before it goes under.

The concha, Mexico's most famous pan dulce, is named for its resemblance to what?

The striped sugar crust is credited to French bakers who settled in Mexico in the colonial era.

A molinillo, used to froth champurrado and Mexican hot chocolate, is what kind of tool?

You roll the handle between your palms until the drink is aerated and frothy; it is a staple at Las Posadas alongside tamales.

The burrito is said to have been created in which Mexican border city?

Northern Mexico has at least forty different types of flour tortilla, a legacy of Spanish wheat and ranching culture.

Oaxaca is famed as the land of how many moles?

They are negro, amarillo, coloradito, mancha manteles, chichilo, rojo and verde; the black one gets its colour from charred ingredients and extra chocolate.

Escamoles, another prized Mexican delicacy, are what?

They are harvested from agave roots and sit alongside chapulines and maguey worms in the country’s long tradition of eating insects.

Per the earliest documented evidence, nobles from which people brought chocolate to the Spanish court in 1544?

Dominican friars brought them to Spain; the Mokaya of coastal Chiapas had been drinking bitter frothy chocolate since around 1900 BC.

Which staple was introduced to Mexico not by the Spanish but by enslaved Africans?

The Spanish brought wheat, sugar, dairy, pork and beef; corn, beans and chiles were already native.