A trip around Mexico through its flavors
Mexico’s culinary wealth is a reflection of its extraordinary biodiversity. Keep reading and learn more about the products Mexico produces, whose taste, quality, and nutritional values make them deserving of having a designation of origin.
Mango Ataúlfo from Soconusco
This mango variety is 100% Mexican and is named after its creator, Mr. Ataúlfo Morales Castillo, an agricultural engineer who in the 1960s created a Mexican “perfect” variety of this fruit originally from India and Burma. The result was an aromatic, sweet, and juicy fruit with a high pulp percentage, a small-sized seed, and smooth skin, which soon became a favorite in Mexico and abroad.
The Ataúlfo variety is cultivated in the Soconusco region of the State of Chiapas. There are 25 thousand hectares of mango trees, and the season is from February to August when this bright yellow fruit illuminates the markets all over the country.
Mango Ataúlfo’s production and trade represent a significant economic force in southern Mexico, generating employment, scientific research, agroindustry, marketing companies, and infrastructure.
Cacao Grijalva
Cacao was one of the most important elements of ancient Mexico’s civilizations. Its seeds were used as currency, and to prepare a spicy beverage, the forebear of chocolate as we know it. The state of Tabasco, in the heart of the Mayan world, is one of the principal cacao producers thanks to its weather and geographical location, and home to one of the finest varieties of this precious fruit.
Cacao Grijalva belongs to the Criollo variety, superior in quality to other varieties like Forastero or Trinitario, although its production rate is much lower, requires more care, and barely represents 5% of the world production. All of the above makes Cacao Grijalva a much coveted and valued product.
Cacao Grijalva is cultivated in “domesticated forests”, where human intervention has created a technified environment similar to real tropical rainforests, which confers unique identity, quality, flavor, and consistency while contributing to preserving the natural balance of southern Mexico’s ecosystems.
Café Pluma from Oaxaca
Pluma de Hidalgo is a community nestled in the mountains, surrounded by tropical vegetation, home of endemic bird species, and only one hour away from the Mexican Pacific coast. It is here where Mexico’s best coffee, kissed by the sun and the sea breeze, and produced under privileged environmental, soil, and climate conditions, plus the perfect altitude to create a high-quality organic coffee, aromatic and well-balanced, with varieties that display citric, floral, honey, and almond notes.
Café Veracruz
Veracruz is Mexico’s second coffee producer, and the main production area covers ten regions, where the cloud forest is the main ecosystem, which not only is one of Mexico’s most beautiful natural scenarios but provides the ideal conditions to cultivate the finest coffee. The grains must be of Arabica species, come from organic crops, and comply with the shape, size, color, aroma, and acidity standards.
Arroz Morelos
The privileged climate and rich soils of the beautiful State of Morelos give us Mexico’s gourmet rice. The main feature of the Morelos Rice varieties is the size of its grains, which ranges from large to extra-large; Morelos rice yields 23 servings per 500 grams, in contrast to 18 servings per 500 grams of other rice varieties. Another characteristic of Morelos Rice is its high starch content, which is visible through a white area in the center of the grain, called the “white belly”. This rice also has a shorter cooking time and a soft and delicate flavor. The production of rice in Morelos started in the mid-19th Century, and it was recognized as the world’s best rice at the turn of the 20th Century at the Paris Exposition Universelle and has been awarded uncountable international recognitions ever since thanks to its prime quality and artisanal production process. Arroz Morelos is one of the world’s most renowned rice varieties and the ideal ingredient for the perfect Mexican menu.
Chile Habanero from Yucatán
Habanero is the best-known ingredient in Yucatan’s cuisine and one of the best-known Mexican products. Even though this pepper is originally from South America, the variety from the Yucatan Peninsula stands out for its flavor, quality, and pungency, which make it one of the world’s spiciest peppers, and for its nutritional and therapeutic properties. Habanero pepper contains a high vitamin C concentration and capsaicin, a powerful anti-inflammatory, found to be useful to treat arthritis.
Chile Yahualica
Also known as “Chile de Árbol”, this ubiquitous pepper, included in a wide variety of dishes and salsas, is one of the most representative ingredients of the national cuisine. This pepper is native to the region of Los Altos de Jalisco and some small regions of the State of Zacatecas. Its designation of origin is significant because there is a similar variety from Asia, so having such recognition is crucial to preserve its authenticity.
Vainilla from Papantla
For many, vanilla is merely a dark liquid of intense aroma and flavor. Consumers usually don’t know how to differentiate an artificial formula, made of sugar, coloring, and flavorings, from the authentic vanilla extract, obtained through a careful process that involves drying and macerating the fruit of Vanilla Planifolia, an orchid variety native to Mexico and Central America. The plant has been exported to other countries, creating a generalized confusion regarding the origin of the plant, which many people believe is in other regions, such as Madagascar.
Vanilla was highly valued in ancient Mexico. The Totonac culture of the State of Veracruz was the first to discover the virtues and benefits of vanilla. They were also the first people who developed the process to obtain the precious extract, which they used to scent their recipes, for medical purposes, and as an element of their offerings. Vanilla was appreciated in the times of the Aztec Empire, where it was one of the main ingredients of the cacao drink that evolved to become today’s chocolate. Vanilla of Papantla’s designation of origin covers extract, oleoresin, ground vanilla, and vanilla powder.
