La Candelaria Oaxaca and Sunset Park, New York style (Spanish version follows)
When I was doing research for my book the Food and Life of Oaxaca, I happened to make a trip there in the winter and immediately went to the market. My first stop was my favorite counter where they sell all types of seasonal decorations. I’m greeted by the...Tomatillos
Tomatillo (Physalis ixocarpa) is known in Mexico as tomate verde (green tomato), tomate de cascara (husk tomato), and miltomate, though it is not a tomato at all. In actuality it is related to the Cape gooseberry and American ground cherry. In all three of these the...Tamales by Zarela Martinez for the Slowfood Guide for New York
Tamales by Zarela Martinez It makes me inordinately happy to pick up the phone at Zarela and hear somebody ask, “What’s the tamale of the day?” It wouldn’t have happened when we opened fifteen years ago, because people thought all Mexican tamales were the same thing,...Huitlacoche – Corn Fungus
Huitlacoche or Cuitlacoche (Ustilago maydis) is corn smut, a type of fungus that invades the growing ears of corn, causing the kernels to swell into gray or blue-black masses. Farmers take vigilant measures against it in the United States, and home gardeners throw...
The many lives of Zarela Martínez
Culinary legend Zarela Martínez introduced finely tuned, highly researched regional Mexican cuisine to a national stage, and has continued to blaze trails for more than three decades.