OUR HISTORY
OAXACA LAND OF THE 7 MOLES
History of Mole
Oaxaca has over 200 known preparations of mole, a complicated sauce based on one or more chili peppers and over 25-30 different ingredients. However, seven are the most notable, giving the state the nickname “land of the seven moles". Oaxacan moles require multiple ingredients and long cooking time, and for this reason are traditionally served only for special occasions. Ingredients for moles were traditionally prepared and ground on a metate; however today, they are usually made with the help of blenders and food mills, which grind and mix many of the ingredients. Depending on the ingredients, they are toasted or fried then mixed with others to make a sauce that is then slowly simmered. Recipes vary from cook to cook and state to state. While chocolate is used in two of the seven moles, it is not the most important ingredient. Blending all the ingredients together is what makes the different moles sing. Traditionally, moles are served with chicken, pork beef and roasted vegetables; however, the sauce is most important part of the main dish you are cooking.
The name, color and ingredients distinguish the seven main moles of Oaxaca, there is a negro (black), amarillo (yellow), coloradito (colored), mancha manteles (tablecloth stainer), chichilo (named after the main pepper), rojo (red) and verde (green). Our Mole Blanco is known as the "wedding mole" and is not widely known. All of the moles, except verde and blanco, can be kept as a paste and cooked later diluted with chicken or vegetable broth. Mole negro for example is the best known and is the most complicated of the mole preparations, containing anywhere from twenty to thirty-plus ingredients, depending on the recipe. Mole negro is slightly sweet, black in color and contains six different types of chili peppers, plantains, onion, tomatoes, tomatillos, cloves, cinnamon, chocolate, nuts, tortillas, avocado leaves and more depending on the recipe.
Santa Gertrudis my HomeTown
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Santa Gertrudis is my hometown. Located in the region of the Valleys in the Mexican State of Oaxaca. It is approximately 41 km from the capital city of Oaxaca.
Regional cuisine consists of different moles accompanied with white rice, beef stew, vegetables, pork liver with scrambled eggs for example. Typical drinks are liquid chocolate, chocolate atole, tejate, and mezcal.
400 years ago, when the Spanish conquerors arrived in Mexico, they taught distillation techniques to the native inhabitants and the first distilled spirit in the Americas was born: Mezcal.
Mezcal like mole is a very important part of our culture. It can be made from 11 different types of agave that are native to Oaxaca, which is where these are mostly made. These agave include quishe, pasmo, tepestate, tobala, espadin, largo, pulque, azul, blanco, ciereago and mexicano, but around 90 percent of mezcal is made from the agave espadin. Mezcal is native to the states of San Luis Potosi, Michoacan, Jalisco, Durango, Morelos, Nuevo Leon, Oaxaca, Tamaulipas and Zacatecas. Oaxaca is considered the official home of mezcal, as it produces 60 percent of the country’s mezcal.
Producers of mezcal in Oaxaca still use the same traditional method of roasting the agave in underground wood-fired pits and distilling in small-batch, copper pot stills. This important drink of rustic Oaxaca is the traditional toast of ceremonial occasions, such as baptism and weddings.
In Oaxaca it is part of our culture to celebrate the land the people that live on it. I like to think that we are the original farm to table civilization.
El MolcajetE
The name of our company is El Molcajete. It is named after the stone tool, or the traditional Mexican version of the mortar and pestle, and is used for grinding various food products.
The molcajete was used by pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican cultures, including the Aztec and Maya, stretching back several thousand years. Traditionally carved out of a single block of vesicular basalt, molcajetes are typically round in shape and supported by three short legs. They are frequently decorated with the carved head of an animal on the outside edge of the bowl, giving the molcajete the appearance of a short, stout, three-legged animal. The pig is the most common animal head used for decoration of this type. The matching hand-held grinding tool, known as a tejolote (Mexican Spanish, from Nahuatl texolotl), is also made of the same basalt material.
Molcajetes are used to crush and grind spices, and to prepare salsas and guacamole. The rough surface of the basalt stone creates a superb grinding surface that maintains itself over time as tiny bubbles in the basalt are ground down, replenishing the textured surface.
We use these traditional concepts when making our home made sauces:
* MOLE SAUCE
* ESTOFADO SAUCE
* TOMATILLO SAUCE
* MOLE NEGRO
*. MOLE VERDE
* MOLE BLANCO
* CHILI OIL
* YELLOW CORN TORTILLA CHIPS
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The recipes are inspired by my mother, Maria Ines who used to make them every Sunday for our family dinners.
The techniques my mother used are the same processes that the old people in our small villages used to practice over a 100 years ago. I have been fortunate to have had the same techniques passed on to me. From my mother to all the grandmothers that I grew up watching cook all my favorite Oaxacan specialties, these sauces and traditions will be passed on for generations to come.
I started my journey in Oaxaca as a kid and have been able to include my family in this adventure of sharing my culture. The San Francisco Bay Area is where El Molcajete was born, now in the Chicagoland area our adventures continue. I am so grateful for all the support wherever we go!
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