On Food & Culture
You can honestly call this famous Mexican candy iconic. Pumpkins are native to Mexico, and the oldest domesticated pumpkin seeds were discovered by archaeologists in the Oaxaca Highlands of Mexico and dated to over 7,500 years ago. Sweetened and served either syrupy or crystalized, dulce […]
The mesquite tree has been part of the Texas landscape for at least seven thousand years. The technique for making the candy balls is the same grinding of mesquite that Cabeza de Vaca chronicles in his 1542 journal about Texas, where he describes our Texas […]
Pinole is roasted corn, ground into a fine powder and sweetened with piloncillo, unrefined Mexican cane sugar. The Tarahumara community in Chihuahua, just south of El Paso is famous for the endurance of runners over long distances and pinole is their go-to nutrition. The Tarahumara […]
Dulce De Leche Quemada means burnt milk candy. I dug up this recipe from my archives because it makes for a good stay-at-home project. It’ll take several hours to cook and kids and adults will love them, extra yummy with roasted pecans. As far as […]
Mazapan Mexican peanut candy is lush and delicious, and it’s the perfect weekend recipe because it requires no cooking. I suggest you call up some friends and have fun making Mexican mazapán. Make a big batch, like I did, and you will also make memories. […]
My mom Dominga, regularly made dulce de leche quemada (aka Texas pecan caramel) for us kids. We had four pecan trees in our backyard, so the lush candy was laden with plenty of roasted pecans. The trick is to roast the pecans before adding them […]
WHAT? The Mexican candy advertisement above is from around 1915’s -20’s. The candy shop was owned by Clyde Corrigan, according to Sarah Gould archivist and researcher at Institute Of Texan Cultures in San Antonio, Texas. It is discussed in the book chronicling segregation of Mexican-Americans, […]
Mazapán Mexican candy is a cousin of Marzipan, which is made with almonds and sugar. Marzipan originates in Asia and the Middle East. Mazapán is distinctly Mexican in that it replaces the almonds with peanuts, which are of Latin American origin. We add corn, which […]
I made this Mexican candy, mazapán, which was shown as an art object, and eaten, at the collaborative art exhibit held February, 2010 in Houston, Texas, “The Candy Shop.” A cousin of marzipan (made with almonds and sugar) which originates in Asia and/or the Middle […]
Here’s the link to the art exhibit in which food, candy in particular, is not just served at the exhibit but is actually the art. “The Candy Shop” features three visual artists and myself as chef exploring issues surrounding the manufacture, commercialization, advertising and transporting […]