http://RealAdventures.com/vacations/438542_oaxaca-city-mexico-articles.htm Check out some of the recently updated travel & vacation listings on RealAdventures. Be inspired, go explore! en-us Fri, 27 Nov 2009 13:41:40 GMT Fri, 27 Nov 2009 13:41:40 GMT http://RealAdventures.com http://RealAdventures.com/vacations/438542_oaxaca-city-mexico-articles.htm 100 100 http://RealAdventures.com/listings/1156599_The-best-kept-secret-in-Oaxaca-grana-cochinilla http://RealAdventures.com/listings/1156599_The-best-kept-secret-in-Oaxaca-grana-cochinilla Articles Mexico Tue, 08 Apr 2008 20:04:58 Few travelers know that a tiny insect, native to Oaxaca, impacted the world economy for close to 200 years, after the Spanish first arrived in Mexico the strong natural red dye from the cochineal or cochinilla, a bug living off the nopal cactus. -
Few travelers know that a tiny insect, native to Oaxaca, impacted the world economy for close to 200 years, after the Spanish first arrived in Mexico the strong natural red dye from the cochineal or cochinilla, a bug living off the nopal cactus.


grana cochinilla fina

THE BEST KEPT SECRET IN OAXACA

by Alvin Starkman M.A., LL.B.

Most tourists have no idea that only a couple of hundred yards off the main highway, a minute or two from the black pottery village, is one the most fascinating destinations that the state of Oaxaca has to offer children and adults alike. And yet the majority of travelers have a least heard or read a snippet about the natural red dye which comes from a tiny insect and is used to color the rugs they buy in Teotitln del Valle, and other products including some of the foods and beverages we eat todaythe grana cochinilla fina, commonly known as simply cochineal.

I suspect that from reading their guidebooks or speaking to tour guides and taxi drivers, visitors are not generally made aware of the importance of this little bug on the world stage over centuries or perhaps they think its enough to buy a tapete and be told its been dyed with cochineal, and see and touch a few dried insectsrather than spend 40 or 50 minutes in amazement. It might be different if they knew that during the conquest era, next to gold and silver cochineal was the most valuable commodity known to mankind, and that in 1758 Oaxaca exported over 1.5 million Spanish pounds of it to Europe, Africa and Asia for a multitude of uses including the dying of fabrics including uniforms worn by British nobility and cavalry.

Together known as Tlapanochestli, the quaint research facility, museum, ranch and openair teaching environment is located at Santa Mara Coyotepec off a dirt road only 15 minutes from downtown Oaxaca. The attraction is designed to hold the interest of travelers of all ages and all backgrounds, from layperson to academic or professional.

Upon entering Tlapanochestli youll be greeted by one of the employees who works the ranch, or perhaps one of the two scientists who run the research and teaching programs, Engineers Manual Loera Fernndez and Ignacio del Ro Dueas. Youll learn about the lifecycle of the cochineal, how it attaches itself to and feeds off of a certain variety of nopal cactus, and about its harvesting and preparation for use as a dye. Both kids and grownups will delight and be awestruck at having either a live or dried bug squished on their palm yielding the scarlet pigment. Youll be taught why not all types of nopal cactus are suitable for production of cochineal, which ones are used to make salads, and about varietals which produce the sweet red edible fruit known as tuna, seasonally sold in marketplaces just as apples and oranges, and just as often encountered as a sorbet flavor or fresh fruit juice.

But your tour is not only about the insect and its host, but includes learning about a plethora of other natural products used to dye foods and fabrics, such pecan shells, oyster conch, pomegranate, marigold, moss, onions, and the ail plant which produces our blues and indigos. Combining some of these dyes with the cochineal results in yet a further spectrum of color. Youll also discover how to use cochineal in combination with lime juice or baking soda and with different colored natural wools to produce orange and purple hews.

One cannot help but marvel at the diversity of commercial products which utilize the cochineal as a coloring such as lipsticks and makeup for those allergic or sensitive to synthetic red and orange tones, Danone yoghurt, Campari, and even Campbells soup. Often artists have opted to employ cochineal and other natural colors for their work, and accordingly witness walls adorned with examples of fine art created without the use of chemicalbased paints. The photos of Prince Charles attendance at Tlapanochestli is a testament to the worlds continued fascination with the historical and contemporary significance of the grana cochinilla fina. In the gift shop theres an opportunity to purchase dried cochineal for your own use, ink in an attractive waxsealed bottle, paints and pastes, balls of yarn, soaps, clothing, and for the children perhaps a paint set consisting of dried cochineal to crush using the miniature clay pestle and mortar, along with coloring pages with instruction sheet directing how to use the kit and produce your own shades of red, orange and pink.

A short video puts the production of cochineal into its proper historical context using facts, anecdotes and mythology, along with colorful imagery, narrated using language easily understood by children. At the same time those with a background or interest in the sciences will have all of their questions answered. The film outlines the prehispanic use of the pigment the development of an internationally regulated industry attracting the attention of worldwide heads of state from The Conquest forward its importance in the global marketplace as the strongest and most brilliant dye known to humankind and its decline in the mid 1800s upon the invention of synthetic coloration and the subsequent adverse impact on the Mexican economy. While Oaxacan production and export never did recover from 19th century recessionary factors, the video concludes on a upbeat note documenting the industrys resurgence in recent decades in the face of widespread health concerns regarding the continued reliance on synthetic substances to dye commercial products.

After your cinematic journey back into history, and having gained knowledge about how natural dyes are produced and used in a multitude of applications, your perception of not only Oaxaca but also the Western World will have been enhanced foreverwhether youre in Oaxaca shopping for rugs, watching the native vendors in a market or ordering ice cream or sitting in the comfort of your home and sipping a Campari and soda.










Details & Reservations: The best kept secret in Oaxaca grana cochinilla
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]]> http://RealAdventures.com/listings/1120197_Cooking-classes-in-Oaxaca-Mexico http://RealAdventures.com/listings/1120197_Cooking-classes-in-Oaxaca-Mexico Articles Mexico Tue, 08 Apr 2008 19:04:21 A cooking lesson with internationally acclaimed native chef Pilar Cabrera is both a gastronomic delight and an education into the unique herbs, spices and other indigenous ingredients making Oaxacan cuisine perhaps the richest in the country. -
A cooking lesson with internationally acclaimed native chef Pilar Cabrera is both a gastronomic delight and an education into the unique herbs, spices and other indigenous ingredients making Oaxacan cuisine perhaps the richest in the country.


La Casa de los Sabores Cooking School
Alvin Starkman, M.A., LL.B.
If visitors to Oaxacan cooking school La Casa de los Sabores came away with nothing more than great recipes and a gastronomic meal rich in unique herb and spiceaccented flavor combinations that are the hallmark of Oaxacan cuisine, they would leave fully satisfied. But a visit with owner and chef extraordinaire Pilar Cabrera also inspires and sates travelers with a sensual daylong immersion into sights, sounds, smells and, yes, tastes and timetested recipes of southern Mexico.
As always, a recent culinary odyssey with Pili, as she is known, began at La Casa de los Sabores first thing in the morning at 930 a.m. Over the next few hours, she introduced me and the others in the class to the wisdom and experience of her great matriarchal culinary tradition. Pili learned the basics and the subtleties, including the mysteries of the famed seven moles, from her grandmother, who learned from her grandmother before her. She is a Oaxacaborn master of southern Mexico cookery as well as international epicurean trends, capable of sharing the secrets of preparing the most multifarious meal with novice and expert alike in English and in Spanish.
Our day began with Pili's informal talk about the menu and the foods she was going to introduce us to in one of Oaxacas colorful markets. The extra attention to the key ingredients of Oaxacan cuisine kept us spellbound. What we will achieve today with the chilis," she told us, "is hot and tropical with the Chile de agua, you will see we use it not only for flavor but color as well, and I will teach you how we keep this beautiful, brilliant green.
Once prepared with this knowledge, we all embarked on a shopping trip to the wellknown marketplace, Mercado de La Merced, armed with multihued bolsas market bags to carry the compras purchases. Pili had readied a partial shopping list, but, she advised us, she always adds "surprises," such as fresh foodstuffs which peasant women from the mountains sometimes bring down.

When you have a chance to find something real special or unusual, you buy and incorporate into the comida," she explained. "Today, for instance, we look for mushrooms, because they grow so beautifully in the rainy season. Also, we will see what kind of fresh fruit we can use for the dessert.

Her insights into the unique stores and small factories enriched the short walk to the market. A rich bouquet drew us into a mill that was making chocolate from scratch. As Pilar told us about the ingredients cacao, cinnamon, almonds and sugar the owner welcomed us with, do you want to taste?

The lesson began in earnest when Pilar began methodically searching through the indoor and outdoor portions of the marketplace and exchanging pesos for its plethora of fresh produce.

Look at that lady sitting there, what she has in those bowls," she said. "She just brought those raspberries and blackberries from the Sierra Juarez. We can use them for the dessert. Notice how fresh and beautiful. The mushrooms beside them, see the size, how big and the bright orange color this is the time of year, but not for our recipe today Over here, we dont buy the big green tomatillos. I prefer the little ones grown locally because they are not acidy like the others, and they have much more flavor, perfect for the salsa we are preparing today.

She encouraged us to smell the herbs as she explained their use in particular Oaxacan dishes. Today we use this hierba santa for the mole, she said as she was examining samples of the fragrant leaf until she'd found the best and freshest for storage in one of our bolsas. But we also use it to wrap fish and make tamales."

Lynet who had been in Puerto Escondido on the Oaxacan coast for six months, expressed the wish of many as she lamented, I wish Id been in this class at the beginning of our trip.

Our enthusiasm and our appetites grew once we returned to Doa Pilis wellequipped, spacious kitchen. Its wide counters, food preparation island and eightburner gas stove opening onto the lush courtyard dining area made this cocina into an ideal classroom.

While we were reviewing printed recipe sheets for the dishes we were about to prepare, she displayed our purchases in baskets filled with the components of each recipe to help us learn why we bought what. Then we spent the next two hours preparing a sumptuous fourcourse meal.

Mary, her souschef, did preparatory work such as halving limes, slicing chilies and preparing chicken stock and poultry for the mole, freeing Pili to teach us the rituals and secrets of Oaxacan culinary seduction. Sparks from Pilars hearth of experience ignited even the most learned in the class as she pointed, touched, and passed around each item we purchased, telling us how it would be incorporated into the meal.

Once the actual cooking began, she put her bilingualism to good use, giving instructions and asking questions in one language, then repeating it in the other, as required by some of her visitors. Necesito otro ayudante para quesillo, I need another helper for the cheese. Pilar might as well be a Maestra de Espaol, a Spanish teacher to boot.

Everyone learned each task and participated in the preparation of virtually all menu items. And as the group peeled, diced and sautd, Pili's gems of information flowed on.
We learned much more than how to achieve flavor. Pilar taught us techniques on how to attain desired tones and textures A lot of people ask me about cleaning mushrooms, she said at one point, demonstrating the correct technique. Now watch to see how we clean and seed this kind of chili, she pointed out while preparing chile guajillo for the mole. Once we start cooking these chile de agua, we need to remember to always check them and turn them constantly.
Look for the hot part of the comal now this is when you know when to turn it over, she said while demonstrating the art and science of making tortillas.

Every once in a while a new recipe rolled off the tip of her tongue as we worked other dishes we could prepare with this particular mole different fillings for the quesadillas such as potato, chorizo or huitlacoche, the exotic corn mold ... the texture we would want for the corn masa if we were making tamales rather than tortillas.

Soon, aprons removed, we were ready to feast. But first now before we sit down, remember in the market I told you there were two types of gusano worm? Here they are, so who wants to try?" she asked. Now know about mezcal. Taste this one Alvin brought, and tell us how it seems to you. Heres another kind. What do you think is different about this one?

We sat down at a table exquisitely set with local handmade linens, dishes and stemware. Bottles of Mexican and Chilean red wine were already breathing. The fine music of Oaxacan songstress Lila Downs serenaded us in the background.

Pilar reminded us that her grandmother and other relatives usually prepare their comidas with meat and all vegetables mixed together in the mole, a plate of rice on the side, and a bowl of broth. But our meal, like all the recipes she prepares with visitors at La Casa de los Sabores, would be her modern take on all the elements and flavor combinations of the best that contemporary Oaxacan cookery has to offer.

It was a celebration of every ingredient. We began with wild mushroom, onion, tomato, chili and cheese stuffing in the quesadillas de championes (mushroom quesadillas), complemented perfectly by smoky salsa verde asada (green sauce from the grill) served in its molcajete. Then it was time to calm our palates with bright yellow crema de flor de calabaza (cream of squash blossom soup), garnished with a drizzle of real cream, toasted calabaza seeds and indeed fresh squash blossoms. The main course or plato fuerte was mole amarillo tender slices of chicken breast atop a sea of aromatic deep saffroncolored mole, accompanied by a medley of crunchyfresh steamed vegetables. To conclude, arroz con leche (rice pudding), speared with a length of wild vanilla bean and crowned with berries that had been picked only the day before.

I left convinced that the grandest chefs at the most trendy Manhattan beaneries would be hardpressed to compete with this petite Oaxaquea's ability to marry the regions complex cooking with postmodern attention to color, texture and flare. For Pilar Cabrera, it comes naturally. For the rest of us, it comes with a visit to her home.

La Casa de los Sabores Cooking School is located at Libres 205, in downtown Oaxaca. Maximum class size is 8, with private lessons available upon request. You can register for Pilars classes by calling (951) 5165704 or emailing her at bbsabores@prodigy.net.mx. ( Websites http//www.laolla.com.mx http//www.mexonline.com/sabores.htm )

Alvin Starkman together with wife Arlene operates Casa Machaya Oaxaca Bed & Breakfast ( http//www.oaxacadream.com ). Alvin received his masters in social anthropology in 1978, and his law degree in 1984. Thereafter he was a litigator in Toronto until taking early retirement. He and his family were frequent visitors to Oaxaca between 1991 and when they became permanent residents in 2004. Alvin reviews restaurants, writes about life and cultural traditions in Oaxaca, and tours couples and families to the villages.


Details & Reservations: Cooking classes in Oaxaca, Mexico
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