The four most eaten ingredients in Mexico
From tamales to tacos, salsas to moles… they’re all made from the four key ingredients and have grown together. It is the crop-growing system called milpa.
A milpa is the biggest expression of Mexico’s food chain: Corn, squash, chiles and beans. A milpa as an agriculture practice that to this day –not only in Oaxaca, but in most states of Mexico and also in South America– goes beyond a productive food growing system, it involves the many people who grow but also eat what is grown from the milpa.
These are the four most eaten ingredients from the pre-hispanic time to this day. It is no coincidence that these four are grown together as they help each other in this microsystem.
Corn gets help from the amino acids produced by beans. A byproduct that goes along with it is squash, adding vitamins to the soil. But in nature, we always have variables. Such as grasshoppers, insects, spiders that usually come and eat the beautiful corn leaves. But our smart ancestors, use to grow chiles in their milpa to have a natural repellent to these living creatures.
Making this field a polyculture where everything has a purpose. Here in Oaxaca, we celebrate the milpa by continuing this agricultural practice and the rich cuisine these four ingredients give us.
One of my favorite dish is Sopa de Guías, which I will always refer to the taste of it “as walking through the fresh corn fields”.
Our dear and beloved team member Jesus grows his own milpa every year, if I’m lucky I get invited to cut squash blossom early in the morning, so that the squash blossom is found in its prime moment. A perfect addition to any cheese quesadilla.
At times, there are wild miltomates -or heirloom cherry tomatoes- in the mountain milpas. Another delicacy made out the milpa is tamales de elote. Young corn tamales that are wrapped in fresh corn leaves, this exquisite tamales are done with fresh young corn, shaved, ground and steamed the same day and garnished with crema and queso fresco. It has more of a sweet taste to it, these are commonly found in the isthmus of Oaxaca.
The list goes on and on from what can be cooked out of these four ingredients… In my mother’s last book Milpa! From Seed to Salsa - that she co-wrote with neighbors growing milpas from the mountains of Oaxaca to the Central Valleys. Through these essays and recipes, they praise the heritage seeds and sustainable practices in the face of Monsanto and the expanding distribution of GMO seeds.
Just like my mom, it fills me with pride to see everyone preserving the practice from thousands of years ago. I share her love and appreciation for this practice and defending the heirloom seeds.
A milpa is a way of life.
