A celebration where the unique flavors of this region take you to a gastronomic experience that captivates the palate. Get ready!
Municipal authorities of Tehuacán and the government of the state of Puebla announced that next October 19 season begins Hip mole 2023, an event that will bring together the cultural and gastronomic diversity of the region at various points. This huaxmole with goat meat is the soul of the Puebla and Oaxacan Mixteca!
Huaxmole is a word that comes from Nahuatl huaxmolli, which means: huaje stew.
Hip Mole 2023, an exceptional dish
To talk about this dish and the factors that make it have exceptional characteristics, we must refer to its ingredients, the environment and the hands that make it.
The crucial ingredient is without a doubt the goat, from which the name of this dish is derived, since what is actually used are the hip bones and the backbone, giving it a touch that stands out masterfully with the other ingredients.
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pre-Hispanic root
In addition to preserving the pre-Hispanic customs of grinding seasonal spices in the metate, the hands of traditional cooks are a fundamental factor, because they keep the recipes in memory, inherited from generation to generation, and make the clay pots achieve contain the flavors to make it a unique dish.
Ethnic Slaughter Festival
The slaughter of goats in the fall begins at the celebration of the Ethnic Slaughter Festival which marks the sacrifice of animals raised throughout the year and is what gives the name to this very popular dish that is only consumed during this season. Its purpose is to thank the work and health of the participants who were in the care of these animals, so they could eat them.
Click here to learn more about this festival
Characteristics of the Tehuacán goat
The goats that are grazed go up and down the mountain, so their meat is less greasy, harder, and since they do not consume water, the salt gives them a texture and flavor that makes a difference.
Desert and sea
In the region is the Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Biosphere Reserve, with a desert landscape with forests of columnar cacti, agaves and yuccas that create one of the most unique regions with 86 species of cacti, which also provides an enormous variety of food. that they consume during grazing that they take freely from the ground and that contains special characteristics rich in minerals, because this land was an arm of the sea about 105 million years ago.
Doña Gude’s traditional recipe
Gudelia Albino Méndez She is a traditional cook, who for 46 years has kept alive the recipe that she began preparing at the age of 16. The way of preparation inherited by her family for four generations, in Santa María Coapan, Tehuacán, remains intact.
In this community, the ‘coapeñitas’women who for more than 100 years have been dedicated to the production of products made with corn, such as tortillas, potato taquitos and memelas that they offer as they walk through the surrounding areas.
Original recipe Hip Mole
It has Creole ingredients harvested in the surroundings of Tehuacán:
- Hips game that boils the meat with garlic and onion and once cooked, the large green beans are added.
4 types of chili peppers
- Huajillo
- Costeño
- Miahuateco
- Chiltepetl
and more…
- Avocado leaf (from Santa Catarina)
- Tomatoes
- Tomatoes
- Green beans
- Garlic
- Onion
- red gourd
The tomato, tomato and chili peppers are boiled together, ground and fried. Later, the broth, meat and green beans are added with the water that was cooked. The gourd is lightly roasted for added flavor, ground, and added to the mole. It is seasoned with the avocado leaf and tender salt (from Las Salinas) is added.
Served with chopped cilantro and onion, lemon is optional.
The Las Salinas salt produced in the region is very low in sodium, which makes it a healthier product for human consumption. The main thing is the red gourd from the Mixtec people of Puebla and Oaxaca (red gourd is only available in Huajuapan de León and Santiago Chazumba, Oaxaca).
Maintaining the tradition of Mole de hips 2023
During the announcement of the season, the State Secretary of Tourism, Martha Ornelas Guerrero, called for maintaining the original ingredients and goat meat from the region.
Similarly, Íñigo García Manzanares, a goat producer, called on everyone to consume the authentic Hip Mole.
María de Jesús Huerta, representing the Tehuacán delegation of the National Chamber of the Restaurant and Seasoned Foods Industry (Canirac), stressed that more than 30 establishments in the municipality of Tehuacán and Puebla capital will offer this dish with prices between 450 and 500 pesos.
Check out some restaurants in Tehuacán and its surroundings
A festival of vibrant flavors
In addition to the unmissable Hip mole, other culinary delights stand out to accompany this festival. Don’t leave without trying the variety mezcal pichomel (gave marmorata), sweet mueganos. There will also be edible insects such as chicatanas, tecoles, also known as chinicuiles, escamoles, cuchamá, texcal and cocopache. Of flora, the cacalla, the palmetto and the tetechas that are obtained from cacti and agaves.
An unmissable place to try dishes prepared with insects and flowers is the Itandehui Restaurant.
Where to stay in Tehuacán and what to do during your visit
Prepare your next getaway to Tehuacán and eat a dish that offers the best of cultures that converge to please the palate and keep traditions alive.
Dahída Gutiérrez Communicologist; admirer of colorful and talkative Mexico that thrives on traditions and its people.