CULINARY THUMBNAIL

Here are two characteristics of this state's cuisine:

1. arid upland ranches provide fresh meat
2. southern part of state is in the Bajío, a rich, temperate valley between mountain ranges, forming a prime farming area providing excellent produce

TRADITIONAL DISHES TO LOOK FOR

• Tamales de Fresa-- Strawberry tamales; also tamales of guava (guayaba), garbanzo, and peanut (cacahuate)
• Cecina Seca con Naranja Agria -- dried pork with bitter orange
• Sopa de elote -- sweetcorn soup, in season
• Huaraches -- oblong item about ten inches long made of fried masa and stuffed with yellowish bean paste, and liberally garnished

SWEETS

• camote -- candied sweet- potato cut into bars and wrapped in paper
• capirotada -- especially found during Lent, a white-bread pudding with various combinations of ingredients, such as cheese, tomato, peanuts, raisins, and biznaga cactus, all covered with syrup
• jamoncillo -- finely ground nuts or seeds, especially pumpkin, pine-nuts, or peanuts, prepared with milk and sugar

Information on this page based on material presented in Gastronomía: Atlas cultural de México, 1988, an extensive and well illustrated work by various authors, published by the Secretaría del Educación Pública, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia in Mexico City.