Typical traditional sweets on display in the Mercado de Coyoacán in Mexico City; seen are palanquetas, amarantos, cocadas, gomitas, chocolates y mazapanes; copyright-free image courtesy of Mariana Muñiz made available through Wikimedia Commons.Though some Mexican mercados have stalls specializing in sweets, more typically confections in the mercado area are sold from sidewalk vendors. Maybe a little table will be set up at a street corner, or perhaps a boy will be circulating with a tray of goodies strapped around his neck. As with tamales and breads, many sweets are made in only a small region, so when you enter the mercado area of a city new to you, be sure to be on the lookout for local specialties.
To give you an idea of how diverse the Mexican sweet-scene is, here's a list just of confections spotted in and around various mercado areas:
Alegrías ready to eat; copyright-free image courtesy of Julio R. Flores Andrade made available through Wikimedia Commons.- abuelos: in Nuevo León, candy made of unrefined brown sugar and nuts
- acitrón: crystallized biznaga cactus pith (Mamallaria spp.), shown below; the cactus is threatened with extinction; the removal and consumption of biznaga cactus pith to produce acitrónes is a federal crime in Mexico.
- alegría, seen at right: sweet of ancient lineage made from amaranth seeds toasted until they pop often the seeds mixed with raisins and nuts
- alfajor: confection of honey and a variety of fruits and nuts, particularly coconut, peanuts, almonds, raisins, dates, prunes, and pine seed; the various alfajor recipes are known by their own names, such as mosaicos, barras, and volcanes
- alfeñique: sugar paste; during the Fiesta de los Fieles Difuntos (during our Halloween), often made into shapes of coffins, skulls, crosses, and other figures alluding to death
- ante: in Nayarit, egg bread and cream sprinkled with raisins and ornamented with tiny paper flags of many colors
- ate: candied fruit; often ate is used as a suffix on a fruit's name, so that a mangate is a mango ate, and a guayabate is a guava ate; in some places, ates are called cajetas
- batarete: in Sonora, a thick paste made of toasted ground corn, unrefined brown sugar, and spices
- batido: in north-central Mexico, candy made with unrefined brown sugar, peanuts, and sesame or squash seed
- biznaga: candied cactus of the genus Mammillaria
- budín: pudding
- buñuelo: as seen at the right, a sweet bun with many variations; in northern Mexico typically of wheat flour and orange juice, sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon; about two inches in diameter
- burrito: brittle candy made of toasted corn and boiled syrup
- cabellos de ángel: sweet made from the filamentous pulp of the chilacayote squash
- cajeta: a desert, usually a caramel gelatin flavored with chocolate based on goat milk or, less traditionally cow milk, poured over fruit; at the right, a cupcake has been filled with cajeta; traditionally cajeta is congealed in a round box four or five inches across, made of thin wood slivers, though now it's more often sold in glass jars; there are cajetas de leche (based on milk), cajetas de membrillo (quince), cajetas de guayaba (guava), and many others; in some places cajetas are called ates
- calaverita: special for the Fiesta de los Fieles Difuntos festival, ±coinciding with our Halloween; sugary pastry in the shape of a skull, often bearing the name of a dead person being remembered
- calabazate: candied pumpkin
- camote: the word camote means sweet potato; when a sweet is referred to, it's a candied sweet-potato cut into bars and wrapped in paper, as seen at the right
- canario: in Oaxaca, a tamale made with rice flour, butter and egg, stuffed with egg and sweet condensed milk
- canelón: cinnamon candy
- capirotada: especially during Lent, a white- bread pudding with various combinations of ingredients, such as cheese, tomato, peanuts, raisins, and biznaga cactus, all covered with syrup
- caramelo: caramel
- cemita: a bread prepared in diverse ways; in Zacatecas it contains dried fruits, coconut or nuts, and is sprinkled with sugar
- charamusca: melted, twisted brown or white sugar, usually with peanuts or coconut
- chongo: bread fried in butter and cooked in heavy syrup, often topped with cheese
- cocada: dessert composed of coconut, egg, and sugar, sometimes also milk, pineapple, jícama, or even wine
- condoche: gordita made with sweet corn mixed with cinnamon, milk, sugar, and vanilla
- conserva: jam or conserve, typically made with fruit
- coyota: in Sonora, wheat tortillas sweetened with brown sugar
- cubileta: in Sonora, wheat tortillas sweetened with brown sugar; other places various kinds of cupcakes
- dulce: sweet, or candy
- dulce de coyol: a sweet made from the coyol palm, Acrocomia mexicana
- empanada: a wheat-flour tortilla folded over almost any ingredient, then fried in oil; a typical sweet empanada is one containing nuts and unrefined brown sugar
- encaladilla: an empanada containing sweet coconut
- flan: custard
- fruta cubierta: "crystallized fruit" -- a fruit or some other edible plant part, often a fig, orange, lemon, or pumpkin, coated with syrup
- galletas dulces: cookies
- gaznate: in Oaxaca, a cylindrical sweet filled with meringue
- gloria: in Coahuila and Nuevo León, a nut sweet
- helado: ice cream
- jalea: jelly
- jamoncillo: finely ground nuts or seeds, especially pumpkin, pine-nuts, or peanuts, prepared with milk and sugar
- macarrón: macaroons, some chocolate ones shown at the right, typically made of sugar, egg whites, coconut, and ground almonds
- mamón: a bland, spongy bread of corn starch, egg, sugar, and cinnamon
- marquesote: caramel; also a cake made of finely ground rice flour or cornmeal, sugar, and eggs, baked and usually cut into rhomboids
- memelita: in southern Pacific region, simple sweets based on cornmeal
- merengue: meringue
- mermelada: marmalade
- mondongo: fruit dish, often with mango, papaya, and soursop
- mostachón: a kind of macarrón, often with nuts
- muégano: in Puebla, the word for nuégado, or nougat
- nacatamal dulce: in Michoacán and Guerrero, a tamale wrapped in corn shucks or banana leaves, containing candied citron and raisins
- nieve: sherbet
- nuégado: nougat -- candy made with almonds or other nuts stirred into a sugar paste
- oreja de mico: in Tabasco, a wild papaya fruit -- much smaller than regular papayas in markets -- prepared with brown sugar
- palanqueta: a crisp candy based on piloncillo syrup and/or refined sugar, toasted corn, and nuts (especially almonds, peanuts, and walnuts); the ones shown at the right are of cacahuate, or peanuts
- pan dulce: sweet rolls
- panetela: dry sweetbread with egg, almonds, and spices
- papín: in Tabasco, a kind of custard
- pastel: cake
- pasteles: pastries
- pay: pie
- pegoste: apple marmalade typical of upland Jalisco
- pepitoría: like a palanqueta, but instead of nuts, seeds are used, especially of squash and sesame
- pilón or
- piloncillo: chunks of unrefined brown sugar, often sold wrapped in corn husks
- pipián: in Tabasco, a kind of custard
- ponteduro: in Yucatán, sugar paste cut into cylinders
- queso de tuna: candy made from prickly pear cactus, sometimes prepared with nuts
- rosca or rosquita: a ring-shaped cake often with a small toy baked into it, so watch when you bite into them...
- tamales dulces: like regular tamales steamed in corn shucks, but containing sweet ingredients such as pineapple
- ticuta: In Oaxaca, a cloverleaf-shaped cracker with coconut and cinnamon, sprinkled with red sugar
- torreja: in Oaxaca, slice of bread topped with egg and covered with honey
- totopo: In the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, a variety of the 10-to-14-inch-wide corn tortilla made of masa and containing ground fruit and sweetener
- trompada: melted, twisted brown sugar with peanuts or coconut
- turcos: in Nuevo León, sweetbreads stuffed with dried meat
- turrón: nougat -- a candy made with almonds or other nuts, stirred into a sugar paste
- turulete: in Tabasco, at Christmas and New Year, made of pinole, and unrefined brown sugar, and typically eaten at coffee time; different recipes in other states
- xato: in Oaxaca, a triangular cracker made of cornmeal and unrefined brown sugar
- yururichústata: in Michoacán, a gordita prepared with unrefined brown sugar
Acitrón prepared by crystallizing small pieces of the pith of endangered bizaga cactus; don't buy it; copyright-free image from Oaxaca courtesy of Cristina Zapata Pérez made available through Wikimedia Commons.
Buñuelo from Quintana Roo.
Cubileta relleno con cajeta, or cujeta cupcake, at bakery in Mexico City's historic center; detail from copyright-free image courtesy of "AlejandroLinaresGarcia" made available through Wikimedia Commons.
Camote, or sweet potato wrapped in paper and sold in Puebla
Macarrón, or macaroon, these made with chocolate; copyright-free image courtesy of "Hail Merry" made available through Wikimedia Commons.
Palanquetas sold on the street outside Benemérita Autonomous University in Puebla; copyright-free image courtesy of Adrián Cerón made available through Wikimedia Commons.