Oaxaca (day 2)

Chocolate and market day! Oaxaca is filled with markets where vendors sell fruits and vegetables, spices, prepared foods, clothing, shoes, pottery, handicrafts and household items. The 20 de noviembre market was of particular interest to me for its sweet bread and chocolate stalls. I chatted with a few vendors about the Oaxacan tradition of eating pan de yema (an airy bread made with egg yolk) with hot chocolate for breakfast. There are two types of hot chocolate in Mexico, chocolate made from a base of water and chocolate made from a base of milk. Though taking milk with chocolate is an emerging trend of the cities, the traditional chocolate is still "chocolate de agua." There is another chocolate beverage in Oaxaca called tejate, which is a cold drink made from corn meal and chocolate and has foam on top. Unlike hot chocolate which is usually drunk for breakfast, tejate is a refreshing afternoon drink. Both drinks are prepared using molinillos, wooden spoons with rings that are spun to make the chocolate more frothy. I"ve started a small collection of molinillos because they are beautiful pieces of wooden craftsmanship.

Aside from the drink, chocolate is primarily used as an ingredient for mole. There is some debate regarding the official definition of mole, but it is generally known as a stew with chile that can adorn stews or enchiladas. Oaxaca has 7 official types of mole and many subcategories and not all of which carry chocolate. Mole negro, mole rojo and mole colorido are the three moles that are enriched with chocolate. I sampled dozens of types of mole and by this point am very familiar with the complex flavor of chiles, chocolate, peanut, banana and other spices blended together to form this dark paste. Surrounding the 20 de noviembre market are dozens of molinos, machines used to grind together cacao beans, cinnamon and almonds. This paste is blended together with sugar, then ground a second time to produce the bars for drinking chocolate. It"s actually a two step grinding process, the second round of grinding merely serves to make the chocolate texture even finer. There are two famous chocolate producers from Oaxaca: Mayordormo and Chocolate y Mole la Soledad. Both of which I visited, but at Chocolate y Mole la Soledad I had the chance to conduct an informal interview with the owner, Horacio. He and I had been in contact via email a few weeks ago as I was planning my visit, and he was kind enough to chat with me for over an hour today about the culture of hot chocolate and mole in Oaxaca. He even gave me a complimentary hot chocolate drink with pan de yema (egg yolk break) after our chat. To my delight, the bread soaked up the chocolate like a sponge. As if I hadn"t already eaten enough chocolate that day, for lunch I ordered a tamale oxaqueña filled with chicken mole. I think that I actually reached my chocolate limit for one of the few times in my life.