Where I’m living, the daily market borders the central plaza. With only 3 vendors selling food, the market offers a wonderful introduction to local, seasonal cooking in this part of the world. It is spacious & unhurried. There’s plenty of time to ask questions, and share recipes.
My haul this morning includes aromatic sour oranges, tiny plum tomatoes, fresh chaya greens, 2 kinds of chiles, juicy mangos, fresh cilantro, mint & chives, and a fat papaya. Today I didn’t wake up early enough for fresh pork.
After my shopping, I went across the street to the best loncheria of the 6 on the plaza for an empanada and a salbute, both garnished with cabbage salad, fried tomato sauce, & a pureed habanerochile salsa
Tropical fruits abound in the small villages of the Yucatan coast.Butcher sells out of pork by 9:30 A.M. on most days. Mondays, when the entire peninsula cooks Frijol con Puerco, they sell out by 8:30 A.M. Two freshly harvested pigs are brought to market daily.
The coastal villages lining the Gulf of Mexico in Yucatan state possess a sleepy, timeless vibe. Arriving at the wrong time, it may seem everyone has deserted this dusty paradise. Other times will reveal a vibrant community of fisherman and families, bustling with activity between the pier & the plaza. Looks can be deceiving for any traveler, but especially here in the hot Yucatan.
Constant sea breezes take their toll on buildings, signs, and furniture. Locals are accepting of the slow deterioration. They know where & when to eat & shop. Where to find the most delicious ceviche when the octopus is abundant. Village residents know what time the wood-fired ovens cool & the bakers put out crusty pan frances. Home cooks know that the butcher rises before dawn to harvest only 2 pigs each day, and shoppers must make their purchase well before 9 am.
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The dusty paradise of a fishing village. Progreso, Yucatan
Here’s what our tour looks like:
michelada beer cocktail
how salt is harvested
laguna rosada
beachside eating
handmade sorbets
botanas at a cantina
fishing village
salbute y empanada
BEACH TOWN FOOD TOUR (3 hours)
Our first stop will be Chicxulub Puerto, a small fishing village east of Progreso. We will visit the tiny Municipal Market, to learn about coastal Yucatan’s cuisine & ingredients. Then we will walk across the street to a tiny loncheria selling incredible empanadas, panuchos & salbutes. We will hit up a roadside coconut stand to fuel ourselves for the next leg of our journey.
Then we will travel 30 minutes by car to visit an active Mayan salt-making operation at the picturesque Laguna Rosada. We can see how salt is extracted manually, in a method virtually unchanged in 1300 years, & talk with a few of the 50 people who have the skills to extract it. A salty mudbath & the opportunity to take incredible photos are offered at no extra charge.
This stop will be followed by a quick tour of a nearby archeological zone, that a served as a local business center for traders who traveled to the region to purchase salt starting in the Late Preclassic period (100 BC-250 AD). The combination of the salt-making center side-by-side with the ruins really give you a perspective on Mayan life over the past millennium.
We will return to Chicxulub to take a short walk around town to enjoy some swimming, cold beers, a ceviche tasting & tropical fruit sorbet, before heading back to Progreso (15 min by car.)
Post mudbath float at Xtampu.
BEACH TOWN FOOD TOUR (full day)
Our first stop will be the historic shipping port of Progreso. We will visit the 90-year-old Municipal Market, to learn about coastal Yucatan’s cuisine & ingredients. We will share a typical local breakfast, Lechon (roasted pork on french bread) from a restaurant opened in 1937. Lechon is traditionally paired with Coca-Cola, but we will try several tropical fruit juices and agua frescas instead.
Then we will travel 40 minutes by car to visit an active Mayan salt-making operation at the picturesque Laguna Rosada. We can see how salt is extracted manually, in a method virtually unchanged in 1300 years, & talk with a few of the 50 people who have the skills to extract it. A salty mudbath & the opportunity to take incredible photos are offered at no extra charge.
This stop will be followed by a quick tour of a nearby archeological zone, that a served as a local business center for traders who traveled to the region to purchase salt starting in the Late Preclassic period (100 BC-250 AD). The combination of the salt-making center side-by-side with the ruins really give you a perspective on Mayan life over the past millennium.
Then we will have lunch across the street from the beach at a family-owned seafood restaurant in Telchac Puerto. Cooling off, hydrating with ice-cold beers, and swimming in the sea will be on our agenda for the next couple of hours. We will sample ceviche & choose from a plethora of fresh seafood. Before we drive back west, we will visit a typical sweet shop that sells the most amazing cheesecake I have ever tasted!
Our last stop will be in Chicxulub Puerto, a fishing village located 30 minutes away. We will drink fresh coconuts & take a short walk around town to enjoy tropical fruit sorbet & sunset on the pier before heading back to Progreso (15 min by car.)
Our all-day tour includes sunset at no additional charge!
Send a whats app by clicking on the icon on the lower-left corner or a send me a message for pricing & availability!
Eating at the Market in Merida! An order of salbutes topped with roast turkey, pickled red onions, and avocado; sopa de lima, salsa verde, and agua de pina con chaya.
Come with me on a personalized market tour of Merida. I love the buzzing energy of the market, witnessing the tapestry of relationships built over generations of merchant-vendor exchanges, and unearthing the best local & seasonal ingredients. My trips are comfortable, tailored to what you most want to experience. If you don’t care for the sights & smells of fresh meat or live animals, we can avoid those sections. If you want to eat the absolute best of the market food, we can chow down. If you are interested in seeing a bit of living history, that is guaranteed!
Tables full of local goodies! Seasonal fruit, local honey, candies & peanuts!
Let’s talk about making mole from paste from the market. What’s your technique?
I love taking advantage of all the small production salsas moles offered in Mexican markets. You can usually find mole pastes- solids sold in ceramic cazuelas or plastic buckets- or mole en polvo (powdered). Ask for 1/2 kilo, and it will be given to you in a plastic bag- sometimes double bagged. 1/2 kilo is usually a good amount for 4-6 people. I LOVE leftover mole to serve over rice or as enchiladas!
Be careful where you store it. I have had oily Mole de Xico stain the contents of my suitcase through 3 layers of bags! Now I store my plastic bags of mole in a glass jar or plastic tub. A friend recently sent me a kilo of mole from Puebla VACUUM SEALED. That is just above & beyond & I love it!
Mole en Polvo generally needs to be fried in lard or oil (try coconut oil) and then reconstituted with chicken broth. Mole en Pasta doesn’t need to be fried, you can just start adding broth & stirring it until you have dissolved all the chunks. The sauce will thicken when it starts cooling.
mole poblano en polvo
this mole has a special touch: candied sesame seeds!
