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FijiFlavors · Tequila
Distilled spirit from blue agave named after the city of Tequila, in Jalisco, surrounded by agave fields. It has a designation of origin since 1974, and the agave landscape and the region’s old industrial facilities are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Traditional drink from Tequila, Jalisco
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
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Tequila — Tequila, Mexico
Tequila is a distilled spirit made from blue agave (Agave tequilana Weber, blue variety). The plant’s heart, the piña, is cooked to convert its sugars, then crushed, fermented and distilled. Depending on the resting time in wooden barrels, the drink is classified as blanco, reposado or añejo.
The name comes from the city of Tequila, in Jalisco, between the slopes of the Tequila volcano and the valley of the Grande de Santiago River. According to UNESCO, the plant has been used there for at least two thousand years for fermented beverages and textiles, and since the 16th century to produce the distilled spirit. In 2006, the agave landscape and the old industrial facilities of Tequila, including the towns of Tequila, El Arenal and Amatitán, were inscribed as a World Heritage Site.
On December 9, 1974, the Official Gazette of the Federation published the protection declaration for the Tequila designation of origin, the first in Mexico. The protected territory covers the entire state of Jalisco and municipalities in Guanajuato, Michoacán, Nayarit and Tamaulipas. Only the beverage produced in that area and according to the official standard may carry the name.
In the city of Tequila, the bluish agave fields reach up to the houses, and distilleries welcome visitors to show the process, from cooking the piñas to the barrels. It is a beverage of local culture, to learn about and taste in moderation.
Tequila , Jalisco
The drink is named after the city, and the agave landscape and the old industrial facilities of Tequila have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2006; the designation of origin covers several states.
Blue agave (Agave tequilana Weber, blue variety). Tequilas labeled 100% agave contain only agave sugars; other tequilas may include other sugars in the proportion limited by the regulation.
In small measures, neat, to taste the agave; or in cocktails such as the margarita and the paloma. In Jalisco it is common to serve it with sangrita, a nonalcoholic drink made of fruit juices and chile.
At celebrations and meals, year-round. In the city of Tequila, visits to the plantations and distilleries take place throughout the year.
Your questions
Because of the city of Tequila, in Jalisco, surrounded by blue agave fields, where the drink has been produced since the colonial period.
Not only. The designation of origin, from 1974, covers the entire state of Jalisco and municipalities in Guanajuato, Michoacán, Nayarit and Tamaulipas.
The blue agave fields and the old distilleries between the Tequila volcano and the valley of the Grande de Santiago River, including the towns of Tequila, El Arenal and Amatitán. They have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2006.
Flavors of Mexico
Layers of corn tortillas with black beans and shredded cazón, cooked with epazote, topped with tomato sauce and habanero chile. Despite the name, it does not contain wheat bread. It is considered a symbol of Campeche cuisine.
Salted, dried beef — tasajo — cooked in a thick sauce of ground pumpkin seeds, with tomato and rice. It is the celebratory dish of Chiapa de Corzo, served especially during the January Fiesta Grande, the Parachicos festival.
Tacos of pork seasoned with a chile adobo, roasted on a vertical spit (the trompo), and served in a corn tortilla with pineapple, onion and cilantro. They descend from the tacos árabes brought to Puebla by Middle Eastern immigrants and took their current form in Mexico City taquerías.
White fish taco coated in a light batter and fried until golden, served on a corn tortilla with cabbage, tomato-and-onion salsa, mayonnaise or cream, and lime. It originated around 1960 at the stalls of the Mercado Negro, the fish market at the port of Ensenada.
Sandwich made with birote bread, a hard-crusted loaf, filled with carnitas and drenched in tomato sauce, with a spicy chile de árbol sauce on the side. A symbol of Guadalajara’s cuisine, which dedicated a municipal day to it on September 10.
Corn tortillas dipped in a guajillo chile sauce and fried, filled with cheese and onion, served with boiled potato and carrot, lettuce and pickled chiles. A typical dish of the city of Guanajuato, which tradition links to the wives of the silver mine workers.
Broth of cacahuazintle corn and pork thickened with a green sauce made from pumpkin seeds, tomatillo and herbs, served with many accompaniments. Dish from Guerrero, where Thursdays are pozole day.
Thin, crispy batter cooked on a round griddle and rolled like a tube, filled with queso de bola, a cheese of the Edam type. A street sweet from Mérida, created by a family of ice-cream makers in the city and sold at night from carts in the plazas.
Whole fish butterflied open, seasoned with a chile sauce and grilled over coals secured in a double-wire grill, the zaranda, which gives it its name. An official publication places its origin on the island of Mexcaltitán, on the northern coast of Nayarit.
Milk-fed kid opened, salted and slowly roasted on an iron stake beside the embers, in the shepherds’ style. It is the best-known dish of Nuevo León, present on the state’s traditional gastronomy routes, from Monterrey to the northern municipalities.
The darkest of Oaxaca’s moles: a thick sauce of chiles toasted almost to the point of burning, including the chilhuacle negro, with chocolate, seeds and spices. A celebratory dish of the state, prepared mainly in the Valles Centrales.
Poblano chile stuffed with a meat-and-fruit picadillo, topped with a white walnut sauce and sprinkled with pomegranate seeds and parsley, in the colors of the Mexican flag. A seasonal dish from late summer, associated with the city of Puebla.
Thick, dark sauce made from several dried chiles, spices, seeds and chocolate, traditionally served with turkey. Tradition links its creation to the kitchen of the old Convent of Santa Rosa in Puebla, the city that gives it its name.
Pork slowly cooked in its own lard in large pots until tender inside and golden outside, served in tacos. Quiroga, near Lake Pátzcuaro, is called the capital of carnitas: families in the town have been making them for more than a century.
Raw shrimp butterfly-cut and cured in lime with chiltepín chile, served with cucumber and red onion. It originated in the mountains of Sinaloa as a meat broth with water and chile and reached the coast, where shrimp took the place of meat. It is presented as the state’s most representative dish.
Freshwater fish with a long snout, grilled whole over coals and eaten with tortilla, lime, salt and chile amashito. It lives in the rivers and lagoons of Tabasco and is one of the state’s most representative dishes, with roots in pre-Hispanic cuisine of the southeast.
Salad of romaine lettuce leaves with a dressing of egg, lemon, garlic, olive oil and Parmesan cheese, served with croutons. It was created in Tijuana by the Italian cook Caesar Cardini on July 4, 1924, according to Tijuanan historian José Fernando Escobedo de la Torre.
Red snapper cooked in a tomato sauce with olives, capers, garlic, onion, herbs and pickled chiles güeros or jalapeños. A coastal Veracruz dish, from the Gulf of Mexico, considered one of the country's best-known fish recipes.
Pork marinated in achiote and bitter orange, wrapped in banana leaf and slowly cooked in an earth oven, the pib. A Sunday family dish from Yucatán that combines the pig brought by the Spaniards with a Mayan cooking technique.
