This is a guest post by Katherine Robinson. Katherine Robinson is a freelance writer who enjoys writing about her travel experiences which may be useful to other travellers.
This week’s featured dish is actually a traditional Mexican dessert. I wasn’t familiar with Mexican desserts until my first trip to Mexico. One of my favourite sweet dishes that I tried during my holiday in the country was Capirotada and it seems very appropriate to write about it now because it is traditionally eaten during the observation of Lent which begins today.
What is Capirotada?
Capirotada is the Mexican equivalent of bread pudding and it consists of toasted French bread soaked in mulled syrup with sugar, cheese, raisins, cinnamon sticks and walnuts. Remember, now is the time so if you’re going to be travelling to Mexico don’t forget to ask to try it. If you want to order it in Spanish you can say, “Quisera Capirotada por favor” which translates to I would like Capirotada please.
Where does it originate from?
This dish is eaten all over Mexico and it is very symbolic as it is a reminder to Mexicans of the suffering of Christ on Good Friday. Each of the ingredients in the dish symbolise something. The bread is for the Body of Christ, the syrup is his blood, the raisins are the nails of the cross, the cinnamon sticks are the wood of the cross and the cheese stands for the Holy Shroud.
This year Lent falls between March 9th and April 23rd, so if you have booked airline tickets to Mexico during Lent or Easter you will most certainly get to sample this dessert. Keep in mind that it’s never too late to book a flight to Mexico as there are lots of last minute deals near the time when airlines are trying to sell off their last seats.
Photo credit: via flickr
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Wherever you find Mexicans in the states, you’ll find that we all grew up eating capirotada. With the ingredients mentioned above and peanuts also. But those poking around their mothers and aunts making capirotada, too curious and who couldn’t wait to taste the capirotada ended up biting the raw sugar ( piloncillo) not expecting the strong flavor of it, ended up hating capirotada! My mother just tonight in search of all the perfect ingredients for her capirotada…
It’s always so interesting to hear that many of these traditional Mexican dishes are also well known north of the border. Growing up in Philadelphia, I rarely heard of any of them — until I arrived here in Mexico.