More on Puebla: About Talavera and Mole Poblano

Our post today is a continuation of our Cinco de Mayo post and our featured city, Puebla.  Again, this is from the Visit Mexico website! 

TALAVERA: Clay Turns Into Art

Stair risers made with Talavera tiles

Talavera Water Pitcher

Soon after its foundation, Puebla was well known for its fine ceramics, especially for the style that would be called Talavera. This has been due to the abundance of quality clay in the region, drawing some of the best artisans. Between 1550 and 1570, Spanish potter from Talavera de la Reina in Spain came to Puebla to teach the locals European techniques of using the potter’s wheel and tin glazing. These new methods were mixed with native designs to give rise to what became known as Poblano Talavera.

The glazing technique of Talavera was first used for the tiles that still decorate many of the buildings in Puebla. Later, it was used to make pots, plates, jars, religious figures and other items. By the mid-17th century, the industry here had become well established. Guilds were formed and ordinances passed to ensure quality. Blue was used only on the most expensive pieces due to the cost of the mineral used to produce it.

All of the Talavera pottery’s intricate designs must be hand painted by using natural dyes derived from minerals unique to Puebla. It takes several days to produce one piece of pottery. There are about 200 factory workers today. Other than the factory and shop, you can see the Talavera pottery on the colonial buildings in the historic downtown area.

Pueblan Talavera is one of the world’s select “Denominacion de Origen”, a geographic designation reserved for agricultural and food products of distinct characteristics owed to an exclusive area (like tequila from Tequila, vanilla from Papantla, Champagne from France, Pisco from Peru). The D.O. provides legal protection against less authentic products of similar style trying to take advantage of known products. D.O. applies to Puebla State and the Municipality of San Pablo del Monte in neighboring Tlaxcala State.

 
MOLE POBLANO

A typical kitchen in Puebla with Mole Poblano on the foreground

Taken from mexonline.com, a History of Mexico website. 

 Most people associate mole with either with Puebla or Oaxaca , but the origin of mole poblano, the thick, rich, chocolate-tinged sauce made so famous in the colonial mountain city of Puebla, Mexico, is still disputed, and generally involves these two versions of the legend:

The first says that 16^th Century nuns from the Convent of Santa Rosa in Puebla de los Angeles, upon learning that the Archbishop was coming for a visit, went into a panic because they had nothing to serve him. The nuns started praying desperately and an angel came to inspire them. They began chopping and grinding and roasting, mixing different types of chiles together with spices, day-old bread, nuts, a little chocolate and approximately 20 other ingredients..

The other legend states that mole came from pre-hispanic times and that Aztec king, Moctezuma, thinking the conquistadors were gods, served mole to Cortez at a banquet to receive them. This story probably gained credibility because the word mole comes from the Nahuatl word “milli” which means sauce or “concoction”. Another connection could be that chocolate was widely used in pre-columbian mexico, so people jumped to that conclusion.

What do the real experts say? “The idea of using chocolate as a flavoring in cooked food would have been horrifying to the Aztecs—just as Christians could not conceive of using communion wine to make, say, coq au vin. In all the pages of Sahagun that deal with Aztec cuisine and with chocolate, there is not a hint that it ever entered into an Aztec dish. Yet, today many food writers and gourmets consider one particular dish, the famous pavo in mole poblano, which contains chocolate, to represent the pinnacle of the Mexican cooking tradition. …the place of origin of the dish and its sauce, the Colonial Puebla de los Angeles; this beautiful city, unlike others in central Mexico, has no Aztec foundations – and neither does the dish, regardless of what food writers may say.” Taken from The True History of Chocolate, Sophie D. Coe and Michael D. Coe [Thames and Hudson: London] 1996 (p. 216-7).

Whatever the origin of your Mole, be sure to have plenty of napkins nearby when eating any mole. As you dip your warm, homemade tortilla into the wonderful sauce, you are bound to take some home with you on your shirt, your arms and under your fingernails. Now you know you’re enjoying mole!

 Would you like to see a recipe for Mole Poblano on a future post?  Please comment below and let me know!