Chiles
The company which sells us our Mexican chiles, sourcing from small farms in the states of Zacatecas, Chihuahua, Sinaloa, and Tabasco.
What is Masafina?
A traditional Mesoamerican process of cooking maize in an alkaline solution in order to soften the husk, increase the availability of the corn's nutritional value, and improve the texture and flavor.
What is nixtamalization?
The company which we work with for our house mezcals - based in Oaxaca, they work with small mezcal producers and only make about 30-150 litres of each batch. Each bottle is hand-numbered and wrapped in London, the entire project is certified carbon neutral, and 10% of all profits are gifted to charitable causes.
What is Sin Gusano?
The pepper which is used to make both chipotle and morita chiles (moritas are smoked for less time, making them softer and fruitier, while chipotles are more smoky and earthy) - ours come from Chihuahua and Sinaloa.
What is a ripe red jalapeño?
The company which sources our corn, working directly with upwards of 84 small family farms across central and southern Mexico in order to offer 25 varieties of heirloom corn - they only buy surplus from small farmers who grow crops for their own consumption.
What is Tamoa?
A cooperative of approximately 180 indigenous coffee farming families in the Sierra Juárez region of Oaxaca. They work with Red Bank to provide us with our coffee beans.
What is Café El Zapoteco?
The pepper which is used to make both bueno mulato and ancho chiles (ancho chiles are picked before fully ripening, making them fruitier in flavor than mulato chiles) - ours are from the North-Central region of Zacatecas.
What is a poblano?
The three varietals of corn which we use at KOL. (Hint: they're all from Oaxaca, and they're all on the bottom right-hand side of our tasting menu).
What are pink bolita, blue bolita, and cream chalqueño?
The name (or company) of the woman who hand-makes our salt pots; she is based in Aztompa, Oaxaca and uses only local clays.
Who is Manuela Velasco Villanueva, or what is Filigrana de Barro?
A versatile and complex chile which is made from the small and dark green chilaca pepper; the name translates to "little raisin", and we get ours from the Zacatecas region.
What is a pasilla chile?
The traditional Mesoamerican farming system which is used by the vast majority of our corn producers; characterized by the intercropping "Three Sisters" (maize, corn, and beans).
What is a milpa?
Santiago Lastra's home city, located just outside of Mexican City with a population of approximately 350,000 people.
What is Cuernavaca?
A fruity, sweet, and mildly spicy chile which is very common in Mexican cuisine; they are the dried version of the mirasol pepper (meaning sun-watcher), and we get ours from Zacatecas.
What is a guajillo?
A grinding stone of Mesoamerican origin which is used for grinding maize, seeds, cacao, and chiles; They are usually made from course volcanic rock, and we use ours to make masa in-house.
What is a metate?
The material which Fernando Laposse used to make our art piece behind the host stand - it is a Nahuatl word meaning "corn husk", and is a sustainable veneer material made from the husks of heirloom corn from Mixtec farmers in the south of Mexico.
What is totomoxtle?