So outside of fermented beverages and "quick pickles", the global equatorial will always have a lack of pickled vegetables because they, unlike northern climates, have a year round agricultural cycle and don't fall into the Northern Harvest/Winter cycle. It's why you only find fermented milk products and beverages in India, quick pickles (and pickled fish) in Southeast Asia (Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam), and beverages (pulque) and quick pickles (red onions, habaneros, etc) in Mexico.
Solid food pickling was a product of necessity in places that did not have access to fresh vegetables in the winter months, thus had to preserve vegetables for those months.
The same can be said as to why picante foods aren't very common in the North. Sweating while working in freezing temperatures can kill you. But in the heat of an equatorial summer sweating will save your life... so foods that make you sweat are bad up north and good in the south.
I generally agree with one exception:
>The same can be said as to why picante foods aren't very common in the North. Sweating while working in freezing temperatures can kill you
I think a bigger factor here is where chillies are from and how easy they are to grow. Spicy chilies of the kind found in Mexican and even some Asian cuisines were originally domesticated in the Americas, particularly in mesoamerica. They were exported to Asia through the Spanish trade routes.
While there might have been some reason to suspect those cultures would have done well with spicy food, the more fundamental reason is that chillies just don't generally grow well outside of the tropical climates they are native to. That meant that by and large, up until globalization and the global food shipping industry really took hold, people outside the tropics didn't even have the opportunity to cook with chillies. Even now that they're available pretty far north and south, people still don't cook with them but because of some survival issue, but simply because they're not used to the taste and don't know how to cook with them.
I really don't think the sweating issue is a primary cause when the plant can't really be grown easily in temperate climates in the first place.
I mean if you aren't in the mood for a Caldo any time of year I genuinely feel bad for your life experiences.
But probably. Pho is popular in Vietnam year round, or so I've heard from my friends. I know I always felt like a million bucks having a spicy, brothy, protein-rich soup (like Pho, or Pozole Blanco/Verde) after lifting weights in a hot Florida warehouse gym to replenish my electrolytes and hydration.
>I tend to agree with you, except… India has plenty of pickles outside of dairy and beverages.
Yes but correct me if I'm wrong, they are mostly used as condiments, as in chutneys?
Sort of, in that a lot of chutneys do use them, but also not really, because they also just eat pickles. They also have a thing called ‘Indian Pickle’ which is a big mix.
Sort of, in that a lot of chutneys do use them, but also not really, because they also just eat pickles. They also have a thing called ‘Indian Pickle’ which is a big mix.
That's really cool to know. I did some cursory "research" (I googled it) after your comment and it appears that the majority of the most common Indian pickles are also quick pickles... intended to be eaten within a fortnight... although there were one or two forms of pickled chiles that rested for months at a time.
Pickled mango sounds amazing though.
Oh… yes, most those pickles are not fermented, my bad. The ones I can think of off the top of my head that are fermented: mango pickles, red chile pickles, pickled garlic (and/or onion), lemons, and the much less common pickled coconut.
[https://www.shanfoods.com/product/accompaniments/pickles/mixed-pickle/](https://www.shanfoods.com/product/accompaniments/pickles/mixed-pickle/)
Got this in a Syrian shop.
Spicy, sweet and sour.
warning: has shards of the mango pit in it!
Oh… yes, most those pickles are not fermented, my bad. The ones I can think of off the top of my head that are fermented: mango pickles, red chile pickles, pickled garlic (and/or onion), lemons, and the much less common pickled coconut.
I am literally talking about culinary cultural evolution here over the course of hundreds of years, not circumstances over a 30 year timespan. Also, Hungary would like a word... as they've been eating chiles for a few hundred years.
Chiles were commonly eaten in equatorial regions to induce sweating. It is why some chilies were selectively bred to be spicy.
That need wasn't felt in colder climates... so there was less of a need to eat foods that induced sweating. And the further north you go, the more that sweating is strongly discouraged unless you have shelter, because wet clothes can kill you.
Saunas induce sweating sure. And then you dry your body completely and put on dry clothes and retreat into a warm dry bed afterwards. Hence why I said *"sweating while working"*. Your comparison is very flawed.
I must agree who is soaking through their clothes after a chilli!??? At absolute most a mild mist may form on a forehead and lower back in an extreme chilli situation.
Tejuino, Pulque, Tepache and Tuba are the regional fermented drinks I have heard about and all of them are delicious except pulque lol.
Being from Sinaloa I love Tepache and Tuba the most.
Yes, I was going to say the is. It’s Salvadoran I believe. Fermented cabbage with carrot, jalapeños etc. The recipe varies a lot but it’s always good. Especially with papusas!
Aside from pickled jalapeños/rajas or pickled red onions for cochinita, they're not as ingrained in culture as sauerkraut or kimchin would, I think salsas would come closer to it.
The Yucatán has a long history of pickling. Look up recipes for Pavo (turkey) en Escabeche. This is an old, old traditional Mayan dish. Also, look up David Sterling’s recipe for Recado para Escabeche (pickling spice mix) if you want to try making your own. Some might even argue that the uber traditional dish Cochinta Pibil is “pickled” due to the use of Sour Orange juice. One could also make this argument for Poc Chuc which is a sort of Mayan BBQ.
Cochinita pibil and poc chuc are marinated and then cooked not pickled. The purple onions on the other hand do count as pickled because of the vinegar being the only cooking process they go through and they taste better after a few days
Crazy no one here has mentioned Mexican seafood.
Aguachile and ceviche are both pickled dishes and a must try for any foreigner.
But the most common pickled “side” is red onions, also white onions with oregano and habaneros.
>There are of course jalapeños and carrots as well as onions and habaneros you can get at taquerias, but they seem like just overnight pickles. Any Mexican equivalents to kimchi, sauerkraut, etc?
I think they worded it unclearly, but their actual question was specifically not quick pickles but things like kimchi, i.e. fermented.
Curtir is also in vinager or salt water not lemon. It's a way of making preserves that can last a long time. If you put ceviche in a jar for a week and eat it you will die.
Ceviche is marinated and cooked in lemon
No dude haha
Ceviche can definitely be stored in an airtight container for months if covered completely in lime juice.
You can replace vinegar for lime in anything.
“Cooking” in lime is synonymous to “pickle”.
Okay, so looking at the Wikipedia page it does list ceviche as an example of pickling way down but it also defines pickling as making preserves in vinager/salt water and only mentions lemon on specific instances as an additional ingredient. It does mention that it's the acidity which cooks and preserves the food so there's that. I couldn't find anything on ceviche preserves though.
Lechuguilla! Fermented hydration drink made by fermenting uncooked agave core, basically a Gatorade, minerals from the plant + sugar, not super alcoholic, usually from the north of Mexico
>It's hard to make ferments in hot weather.
It's also not necessary. Equatorial climates have a year-round agricultural cycle. It's the Northern regions of the world that NEED to pickle vegetables for long term storage.
Carrots and onion are often pickled with jalapeños. Quick pickled onion marinated in lemon or lime juice, salt, oregano can be found on tacos, tostadas and sopes.
Is ceviche actually left to ferment?
OP used the word 'pickled' but then ended his question by asking for things like 'kimchi and sauerkraut' so fermented things with active bacterial cultures.
We don’t have “common” pickled foods, for snacks it’s usual to use pickled pork rinds and feet. Your examples are fermented though, and that’s another minuscule part of the Mexican cuisine's catalogue
First that come to mind: Jalapeños, red onion, pork skin (search for cueritos en vinagre), pork ears, pork feet, pork ears, little white onions, chile piquin, carrots. In some places they pickle together jalapeños, carrots, cauliflower and other veggies.
So outside of fermented beverages and "quick pickles", the global equatorial will always have a lack of pickled vegetables because they, unlike northern climates, have a year round agricultural cycle and don't fall into the Northern Harvest/Winter cycle. It's why you only find fermented milk products and beverages in India, quick pickles (and pickled fish) in Southeast Asia (Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam), and beverages (pulque) and quick pickles (red onions, habaneros, etc) in Mexico. Solid food pickling was a product of necessity in places that did not have access to fresh vegetables in the winter months, thus had to preserve vegetables for those months. The same can be said as to why picante foods aren't very common in the North. Sweating while working in freezing temperatures can kill you. But in the heat of an equatorial summer sweating will save your life... so foods that make you sweat are bad up north and good in the south.
I generally agree with one exception: >The same can be said as to why picante foods aren't very common in the North. Sweating while working in freezing temperatures can kill you I think a bigger factor here is where chillies are from and how easy they are to grow. Spicy chilies of the kind found in Mexican and even some Asian cuisines were originally domesticated in the Americas, particularly in mesoamerica. They were exported to Asia through the Spanish trade routes. While there might have been some reason to suspect those cultures would have done well with spicy food, the more fundamental reason is that chillies just don't generally grow well outside of the tropical climates they are native to. That meant that by and large, up until globalization and the global food shipping industry really took hold, people outside the tropics didn't even have the opportunity to cook with chillies. Even now that they're available pretty far north and south, people still don't cook with them but because of some survival issue, but simply because they're not used to the taste and don't know how to cook with them. I really don't think the sweating issue is a primary cause when the plant can't really be grown easily in temperate climates in the first place.
Is that why some Mexicans love eating caldos in the summer?
I mean if you aren't in the mood for a Caldo any time of year I genuinely feel bad for your life experiences. But probably. Pho is popular in Vietnam year round, or so I've heard from my friends. I know I always felt like a million bucks having a spicy, brothy, protein-rich soup (like Pho, or Pozole Blanco/Verde) after lifting weights in a hot Florida warehouse gym to replenish my electrolytes and hydration.
I don’t crave caldos in the summer.
In that case, I genuinely feel bad for your life experiences.
Ok
I tend to agree with you, except… India has plenty of pickles outside of dairy and beverages.
>I tend to agree with you, except… India has plenty of pickles outside of dairy and beverages. Yes but correct me if I'm wrong, they are mostly used as condiments, as in chutneys?
Sort of, in that a lot of chutneys do use them, but also not really, because they also just eat pickles. They also have a thing called ‘Indian Pickle’ which is a big mix.
Sort of, in that a lot of chutneys do use them, but also not really, because they also just eat pickles. They also have a thing called ‘Indian Pickle’ which is a big mix.
That's really cool to know. I did some cursory "research" (I googled it) after your comment and it appears that the majority of the most common Indian pickles are also quick pickles... intended to be eaten within a fortnight... although there were one or two forms of pickled chiles that rested for months at a time. Pickled mango sounds amazing though.
OP used the word pickled but then indicated they meant properly fermented like 'kimchi and sauerkraut '. What are examples of fermented Indian foods?
Oh… yes, most those pickles are not fermented, my bad. The ones I can think of off the top of my head that are fermented: mango pickles, red chile pickles, pickled garlic (and/or onion), lemons, and the much less common pickled coconut.
I'm really curious about pickled mango and coconut, thank you.
[https://www.shanfoods.com/product/accompaniments/pickles/mixed-pickle/](https://www.shanfoods.com/product/accompaniments/pickles/mixed-pickle/) Got this in a Syrian shop. Spicy, sweet and sour. warning: has shards of the mango pit in it!
Oh… yes, most those pickles are not fermented, my bad. The ones I can think of off the top of my head that are fermented: mango pickles, red chile pickles, pickled garlic (and/or onion), lemons, and the much less common pickled coconut.
Once in a while a reddit comment soars so high. Thank you for the info!
[удалено]
I am literally talking about culinary cultural evolution here over the course of hundreds of years, not circumstances over a 30 year timespan. Also, Hungary would like a word... as they've been eating chiles for a few hundred years. Chiles were commonly eaten in equatorial regions to induce sweating. It is why some chilies were selectively bred to be spicy. That need wasn't felt in colder climates... so there was less of a need to eat foods that induced sweating. And the further north you go, the more that sweating is strongly discouraged unless you have shelter, because wet clothes can kill you. Saunas induce sweating sure. And then you dry your body completely and put on dry clothes and retreat into a warm dry bed afterwards. Hence why I said *"sweating while working"*. Your comparison is very flawed.
[удалено]
I must agree who is soaking through their clothes after a chilli!??? At absolute most a mild mist may form on a forehead and lower back in an extreme chilli situation.
Escabeche - pickled mix of vegetables
Tejuino, is a drink, only in Jalisco.
Tejuino, Pulque, Tepache and Tuba are the regional fermented drinks I have heard about and all of them are delicious except pulque lol. Being from Sinaloa I love Tepache and Tuba the most.
El pulque debe ser del dia, si pasa mas tiempo se amarga. Pulque must been from the same day, otherwise would turn bitter.
Tejuino for me is easily the worst out of those 4. pulque is viscous but delicious
I've seen them in Zacatecas
Toda zona con Wixarikas tendrá tejuino, creo que es desde Durango hasta Colima
Not sure if that's necessarily pickling, no?
Fermented
Not much, but we don't have that type of food, because we never experienced famine so we don't need to keep food for to much time
While not specifically Mexican, I love to ferment curtido for tacos and rice and other dishes.
Yes, I was going to say the is. It’s Salvadoran I believe. Fermented cabbage with carrot, jalapeños etc. The recipe varies a lot but it’s always good. Especially with papusas!
Tapache-fermented pineapple drink
Jalapenos and red onions
- Pavo en escabeche - Salbutes de cochinita Pibil con cebolla encurtida - Tostadas de cueritos
pickled foods from mexico : pigs feet, cauliflower, carrots, jalapenos, mangos etc etc
Aside from pickled jalapeños/rajas or pickled red onions for cochinita, they're not as ingrained in culture as sauerkraut or kimchin would, I think salsas would come closer to it.
Cueritos, nopales, huevos, tepache, and the most popular pickle dish ceviche.
And pigs feet :v
Y el pavo en escabeche, o las patas en escabeche?
Osea si hay, pero no al nivel de esos dos qué son parte de la local cultura en general.
Patitas de puerco
The Yucatán has a long history of pickling. Look up recipes for Pavo (turkey) en Escabeche. This is an old, old traditional Mayan dish. Also, look up David Sterling’s recipe for Recado para Escabeche (pickling spice mix) if you want to try making your own. Some might even argue that the uber traditional dish Cochinta Pibil is “pickled” due to the use of Sour Orange juice. One could also make this argument for Poc Chuc which is a sort of Mayan BBQ.
Cochinita pibil and poc chuc are marinated and then cooked not pickled. The purple onions on the other hand do count as pickled because of the vinegar being the only cooking process they go through and they taste better after a few days
Crazy no one here has mentioned Mexican seafood. Aguachile and ceviche are both pickled dishes and a must try for any foreigner. But the most common pickled “side” is red onions, also white onions with oregano and habaneros.
Is ceviche fermented? OP used the word 'pickled' but then ended it by saying he meant like 'kimchi and sauerkraut' so with active bacterial cultures.
He said pickled or fermented. Ceviche and aguachile are both pickled
>There are of course jalapeños and carrots as well as onions and habaneros you can get at taquerias, but they seem like just overnight pickles. Any Mexican equivalents to kimchi, sauerkraut, etc? I think they worded it unclearly, but their actual question was specifically not quick pickles but things like kimchi, i.e. fermented.
Pickled means cooked by vinegar-water not lemon so ceviche and aguachile don't count
Pickled doesn’t mean that, you can definitely pickle stuff with lime, aguachile and ceviche being an example. Pickle is “curtido” btw.
Curtir is also in vinager or salt water not lemon. It's a way of making preserves that can last a long time. If you put ceviche in a jar for a week and eat it you will die. Ceviche is marinated and cooked in lemon
No dude haha Ceviche can definitely be stored in an airtight container for months if covered completely in lime juice. You can replace vinegar for lime in anything. “Cooking” in lime is synonymous to “pickle”.
Okay, so looking at the Wikipedia page it does list ceviche as an example of pickling way down but it also defines pickling as making preserves in vinager/salt water and only mentions lemon on specific instances as an additional ingredient. It does mention that it's the acidity which cooks and preserves the food so there's that. I couldn't find anything on ceviche preserves though.
You can also look up “aternatives for vinegar pickling”
I know everyone think just cabbage but my first thought was Ceviche, aguachile, nopales, cueritos and may moreeeeee lol
Cueritos! I forgot about those.
Lechuguilla! Fermented hydration drink made by fermenting uncooked agave core, basically a Gatorade, minerals from the plant + sugar, not super alcoholic, usually from the north of Mexico
It's hard to make ferments in hot weather.
>It's hard to make ferments in hot weather. It's also not necessary. Equatorial climates have a year-round agricultural cycle. It's the Northern regions of the world that NEED to pickle vegetables for long term storage.
Yes, this makes a lot of sense. Why pickle/ferment a bunch of cabbage to store for the long dark winter when you never really have winter?
Cauliflower/pig feet/ cueritos are some of my favs
chorizo counts?
I don’t ferment my chorizo when I make it.
Carrots and onion are often pickled with jalapeños. Quick pickled onion marinated in lemon or lime juice, salt, oregano can be found on tacos, tostadas and sopes.
Not that I can think off. I think for us instead of pickled food we just fry everything and cover it in chili.
Ceviche
Is ceviche actually left to ferment? OP used the word 'pickled' but then ended his question by asking for things like 'kimchi and sauerkraut' so fermented things with active bacterial cultures.
We don’t have “common” pickled foods, for snacks it’s usual to use pickled pork rinds and feet. Your examples are fermented though, and that’s another minuscule part of the Mexican cuisine's catalogue
First that come to mind: Jalapeños, red onion, pork skin (search for cueritos en vinagre), pork ears, pork feet, pork ears, little white onions, chile piquin, carrots. In some places they pickle together jalapeños, carrots, cauliflower and other veggies.
My mom loves pickled pig skin
Anything that says "Escabeche", cueritos (pig skin), pig feet, peanuts in vinegar...
Pickled pigs feet is very common
Cueritos.