Oaxaca is one of Mexico’s major gastronomic centers in Mexico. Because of its mountain ranges, the state has a multitude climates and cultures. The state has coastal areas with seafood, the Central Valley region grows a wide variety of vegetables, and the area near Veracruz provides a year round supply of tropical fruits.
Like the rest of Mexican cuisine, Oaxacan food is based on staples such as corn, beans and chile peppers, but there is a great variety of other ingredients and dishes due to the influence of the state’s varied geography and indigenous cultures.
We have visited Oaxaca many times and have enjoyed Oaxaca cheese, mezcal and grasshoppers (chapulines). We love dishes such as tlayudas, Oaxacan style tamales and the many varieties of mole sauce, a complicated sauce based on one or more chili peppers. Oaxaca has over 200 known preparations for mole, and only just a few use chocolate in the recipe.
We wanted to create a marinade that would bring some of the flavors from Oaxaca and we chose one of those delicious 200 moles.