Quelites & Quesillo
Territory: Tiuvta, Watsonville California
Author: Hugo Nava
Recipe: On this continent, the first species to disappear is the quelite, since it is considered a weed by the international market. Fortunately, in some regions of Mexico the variety of quelites is still quite wide, as campesino families migrants, we carry our seeds, we reproduce them in a land that we did not know but is now part of our territory and we continue preparing our ancestral recipes.
Hugo
I am a part of the central coast of California, I am the mountain covered in Redwoods, the birds, insects and migratory mammals, but I am also each of the seeds that for thousands of years feed my people, I am the quelites, the corn and the beans… that grow in this land that its originators named Tiuvta, I am a migrant named Hugo by his parents who cultivates the land with the migrant campesino community in resistance.
Recipe Name: Quelites y Quesillo
Recipe English Text: To prepare it, it is necessary to understand the footprint of the economy throughout history, specifically the severe impact on nature, since the industry has fed humanity with pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers composed of synthetic chemicals, damaging the earth, animals and our bodies, turning fields into extensive monocultures, destroying the natural landscape in every corner of the planet. On this continent, the first species to disappear is the quelite, since it is considered a weed by the international market despite being part of our ancient culture. Fortunately, in some regions of Mexico the variety of quelites is still quite wide, we as campesino families migrants, we carry our seeds, we reproduce them in a land that we did not know but is now part of our territory and we continue preparing our ancestral recipes.
Ingredients:
1 pound of tender alache leaves from the milpa, white salt, 100 grams of pumpkin flower and 200 grams of cheese
Method:
Boil water
Remove all thick or hard stems
Add alache when it is boiling
Add salt and turn off the heat.
Add to the pumpkin flower quesadilla accompanied by sauce
(The tortilla must be made by hand)
The portion of quelites should predominate the portion of the cheese and the pumpkin flower to taste the delicate and exquisite flavor of the alache
These tacos have to be tasted with the friends who helped plant the milpa