Mole in Mexican Culture

Jessica Lehrke
FSCN 3615
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Mole (pronounced moh-lay) is a chile pepper sauce. It often includes chocolate, seeds,
tomato, and various spices. Mole has recently become more well known in the United States as
Mexican cuisine has been expanding beyond what Americans think of as Mexican food,
namely, tacos, enchiladas, and chips with salsa. In Mexico, this sauce has been around for
centuries. Today, mole is as varied and complex as the people of Mexico, adapted by region and
influenced by Europeans and the many flavors of the world they carried. Mole is a sauce, but it is
also a tradition, rich in a history that is both painful and celebratory.
When used generically, the word mole often refers to mole poblano de guajolote (also
referred to as just mole poblano or mole de guajolote), a recipe that includes chocolate and is
served with turkey. This is the most famous of the moles and, as the name implies, is claimed to
have origins in the city of Puebla1. However, there are many different types of mole from
different areas in Mexico, adapted according to the availability of ingredients as well as local
preferences. There is mole verde (green mole), which gets its color from tomatillos, fresh green
chiles, and fresh herbs, and is quite popular in the Mexican state of Morelos2,1. Green mole is
also popular in Oaxaca. This city is known as the land of the seven moles, the recipes for
which have been influenced by the more than 20 different ethnic groups that live in the area1.
Besides mole verde, the seven types include mole negro oaxaqueo, or Oaxacan black mole,
deriving its color from charred chile seeds, amarillo, yellow mole, originally made with a yellow
chile, red mole, a modern adaption of amarillo, coloradito, with no chocolate and potatoes added,
chichilo, a dark mole made with chilhuacle peppers, and finally, mancha manteles, or tablecloth
stainer2,1. But even all of these recipes have their regional variations. In some areas, like
Ocotepec, they like their mole more bitter, and so use cacao instead of chocolate, whereas in

others, like Tetecala, they like it sweet, adding plantains and cookies3. According to early Puebla
4

cookbooks, there are 44 different kinds of mole . Today, there are likely many more.
From a culinary standpoint, mole exemplifies the concept of mestizaje, or mixture, of
race and culture. One of the inspirations for mole came from Arab stews, brought to Mexico by
Europeans5. However, many claim that mole was invented in 1680 by a nun in the Santa Rosa
Convent when she was preparing a banquet for the viceroy. Supposedly, she invented this
complex blend of spices, chocolate, and turkey with the help of the wind, which blew just the
right amount of spices into her cooking pots1. This was a very romanticized version of a much
more difficult struggle between races and cultures, colonizers and colonized. With its blend of
new and old world ingredients, the word mestizaje might be the best way to describe mole, but
its true origins should not be forgotten.
The word mole comes from the Nhuatl (Aztec language) word molli, for sauce6. Two
of the sauces main ingredients, chocolate and chile peppers, are believed to have originated in
South America, the latter of which likely traveled by wind to Mesoamerica more than 7,000
years ago1. Pre-Hispanic banquets for Montezuma II, the Aztec leader at the time the Spanish
arrived in Mexico, are said to have included spicy meat stews made with turkey1. The favorite
beverage of the Maya was also a very mole-like recipea chocolate drink that could be mixed
with honey, chile peppers, and pastes made from seeds, or water1. Recipes like these were
influenced over time by availability of ingredients and new ideas.
When broken down, the basic ingredients of a mole are chiles, spices, nuts and seeds,
bread thickeners, basic seasoning vegetables (onions, garlic, tomatoes), dried or fresh fruits, fat,
chocolate and sugar, and some kind of liquid2. Chiles, chocolate, turkey, and tomatoes were all
original to the New World, but other additions to mole came from around the world. Cilantro, a

native to the Mediterranean and used by ancient Egyptians, was brought to Mexico by Europeans,
and it became a standard addition to moles5. The Spanish brought almonds, raisins, garlic, pepper,
cinnamon and cloves from the Middle East and Asia4. Muslim traders also introduced sugar5.
Mole, however, is more than the sum of its parts. It is a connection to history. Not only
does the recipe itself harken back to pre-Hispanic Mexican cultures, but even now, the tools used
to make the sauce are ancient in origin. Although many women today use a ready-made paste or
food processors to save time, it is still common on special occasions to use old tools, like the
three-legged grinding stone called a metate, or the mortar and pestle, called a molcajete1. The
word molcajete comes from the Nhuatl word molcaxitl, from molli (sauce) and caxitl (bowl)1.
Both of these tools are used for grinding, among other things, the cocoa beans, chile peppers,
seeds, nuts, and spices used in mole. Comales, or large clay griddles, are still used for cooking
tortillas and toasting seeds, nuts, and vegetables1. The ancient Aztecs were using the same tools
to cook very similar dishes to the mole created with them today.
In addition to these special tools, special spaces are used to prepare food in Mexico.
House-lot gardens are used for growing chiles and herbs that eventually make their way into
moles3. Preparing the dried chiles for a mole means stemming, seeding, and griddle-roasting or
frying, so that the air becomes full of the smell of capsicum and blinding smoke2. Having an
outdoor space, called a smoke kitchen, outdoor kitchen, or traditional kitchen, becomes
necessary for these preparations. Outdoor kitchens flow easily from the gardens to the indoor
space, and become a place for community, both for creating and sharing food3. Mole is not only
served here, but is often part of a gift basket reserved for honored guests3.
Given the complexity of the recipes and the fact that moles are often made for holidays
and festivals for large groups, the production of the sauces becomes an event itself, requiring

multiple, sometimes dozens of sets of hands. On some occasions, friends and family, mostly
women, will arrive days before a celebration to help the party hosts with preparation of the mole7.
There is often a hierarchy to the workfit younger women kneel to work the metates, grinding
chiles and chocolate, older women stir the mole caldrons, perfecting the sauces, and the most
honored guests go to the kitchen to sit and oversee the passing of sweets7. In this way, the
creation of the mole helps establish a sort of social order.
Women work in groups to create their masterpiece moles for milestone celebrations and
religious holidays. According to Presilla, mole is the obligatory main course for any Mexican
wedding2. For weddings in Oaxaca, not only is mole eaten at the wedding, but the grooms
family gives a turkey to their daughter-in-laws parents, with the understanding that her family
will provide a meal of mole amarillo with turkey the day after the wedding7. Mole is also
prepared for birthdays, Easter festivals, and Da de los Muertos (Day of the Dead)2,3,7. For the
latter, mole is part of the feast, but more importantly, is left as a gift on altars for the spirits that
come to visit7. The presence of mole at every celebration, particularly in such places of honor,
speaks to its significance and the reverence that Mexicans hold for it. Undoubtedly, a
communitys mole is a source of pride. As Christie encountered, when asked to describe their
community, a Mexican will begin by describing their excellent mole3. There is even a mole
festival held in San Pedro Actpan, a village near Mexico City, where mole cooks put their
recipes to the test6.
More than a source of pride, more than a festival food, mole can also be a healing food.
Mexican folk medicine is based on the belief that illness results from an imbalance of hot or cold
within the body, and is connected to the overall belief that one must give and take equally in life
in order to maintain harmony8. The hotness or coldness of a food is not necessarily

determined by temperature, but rather its exposure to the sun or to water and what kind of feeling
it produces in the body8. Mole verde is considered cold and is used to balance beef, which is hot;
other types of mole, like mole colorado, is considered very hot, and needs to be balanced with a
number of cold foods, including chicken or turkey8. Because certain moles are so hot, like mole
colorado, they determine the order in which a meal must be eaten, so that the mole is in between
cold items. Ingham observed that first the rice is eaten (cold), then the mole colorado (very hot),
then the chicken or turkey (cold), and ending with fat beans (slightly cool) with hot and cold
garnishes8. In this way, the cold food balances the mole, while the mole balances the cold food,
creating a complete balance and preventing illness. Mole is also used as an offering during
illness. It is believed that many illnesses are caused by los aires, or drafts, which originate from
ant hills, river bottoms, dank places, and caves8. When someone suffers from such an illness,
their dreams of food or drink signify that los aires are hungry, and an offering of food and drink,
including unsalted mole, is taken to the place of origin (an ant hill, cave, etc)8.
Mole is both the literal and metaphorical melting pot of Mexico. It is mestizoa mix of
the flavors of old and new, Native Mexican and European (and Middle Eastern, and Asian).
While the colonization of Mexico by the Spanish created great suffering for the people, and that
cannot be ignored, the cuisine benefited greatly from this merging of cultures. The complexity of
any given mole recipe as well as the extensive variation of the sauce speaks to its evolution over
centuries and through cultures. Like most things that endure for so long, mole comes with
traditionshow its made, who its made by, when and how it is served. The creation of mole
has shaped Mexican home spaces and social structures, and in turn, the people of Mexico have
given mole a place of honor in Mexican cuisine. It is worthy of the most holy celebrations, the
most significant life events, and the most honored of guests (living or dead).

References
1. Long-Sols, J, Vargas, L. Food Culture in Mexico. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press; 2005.
2. Presilla, M. Gran Cocina Latina: The Food of Latin America. New York, NY: W. W. Norton
& Company, Inc; 2012
3. Christie, M. Kitchenspace, Fiestas, and Cultural Reproduction in Mexican House-Lot
Gardens. Geographical Review. 2004; 94(3): 368-390.
4. de Bentez, A. Pre-Hispanic Cooking. Mexico, D.F.: Impresos GUGA; 1988.
5. Pilcher, J. Planet Taco: A Global History of Mexican Food. New York: Oxford University
Press; 2012.
6. Geddes, B. World Food: Mexico. Hawthorn, Victoria 3122, Australia: Lonely Planet
Publications Pty Ltd; 2000.
7. Gagnier de Mendoza, M. Oaxaca Celebration: Family, Food, and Fiestas in Teotitln. Santa
Fe: Museum of New Mexico Press; 2005.
8. Ingham, J: On Mexican Folk Medicine. American Anthropologist. 1970; 72(1): 76-87.