Jumiles are stink bugs in the Taxco region of Mexico, Guerrero State, that are collected to be eaten. They are eaten raw (whole or ground), or roasted or fried. A salsa is prepared with them using jumiles that have been crushed in a molcajete, with added green tomatoes (tomatillos), chiles, onions and garlic.
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One of the stink bugs on my plate before it flew away.
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A baggie with the left over stink bugs that were not used to make our salsa.
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Taxco has a festival featuring the jumile on November 1, the beginning of the season, and crown a Jumil Queen. The season lasts until February when the jumiles become much less common.
Our guide, Arnold Pedroza, took us to del Angel Inn in Taxco and as we walked in, he asked a waiter to go to the market and buy jumiles and make the salsa for us. Later, our waiter brought us up the salsa along with some guacamole and tortillas and the remaining jumiles they'd purchased in a plastic baggie. The waiter let one of the jumiles out on to my plate where I got a picture before it flew away.
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| The jumiles salsa |
The salsa had little black floaties in it that I assume were jumiles pieces and it had a distinctive taste beyond the normal tomatillo and other ingredients. They have been described as having a "bitter, medicinal flavor" because of their high iodine content. In combination with the other ingredients the flavor was not bitter, but the normal sweetness and saltiness of the other ingredients were tempered.
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| The salsa on a corn tortilla. |
I tried the jumiles salsa on chips, on a corn tortilla and on a corn tortilla with guacamole.
I hadn't realized Arnold had sent them to the market for fresh bugs. A little taste of this went a long way for me.
ReplyDeleteI am Mexican but I never try those but don't scare to try those one day I know those stinks bugs are protein.
ReplyDeleteNo thanks . ....I prefer chimichangas jajajaj
ReplyDelete