Mexican Street Fruit with Chilli

History & Origin

The tradition of eating fruit with chilli and lime in Mexico has deeply pre-Hispanic roots. The peoples of Mesoamerica were already combining wild and cultivated fruits with dried ground chillies, a practice documented in Friar Bernardino de Sahagún's Florentine Codex, which describes how in Aztec markets fruit was sold 'with chilli and salt'. Jícama, mango and cucumber are ingredients of American origin that ancient Mexicans already consumed, though the orange arrived with the Spanish in the sixteenth century and was quickly integrated into the repertoire. Fruit carts, also called 'mobile fruterías', emerged as family businesses in Mexican cities in the early twentieth century. Each city has its favourite variant: in Mexico City mango with chamoy predominates; in Jalisco, tamarind; in Sonora, cucumber with salt and lime. The invention of chamoy in the second half of the twentieth century (a paste of chilli, dried fruits and vinegar) multiplied the possibilities of the genre. Piquín chilli and Tajín (a powder blend of chilli, lime and salt) became the universal seasonings of the itinerant fruit vendor. Today, fruit with chilli is considered one of the healthiest snacks in Mexican street gastronomy: rich in vitamins, high in fibre and low in calories when prepared without chamoy.