Mexican pickles: what they are and how to make them

What is it?

Mexican pickling is a family of preparations where vegetables, fruits and sometimes meats are preserved in a solution of vinegar, salt, herbs and spices, a technique inherited from the Spanish Mediterranean but adapted to the Mexican repertoire with its own ingredients such as habanero chilli, jalapeño chilli, red onions, Yucatecan oregano and sour orange. The most emblematic pickles are Yucatecan pickled red onion (an obligatory accompaniment to cochinita pibil and panuchos), pickled jalapeño chillies (with carrot and cauliflower), pickled güero chillies, spring onions, chicken or turkey escabeche, and habanero chillies in vinegar. The technique allows food to be preserved for months without refrigeration and provides sour, spiced and spicy flavours that balance fatty dishes, grilled meats, tortas, tacos and treats. It is part of the everyday Mexican table, present in markets and restaurants.

Origin and history

Pickling as a preservation technique reached Mexico with the Spanish conquest in the sixteenth century. Escabeche, a word of Arab-Andalusian origin 'al-sikbâj' that reached the Iberian peninsula with Muslim rule, was a Mediterranean method of preserving fish or meat in vinegar and spices. The conquerors and settlers brought it to New Spain and applied it with local ingredients: chillies, native herbs and Mesoamerican vegetables such as nopales and courgettes. According to Larousse Cocina, the Yucatecan eastern escabeche (turkey or chicken in vinegar with onion, garlic, white recado) is one of the oldest colonial dishes of the peninsula, a direct Arab-Mediterranean heritage adapted with achiote and xcatik chilli. Mexican escabeche was simplified compared with the European one: it uses more vinegar, less wine, more chilli and more onion. Yucatecan pickled red onion is probably the most emblematic pickle: finely sliced red onion, 'blanched' with boiling water (to soften pungency), and pickled in sour-orange juice or vinegar with habanero chilli, salt and oregano. México Desconocido documents pickled jalapeño chillies, industrialised from the mid-twentieth century (La Costeña, Herdez), which took Mexican pickles to international markets.

Characteristic ingredients

Mexican pickling has specific techniques depending on the ingredient. For Yucatecan pickled red onion: 1) Finely slice red onion. 2) Blanch for 30 seconds in boiling water or squeeze with salt to soften. 3) Cover with sour-orange juice (or lime mixed with apple-cider vinegar), salt, dried Yucatecan oregano and sometimes a whole pricked habanero chilli. 4) Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Ready to serve, it keeps for a week refrigerated. For pickled jalapeño chillies: 1) Cut chillies into slices with or without the veins. 2) Cut carrot into slices, cauliflower into florets, onion into slices. 3) Sauté everything briefly with garlic in oil. 4) Add white vinegar, water, salt, pepper, oregano, bay, cumin and thyme. 5) Boil for 5-10 minutes. 6) Bottle in sterilised jars with the solution; they keep for months sealed. For pickled güero and manzano chillies: similar to the jalapeño but whole, only pricked with a fork. For meat escabeche (chicken, turkey): the meat is cooked, lightly browned and submerged in an escabeche of vinegar, blanched onion, garlic, white recado and spices; it can be refrigerated for weeks. The vinegar must have at least 5% acidity to preserve; distilled white is the most common in Mexico, apple-cider is used for a milder flavour.

Cultural significance

Mexican pickling is a fundamental part of traditional Mexican cuisine inscribed by UNESCO in 2010 as Intangible Cultural Heritage. Yucatecan pickled red onion is an identity element of peninsular cooking, present at any table where cochinita pibil, panuchos, salbutes, roast suckling pig or turkey tacos are served. Pickled jalapeño chillies are a Mexican product of mass consumption: every Mexican home and every taquería has a can or jar, and the industrial brands La Costeña, Herdez, Del Monte and San Marcos export millions of cans a year to the United States, Europe and Asia. Contemporary restaurants such as Pujol, Sud777, Maximo Bistrot and Em Restaurante have revalued artisanal pickles with unusual fruits (mango, jícama, watermelon), regional chillies and artisanal vinegars. Mexican markets such as La Merced, San Juan and Sonora sell fresh and artisanal bottled pickles. The Yucatecan Maya villages, the Bajío villages and the central highland villages have traditions of family pickles passed down for generations. Pickles are also vehicles of cultural migration: in the United States, pickled jalapeño chillies are an immediate reference to Mexican cooking in bars, taquerías and tortillerías of Latino communities.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between encurtido and escabeche?

They are often interchangeable terms in Mexico. Technically, escabeche involves cooking the vegetable or meat in the vinegar-and-spice solution before bottling (hot). Encurtido can be done cold, submerging the raw vegetable in vinegar and leaving it to macerate. In Mexican practice, escabeche is more associated with meats (turkey, fish escabeche) and cooked vegetables (jalapeño chillies), while encurtido is used for red onion and fresh vegetables.

Why is Yucatecan red onion blanched first?

For three purposes: 1) To soften the pungency and harshness of the raw onion, which would be too intense to accompany delicate dishes. 2) To speed up the absorption of the vinegar or sour orange. 3) To maintain a bright purple colour and crisp texture without a raw flavour. Without blanching, the onion is spicy and indigestible. Some cooks only salt and squeeze it without blanching, also a traditional but less mild technique.

What do pickled jalapeño chillies taste like?

They have a balanced sour-spicy flavour: the acidity of white vinegar with sweet notes of cooked carrot, the moderate heat of jalapeño softened by the cooking, and the spiced aromas of oregano, bay and cumin. The cauliflower and onion absorb the flavours and become crunchy-sour. It is the universal Mexican accompaniment for tortas, tacos, refried beans, soups, rice and practically any street or home treat.

Where does Mexican pickling come from?

It is of mestizo origin. The escabeche technique reached Mexico with the Spaniards in the sixteenth century, an Arab-Mediterranean heritage (the word 'al-sikbâj'). It was adapted with Mexican ingredients: chillies, native herbs, sour orange and achiote. The Yucatecan eastern escabeche and pickled red onion are colonial-peninsular creations; pickled jalapeño chillies became industrially popular from the mid-twentieth century.