Sopa de lima: what it is and how to make it

What is it?

Sopa de lima is one of the most representative broths of the Yucatecan and peninsular repertoire. It is made with a very aromatic chicken or turkey (guajolote) broth, the juice and slices of the Yucatecan sour lime (Citrus aurantiifolia, local variety) — a citrus endemic to the peninsula, distinct from the sweet lime and the Mexican lime — red or white onion, tomato, sweet chilli or mild habanero, coriander and, above all, strips of fried maize tortilla that are added at serving for a crisp texture. It is a distinctive dish of Mérida, Valladolid, Tizimín and the whole Yucatán peninsula. Yucatán Today and México Desconocido record it as one of the state's gastronomic symbols. Its fresh citrus profile makes it ideal for the tropical heat of Yucatán and sets it apart from any other broth in the national repertoire. It is served as a starter or as a main course in traditional tasting menus alongside poc chuc, cochinita pibil and panuchos.

Origin and history

Sopa de lima has a mestizo Maya-Spanish origin. The Maya peoples already ate broths of wild turkey with local herbs and native citrus such as the Mexican lime before the arrival of the Spanish. The sour lime (Citrus aurantiifolia) reached the peninsula via Caribbean trade during the early colonial period in the sixteenth century and found ideal conditions to acclimatise in the warm climate of Yucatán, developing unique aromatic characteristics. The present-day soup is documented as such from the nineteenth century, according to Yucatán Today, in Yucatecan Creole cookbooks such as that of Manuela Navarrete (a family recipe collection published at the end of the nineteenth century). In the twentieth century, sopa de lima became established as a tourist dish when the hotels and restaurants of Mérida included it on their menus as a typical regional starter. Today it appears on the menus of restaurants such as La Chaya Maya, Néctar, Kuuk and K'u'uk, all reference points of contemporary Yucatecan cooking. The Yucatecan sour lime even has geographical-designation recognition in process owing to its varietal singularity.

Characteristic ingredients

The base is a well-seasoned chicken or turkey broth, made with bone-in pieces — breast, thighs, wings — boiled with onion, garlic, cumin, allspice (pimienta gorda or pimienta de Tabasco) and Yucatecan oregano. The herbs are strained out and the broth is prepared separately with the sofrito: red or white onion, tomato and Yucatecan sweet chilli (kʼaat ik or mild habanero chilli). The juice of the Yucatecan sour lime is the signature of the dish: it is squeezed in at the end of cooking to prevent the heat from altering the characteristic citrus aroma. Slices of whole lime are added floating at serving. The meat is finely shredded and stirred in. The maize tortillas are cut into 1 cm strips and fried in hot oil until golden; they are added at serving so they keep their crisp texture. Fresh coriander is added chopped at the end. Variants: the hotel version uses only chicken; the traditional home version uses turkey, considered more flavourful; some families add a touch of whole habanero chilli to the broth for a fruity heat. The final soup should have a light golden colour, an intense citrus perfume and a crisp texture at serving.

Cultural significance

Sopa de lima is an emblematic dish of Yucatán, officially declared one of the state's gastronomic icons by the Secretariat for the Promotion of Tourism. It forms part of the 'great trinity' of the Yucatecan repertoire alongside cochinita pibil and papadzules. The 2010 UNESCO declaration of traditional Mexican cuisine implicitly includes Yucatecan cooking as one of the most distinctive regional cuisines of the national corpus. The Yucatecan sour lime is also a key ingredient of peninsular agricultural identity: it is grown in towns such as Maxcanú, Oxkutzcab and Akil. In popular culture, sopa de lima appears in regional novels and in state tourism promotion as 'the soup that is like no other'. Chefs such as Roberto Solís (Néctar), Pedro Evia (Kuuk) and David Cetina (La Tradición) have reinterpreted it in contemporary Yucatecan fine-dining menus. The boutique hotels of Mérida and the Riviera Maya serve it as a culinary welcome to tourists. It is also a Lenten dish when chicken is replaced by fish, giving rise to the less common but equally appreciated 'sopa de lima de pescado'.

Frequently asked questions