Nejo tamales: what they are and how ash is used

What is it?

Nejo tamales are one of the oldest and most singular tamales of the Mexican repertoire. They belong to the Costa Grande and Tierra Caliente of Guerrero, where they are made with maize dough nixtamalised using wood ash (instead of quicklime), which gives them a greyish colour and a unique flavour. The word nejo comes from the Nahuatl nextli, meaning ash. They are usually made with no filling, only with the dough enriched with lard, salt and sometimes whole beans incorporated into the mixture. They are wrapped in maize husk and steamed for several hours. They are served like bread or tortilla, accompanying ranch stews such as green mole, red mole, coastal chilli salsa or soupy beans.

Origin and history

Nejo tamales are a direct pre-Hispanic legacy: the process of nixtamalising with ash is a very old variant that still survives in rural areas of Guerrero and Oaxaca, although most of Mexico now uses industrial quicklime. El Cuexcomate and Quadratin Guerrero document that the name nejo derives from the Nahuatl nextli (ash), just like the nopal, which was originally called nexli in some regions. The technique of cooking maize with oak or mesquite ash was used by the Nahua, Mixtec and Tlapanec peoples of the Costa Grande and the Montana of Guerrero. Nejo tamales were considered a ceremonial and agricultural-festival food. Today they are made especially in municipalities such as Petatlan, San Jeronimo, Tecpan and Atoyac. The popular cook of Guerrero has been key in preserving the recipe through state festivals and gastronomic showcases that reclaim living indigenous cuisine.

Characteristic ingredients

Nejo tamale dough is made by cooking white maize with clean wood ash (instead of lime) for several hours until the husk comes away. That nixtamalisation with ash, a thousand-year-old technique, gives the dough a greyish colour and a slightly alkaline, smoky flavour. It is ground in a metate or mill, mixed with well-beaten pork lard, salt and, optionally, whole cooked pinto beans that remain embedded as morsels. It has no filling: the nejo tamale is plain dough, the equivalent of maize bread. It is wrapped in hydrated dried maize husk and steamed for 1 to 2 hours in a large steamer with salted water. The result is a dense, slightly fluffy tamale, light grey in colour with dark flecks of bean, and a deep flavour of maize cooked in ash with a very distinctive earthy finish. It is completely vegan and very nutritious.

Cultural significance

Nejo tamales are one of the living testimonies of pre-Hispanic Mexican cooking and represent a nixtamalisation technique that has almost been lost in other regions. In Guerrero, especially on the Costa Grande and Tierra Caliente, they are made at patron-saint festivities, at Nahua and Tlapanec indigenous weddings, on the Day of the Dead and at agricultural celebrations of the maize harvest. Quadratin Guerrero documents how in Petatlan and nearby municipalities traditional cooks still light fires with oak wood to produce the ash they need. El Cuexcomate highlights its anthropological value: they are a window into Mexican cooking before the industrial introduction of quicklime. They are part of Mexican intangible heritage recognised by UNESCO in 2010 and are on the radar of contemporary cooks such as Enrique Olvera and Margarita Carrillo, who have included them in fine-dining menus to honour rural Mexican cooking.

Frequently asked questions

What does the word nejo mean?

Nejo comes from the Nahuatl nextli, meaning ash. It refers to the method of nixtamalising maize using wood ash (from oak or mesquite) instead of quicklime. That process, predating the industrial introduction of lime, gives the dough a greyish colour and a characteristic alkaline, slightly smoky flavour. The same root is found in words such as nextamalli (maize cooked in ash, origin of nixtamal).

Where do nejo tamales come from?

They come from Guerrero, especially the Costa Grande (Petatlan, Tecpan, Atoyac, San Jeronimo) and Tierra Caliente. They are also made in Nahua, Mixtec-Tlapanec and Nahuat indigenous areas of the state. Some similar variants exist in parts of Oaxaca and Michoacan, but the nejo tamale as such is a Guerrero badge of identity. They are direct heirs of pre-Hispanic Nahua and Tlapanec cooking.

What do nejo tamales taste like?

They taste of toasted maize with an alkaline, slightly smoky and earthy base, very different from any other tamale. The ash adds a mineral hint similar to that of comal tortillas with ash. The texture is dense but soft, almost like rustic maize bread, with morsels of whole pinto bean if the recipe includes them. They are neither spicy nor sweet: they are neutral and lend themselves to accompanying spicy salsas and stews.

How are nejo tamales served?

They are served hot like bread or tortilla, accompanying Guerrero ranch stews: green chicken mole, red pork mole, soupy beans with coastal chilli, chilatequile or ranch chicken broth. Molcajete-ground coastal chilli salsa is spread on them and they are eaten with the hand. At breakfast they are accompanied by clay-pot coffee. They are not served alone like other tamales: they always go alongside a stew, as if they were its tortilla.