The Oaxaca Mole Myth: Land of Seven* Moles (*Yes, but in truth — so many more!)
- Lisa K. Wirth
- Apr 23, 2024
- 5 min read
When my nephew comes to visit, we like to make a checklist of all of his “firsts'' we get to experience together. Things like his—first time doing, seeing, tasting, or trying something new. (First time making fresh tortillas on a comal, check! First live show in a legendary jazz club, check check!)
Making a firsts list together an enjoyable way to capture trip memories, and the "data" collected makes for some fun tracking of all the ways over the years travel has literally widened his world view. For it’s in these firsts (and the expansions that naturally follow—in one's palate, lived experience, and perspective) that make journeys the most meaningful kinds of trips.
If you also view travel in this way: Oaxaca is your place. The Mexican southern state never fails to deliver on many firsts. There’s a reason it's referred to as the cradle of Mexican gastronomy—Oaxaca's biodiversity and culinary distinction is second to none.
Taking Count
I can comfortably wager: Your list of Oaxacan firsts will be difficult to fit on a single page. From your first time tasting X—any number of exotic ingredients rarely experienced elsewhere—like chicatanas (flying ants, a delicacy which imparts an earthy umami note to salsas), or flor de rosita cacao, an aromatic flower used to impart unique flavor to the prehispanic Oaxacan beverage tejate—to your first time trying any number of the region’s unique ancestral dishes.
Sure to play a starring role on any list: mole—and all its delicious tablecloth-staining variations. The sheer variety and variations of moles you will encounter in Oaxaca will make a lasting impression on even the most seasoned traveler.
Clearing up Mole Myths
If there’s a single dish that represents Oaxaca on the plate, mole would win the distinction, as it offers the truest expression of Oaxacan ingredients, resourcefulness, and culinary skill—in a single bite.
Oaxacan moles are revered, and for good reason. But their total number has been some source of confusion and debate. Some years back, when the state only had seven recognized regions, a tourism booster hit peak viralocity with a punchy slogan to promote a culinary festival: "Oaxaca: The land of seven moles." And the catch phrase stuck. However, in truth, Oaxaca has many—really hundreds and hundreds—more moles than simply seven. The slogan minimizes the breadth and true diversity of mole varieties produced in the region.
Americas’ First Fusion Food
The best moles are a symphony of suggestion—complex mother sauces made of local chiles, nuts, seeds, spices, and often dozens of other ingredients, in which no one flavor dominates. Culinary historians consider mole and all its forms to be the embodiment of Mexico's mestizaje (mixed Indigenous and European heritage, with influences coming from as far as Asia and the Middle East) and likely the first “fusion food” in the Americas.
The word mole comes from mōlli, or sauce, in Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs and the modern-day Nahua, the largest Indigenous group in Mexico. The many types of mole and their traditional preparation are elaborate, multiple-day affairs, involving the work of many hands and patient phases of cooking. As such, they are often saved for festive or significant occasions—like weddings, celebrations, or funerals.
How Mole is Made
The typical mole-making process is roughly as follows— one begins by making homemade meat stock, before carefully toasting each of the recipe’s ingredients separately on a comal (a circular cooking surface first made of earthenware at the time of it's invention in 6th century B.C. in Oaxaca). The comal is often placed directly on the fire or flame. In some cases, ingredients are pushed past toasting and are fully burned to allow for a different layer of bitterness to feature in the finished dish.
Once toasted, ingredients are ground by hand on a metate (translation: stone made of hands—a large flat stone surface, which is paired with a cylindrical stone to grind, used sitting on the floor). Alternatively, many households will bring their toasted ingredients to their local molino to grind the ingredients for them. Whichever option is followed—all this grinding produces a paste.
The resulting paste is then fried in oil, before being loosened with stock, and paired with meat or vegetables, rice or tortillas.
Which Ones to Try—Try them all!
Each Oaxacan mole differs by region, as much as by the cook. If you’ve only had cloying and chocolatey-sweet mole in the United States, you’re in for a treat.
The nuanced complexity of true Oaxacan moles and the variety available will delight. Each recipe provides you with an opportunity to experience specific chiles and ingredients grown only in Oaxaca, and for which there is no acceptable substitute—like the varieties of chile chilhuacle (black, red, yellow—negro, rojo, amarillo), or chile pasilla mixe, or native ingredients like the Oaxacan criollo nuez (pecans).
If you’re inclined to stick to solely to the guidance of that effective tourism booster, and want to prioritize the “seven moles of Oaxaca,” be sure and check out: amarillo, chichilo, coloradito, negro, manchamanteles (the literal tablecloth stainer!), rojo, and verde.
However, if you want to venture beyond this, look for the endless variations which appear on menus across Oaxaca. It might be an ethereal Mixteca mole blanco made with white cacao, which I’ve enjoyed paired with foraged wild mushrooms. It could be a robust estofada, often made for weddings and served with chicken. Its recipe includes amongst many other things: vinegar, raisins, cloves, almonds, olives, and capers. Or if given the opportunity—compare a Zapateca’s mole negro to that of a Mixteca’s, and see all the differences you can taste.
Whatever number of Oaxacan moles you have the opportunity to try, you’re likely to agree there’s not enough time to taste them all… and that’s all the more reason to book a return trip.
Joining us on our Oaxaca Tour? Bring your appetite!
In our Oaxaca Makes Me Happy tour, our guests will have frequent opportunity to taste and learn how a wide variety of Oaxacan moles are made.
This includes a morning spent in a hands-on cooking class in the kitchen of a skilled cocinera tradicional (traditional cook) in the Zapotec village of Teotitlan del Valle, where we'll learn how to make tamales with mole amarillo (yellow mole) of the Central Valley region.
Back in Oaxaca city: We'll also enjoy a structured mole tasting with a maestra of its many expressions: Chef Laura Olivia Canseco, of Los Pacos restaurant, a local standout in its second generation of family ownership.
From Chef Laura’s kitchen, we’ll enjoy a tasting featuring each of Oaxaca's classic “seven moles,” paired with a multi-course dinner of Oaxacan specialties.
(See our Tour Brochure for more details, including comprehensive day-by-day itineraries for our 9-day Oaxacan tour.)
Want to try and make mole back home?
In coming posts, we’ll share our favorite cookbooks from Oaxacan and Mexican chefs, which offer recipes for a multitude of mole varieties—and we’ll provide practical tips on what to buy and where to shop for important mole ingredients while you’re in Oaxaca. Also—if you’re someone who just wants a shortcut, we’ll share our picks for the best pre-made mole pastes, which can help shorten the time it’ll take for you to impress your friends back home with your mole mastery. Stay tuned!
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