Rica Quesadilla

If you are what you eat, then I’m a walking, breathing, cheese-filled tortilla. One a day is standard, sometimes 2, and I really can’t go more than a couple days without an intense craving. They’re on just about every menu, and a lot of times the only vegetarian option. The quality and flavors fill out a pretty wide spectrum, ranging from the mexican equivalent of a wonderbread pb&j sandwich on one end to an artfully crafted, slow food delicacy on the other end.

I had the privilege to be invited into the home of a local Mayan family in a pueblo near San Cristobal. It’s a long story how I got there, but it involved finding an ant in my street taco and a posh-tasting (kind of like in Napa, but this is liquor made from corn). But that’s not the story here; this is about the perfect rica quesadilla.

In this Mayan kitchen, they were preparing corn to be made into flour for tortillas. The kernels are soaked in boiling water with a bit of limestone, which helps take the skins off the kernels. (Note the meat curing above the fire.)

Disclaimer: These next photos come from another peublito of the Lagunas de Montebello in Chiapas. I’m not sure where this chef sources the flour for her tortillas, but I wouldn’t doubt that she uses the same traditional process of boiling the whole corn kernels.

What I do know is that these quesadillas were made with freshly pressed tortillas (I’m kicking myself for not getting a photo of the wooden press she used), filled with local cheese and squash blossom flours (flores de calabaza), and grilled over an open air fire.

Que rica quesadilla!