Pimentón de La Vera In Mexico City or Morelia?

[Panosmex]

We were recently in Mexico City's Colonia Roma for 3 days. I was really hoping to find some Pimentón de La Vera in a shop such as Ultramarinos La Naval or in Delirio, but I was unsuccessful. I was able to find a Pimentón Español picante at La Naval; and in the Mercado Medellín, got some nice pimentón dulce, but none of the deeply smokey stuff.

I hadn't tried at Ultramarinos "La Villa de Madrid", on República de Uruguay at Calle Bolívar, Colonia Centro, but it just might have it.

Does anyone know where this can be purchased in Mexico City; or better, in Morelia, Michoacán?

Mil gracias.

[Ruth in Condechi]

I know this may sound strange, but the Palacio de Hierro stores all have a gourmet section that surprises in terms of range of products and price. Here is the web page for them and it lists Pimenton de la Vera:

http://www.elpalaciodehierro.com.mx/webapp...d=&filterIndex=

a little long but at $38 Pesos a bargain! And they do mail order. I've found that the Palacio on Ave. Oaxaca has a large selection of spanish products that rivals some ultramarino stores. Another is La Naval on Ave. Michocan corner of Ave. Insurgentes. Surprising that they do have "sales" in this department as well.

And if you want a recipe for replicating with other chiles the flavor of pimenton ( my machine does not have accent marks!) go to :

http://www.fiery-foods.com/dave/pimenton.html

at the middle of the article on Pimenton de la Vera Dave provides a recipe of sorts.

Let me know how you fare.

[Panosmex]

Gracias, Ruth,

We were so close to Palacio de Hierro on Durango! I had no idea of their gourmet section. The next time I'm there, I will go there.

Yes, we went to La Naval at Av Michoacán and Insurgentes, but they only had a non-smokey, Pimentón picante.

Saludos,

Panosmex

I know this may sound strange, but the Palacio de Hierro stores all have a gourmet section that surprises in terms of range of products and price. Here is the web page for them and it lists Pimenton de la Vera:

http://www.elpalaciodehierro.com.mx/webapp...d=&filterIndex=

a little long but at $38 Pesos a bargain! And they do mail order. I've found that the Palacio on Ave. Oaxaca has a large selection of spanish products that rivals some ultramarino stores. Another is La Naval on Ave. Michocan corner of Ave. Insurgentes. Surprising that they do have "sales" in this department as well.

And if you want a recipe for replicating with other chiles the flavor of pimenton ( my machine does not have accent marks!)  go to :

http://www.fiery-foods.com/dave/pimenton.html

at the middle of the article on Pimenton de la Vera Dave provides a recipe of sorts.

Let me know how you fare.

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[nickarte]

I wonder if La Criolla in Polanco might have it. No, Ruth, you can't replicate it...it's from Extremadura, and is used in many southern and Gallegan (Spanish) recipes.

Better have someone who´s going to Spain pick you up a couple of cans at Corte Inglés - I just saw it there and it costs about 1 euro!

[Ruth in Condechi]

I wonder if La Criolla in Polanco might have it. No, Ruth, you can't replicate it...it's from Extremadura, and is used in many southern and Gallegan (Spanish) recipes.

Better have someone who´s going to Spain pick you up a couple of cans at Corte Inglés - I  just saw it there and it costs about 1 euro!

←

But of course, replicate was a poor use of the word. As with any food product, that is a regional specialty, you can't replicate you can only make/use a substitute.

That is why so many people who come here to Mexico find it difficult to "replicate" the flavors of this marvelous country. The same can be said of any ethnic cuisine.

First choice would be to try and get the real thing. But when you can't....

[Panosmex]

Success at last! We visited the Mercado San Juan, on Calle Pugibet, near the Torre Telmex. Just inside the middle door is a small stand, operated by Manuel Vargas. There, shiny red cans of La Chinata Pimentón de La Vera. at $30 MXP a can. Our brief recon found no other stand within the mercado selling this product. Pimentón, yes, but not Pimentón Ahumado de la Vera.

(Oh, but the embutidos or Spanish charcuterie closeby looked fabulous. There were also some of the best looking breads I've seen in México, esp the long, narrow, crisp crusted baguettes.)

But there's more!

Even more interesting were the both fresh and dried morels (in season of the rainy months) as well as chanterelles and boletus.

We moved along the outer perimeter to another stand where even more mushrooms were offered, plus gusanos rojos de maguey.

Nearby are seafood stands with gorgeous displays of huge shrimp and a variety of fresh fish. It looked wonderful to me. I was fantasizing how we could move to Mexico City to take advantage of such great looking foodstuffs.

The carnicerías didn't visually wow me as did those of Mercado Medellín in Colonia Roma, but I suspect that the meats are of high quality in this locale.

The produce stands had among their offerings Asian vegetables, including great looking fresh ginger root at $26 MXP a kilo. What an amazing price for such a quality product! Bean sprouts were in abundance and some not so great looking winter melon.

Thanks to Nickarte for writing about this place in his book, Good Food In Mexico City. It took us a while to locate it, as we were decoyed by the Mercado San Juan de Artesanías, on the other side of the Parque Pugibet. They are quite separate.

I did take some photos, but I haven't looked them over yet.