Jojutla rice by Covadonga

[caroline]

In Wal-Mart I just bought this rice. It's grown in Morelos and Guerrero apparently. It claims to have the thickest grain in the world. I can't vouch for that but it certainly is thick. It makes a great risotto-type dish. Has anyone else tried it? I am enthused.

This company's web site is www.covadonga.com.mx They also offer arborio, whole, jasmine and sushi rice though I have not tried those. to understand the name, google covadonga for catholic iconology. But do try the rice. Apparently the US is importing it to create crosses and hybrids,

Rachel

[shelora]

Hi Rachel,

Which Wal-mart? In Mexico or the U.S.? Do you think Sam's would have in Mexico? ?Aren't they affiliated with Wal-mart?

s

[esperanza]

I am going over to my friendly neighborhood Wal-Mart here in Guadalajara in a few minutes to see if they have it. My fingers are crossed.

Thanks for the news, Rachel.

esperanza

[caroline]

Wal-Mart in León Mexico, Shelora. Yes, Sam's and Wal-Mart are the same company. But I doubt they will have the rice in either in the US. Both have a lot of Mexican products down here. Whether this is because Mexicans demand them or because it is negotiated as part of the deal of opening stores I don't know. Does anyone?

Esperanza, look for a white box with a colored triangular virgin. I'll be curious to know what you think. The recipe on the box is for arroz con leche and I bet it is wonderful. In any case, given that most Mexican rice is pretty pedestrian (although Mexicans do great things with it), I was pleased to find this,

Rachel

[esperanza]

I bought the rice today, Rachel, but haven't tried it yet. The box is quite lovely. The recipe on the back of mine is for rice, chicken, and mole. I'll report back when I do cook some--it might be a few days, life is insanely busy right now, too busy to cook, if you can imagine. But what else is new?

Several weeks ago I bought a bulk rice at a local tianguis that honestly was the best rice I've ever eaten. Of course the vendor hasn't been back since...

Wal-Mart in Mexico is actually Wal-Mex, a Mexican-owned offshoot of ol' Sam Walton's empire. The store stock carried here in Mexico is Mexican (and Asian import) stock, with the odd item imported from the USA or elsewhere--just the way the stock in the USA is mainly USA (and Asian import) stock, with the few odd items from elsewhere. If they'd import the same quantity of food items from China that they do plastics, electronics, clothing, etc, it would be thrilling. Imagine finding Szechuan peppercorns at my local Wal-Mart? *sigh*

Wal-Mart in Mexico has several levels: (1) Superama, a sort of high end Wal-Mart supermarket. (2) Wal-Mart superstores, with a lot of everything from TVs to yoghurt. (3) Bodega Auerrera (spelling isn't quite right), a lower-end Wal-Mart. And then there's Sam's Club, the members-only part of Wal-Mart. We have several of each in Guadalajara.

PS: the Virgin on the box is Nuestra Señora de Covadonga, Virgen Patrona of Asturias, Spain.

Google rules.

Edited June 30, 2005 by esperanza (log)

[gnkindrick]

No Esperanza. You rule when it comes to anything Mexican.

[caroline]

Right on, Nick. And while you are at it Esperanza, don't let's forget Suburbia for clothes, and Denny's look-alikes El Portón and Vips attached to almost all Wal-Marts it seems. Though they do serve Mexican food. Add Carlos Slim for Tower Records and Mix Up, Sears (I think), the El Globo bakeries that are expanding like mad, and Sanborns and you've got Mexican shopping largely wrapped up. Well, that's an exageration.

Good look putting this month's issue to bed. And I wait to see what you think.

Best,

Rachel

[esperanza]

That's the nicest thing anybody's said to me all week. Thank you, Nick and Rachel.

[nickarte]

Walmart!!!!!! Sam's!!!!! AAAAHHHHH!!! It's back to the tianguis for me, girls!!!

PS The Covadonga is very good for what it is, but no replacement for Arborio or Valenciano. I've never seen a rice in Mexico (or US for that matter) other than Italian Arborio that is appropriate to use for risotto or Paella-type Spanish arroz dishes. Valencianos would use other than 'arroz valenciano' over their dead bodies, but I WAS told by a Spanish chef (from Madrid) that Arborio is OK if you cant get the "real" kind. Most "Paella" you see here in Mexico is made with regular Mexican rice, so it is really, as we say about alot of pseudo things here, "tipo- paella".

[esperanza]

It's a rare day that I shop at Wal-Mart and I don't have a membership at Sam's.

I'm grateful that there is a tianguis every day of the week in one or another of the neighborhoods near me, and most of my shopping is done at one of them. I'm a particular fan of the Friday market, the Tianguis del Sol. Not only is the produce fresh and spectacularly good, the fish, chicken, cheese and pork impeccable, and the dried chiles, beans and rice--and fantastic Colima sea salt--available in bulk, but there is a fonda with the best coctel de camarón I've ever eaten anywhere in Mexico, prepared to eat there or para llevar. That little fonda also makes a dynamite salsa from chile de arbol and toasted sesame seeds--just delicious, and it will blow the top of your head right off. They sell it by the jar, yahoo! I've come to know a CD vendor who is eager to indulge my taste for music other than the Mexican Top 40 (Tania Libertad and Eugenia León, to name two artists). One of the big pluses of this Friday tianguis is the marvelous clothing--bales and bundles and heaped up heaps of clothing--sold for almost no money at all. I recently replaced almost my entire wardrobe for about 1000 pesos--dresses, skirts, blouses, and an unmentionable or two. This is all top quality clothing, imported from the States.

I shop at Wal-Mart only for the house-brand soft drinks, cleaning products, and personal hygiene junk. Ya gotta get it somewhere.

[nickarte]

Where? Where? Where is your tianguis del sol??? Is it in el DF?

My favorite is the Tuesday tianguis on Pachuca/Veracruz, near the Edificio Condesa in the Condesa, D.F. (near metro Chapultepec) It has all the qualities you describe, everything presented beautifully, unusual things like arugala, as well as a couple of indiginous ladies from the campo who bring odd things like izotes, wild mushrooms, and chickens from their own home. For you out of towner foodies, this market is really worth a visit, and there are great quesadillas, flautas, mixiotes and cocteles de camaron in the "food court" area...

Oh and I confess, I buy my cotton khaki pants at Walmart, 150 pesos...it's true, ya gotta get 'em somewhere...

[esperanza]

The wonderful Tianguis del Sol is in Guadalajara.

Nick, next time I'm in the DF we'll go to the tianguis in Condesa...and to El Caguero. I still laugh at that...remember?

[nickarte]

The wonderful Tianguis del Sol is in Guadalajara.

Nick, next time I'm in the DF we'll go to the tianguis in Condesa...and to El Caguero.  I still laugh at that...remember?

←

Yes, let me know next time you come, and visa versa...

PS just went to "El Caguero" recently, and it's as good as ever...

[shelora]

I take it Jojutla rice is a short grain? Can anyone indulge me in a photo of the dry rice? I've been experimenting with arborio vs Bomba rice for paella and would like to see how the jojutla is different or similar in appearance.

[CookingFire]

I'm just responding to a PS, but could you tell me what is "El Caguero?" Good? Also -- my favorite tianguis here (DF) is Sunday at Napoles. Great Barbacoa -- (the corner at the intersection where the market is cut by traffic) I have eaten it most every weekend since I got here.

[esperanza]

Well...'El Caguero' is a pet name for Nick's favorite taco stand. Its real name is...you tell him, Nick. I'm laughing too hard.

[nickarte]

Well...'El Caguero' is a pet name for Nick's favorite taco stand.  Its real name is...you tell him, Nick.  I'm laughing too hard.

←

It's really "El Caguamo" which is a slang term for litre bottles of beer. It's a great "open-air" seafood restaurant (ie. puesto) in Mexico City's historic center, on the corner of Lopez and Ayuntamiento, near the San Juan market a few blocks south of the Alameda.

As for the joke, ask your mother to explain it, I'm busy right now.....

[esperanza]

How long has it been since I bought the Jojutla rice? A while! Today I finally cooked some. I followed the package directions: one part rice to two parts water, salt, bring to a boil, cover, allow to simmer over low heat for 20-25 minutes.

My first thought, when I poured the dry rice out of the package, is that it is a very large grain. Each grain is long and thick, but well-formed, not disproportionately thick. It looked nothing like the rice I usually buy at the tianguis, although it did strongly resemble the delicious rice I found there only once.

When the rice was done, it was a VERY large grain and unusually fluffy. I ate it with sliced beef cooked in an ancho chile sauce. It absorbed the sauce quite nicely and held up well on the plate. I'd buy it again, and I'd sure use it in a dish such as paella--it would make an excellent paella. There are other dishes I'd use it in, too, dishes where the rice cooks with a sauce rather than with water. It would work quite well.

I agree with Nick, however--it's no substitute for Arborio. I haven't used Valenciano so won't comment about that one.

Thanks for letting us know about this, Rachel.

Esperanza

[caroline]

Well, you're ahead of me Esperanza. I have yet to cook much of this. But what intrigues me are the possibilities that a variety like this might open up. If I were an inventive chef I would seize on it. specially if I were Mexican. Our local rice . . .

And it does look great. Chefs love that too,

Rachel

[bjcohan]

When I lived in Cuernavaca (with a wonderful cook named Esperanza, BTW, who had been born in Guadalajara), I learned to love most of the local rice of Morelos. The rice from Jojutla was superb, and there were other fine rices from other parts of the state as well. It was the closest in flavor to the glorious Thai rice that I buy in the States.

I agree, though, that it is no substitute for arborio!

(What I miss most from Jojutla is their extraordinary chicharrón -- thin and flat, with big trozitos de carne. Yum!)

Ah, now I'm homesick AND hungry!

Barb

[esperanza]

Lástima que no soy tu mismísima Esperanza, Sra. Bárbara.

Latest on Jojutla rice: yesterday I was at the tianguis where I had purchased an unidentified and most delicious rice several months ago. I hadn't seen it again since. But, there was the rice, looking suspiciously like--oh, could it be? This time I asked the vendor what rice it was.

YES! Jojutla!

She said it was very difficult to find here in Guadalajara and I thanked her profusely for bringing it. I bought a kilo (18 pesos, about $1.65 USD) and should have bought two.

I cooked some yesterday for comida, to go with a Thai-ish concoction of things. Superb rice, just superb.