I want to share with you some of the lessons my parents taught me.
We are four sisters. We live in Chablekal, a comisaría of Mérida, and we are very proud of our traditions. Here I share a traditional dish from our grandparents' time — they had a milpa and grew squash. Now we plant and tend our surroundings ourselves, caring for the melipona bees and giving thanks to our Mother Earth for everything we are able to grow.
I love squash joroch. Early in the morning we go to the milpa to pick the squash blossoms and young zucchini, then come back home and put them on to cook. First we clean the blossoms, removing all the little bugs; then we add everything to the pot to cook and prepare the dough with lard and salt to make small tortillas, which we drop into the pot where the squash and blossoms are cooking.
It is served with a chile max salsa made with sour orange — and then you sit back and enjoy a true delicacy.
The best part of this recipe is sharing it as a family. This dish reminds me so much of my father's milpa and how happy I am whenever I am there.
Bertha Pool / Chablekal, Yucatán
