Chef Lupita
Agua de Chilacayota
Oaxaca's market agua fresca built on chilacayota squash, piloncillo, and Mexican canela, served cold with the spaghetti-like strands of squash and toasted seeds floating in the glass.
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Muicle (Té de Sangre)
Created by
Oaxaca's home remedy for tired blood, brewed from the dark leaves of the muicle bush. The water turns the color of old wine within seconds, and the cure is in the cup.
Beverages
Mexican
Comfort Food
5 min
Active Time
15 min cook•20 min total
Yield4 cups
Muicle is Oaxacan. The plant grows in the Central Valleys, around Tlacolula, Etla, Zaachila, in the patios of houses where the abuelas have always kept a bush by the back door for when somebody's blood gets weak. They call it te de sangre, blood tea, because that is what it is for. Anemia, fatigue, the heaviness women feel after childbirth, the slow recovery from a long sickness. You drink it warm, every morning, until your color comes back.
The leaves are nothing special to look at. Dark green, slightly fuzzy, narrow. But the moment they hit hot water, the brew turns. First blue-violet, then garnet, then the color of dark wine. The pre-Hispanic Nahuatl name was mohuitli, which became muicle in mestizo Spanish, and the same plant gave the dyers of pre-Columbian Mexico a deep purple-blue ink. The medicine and the dye come from the same chemistry in the leaf.
My mother kept dried muicle in a glass jar in the cupboard. She bought it from a yerbera at the Mercado de Sonora every few months, in small paper bags marked in pencil. When my sister had her first baby and could not get out of bed for the tiredness, my mother made her a pot of muicle every morning for three weeks. Within a month she was carrying the baby down the stairs. I am not making a medical claim. I am telling you what I watched. The senoras of Oaxaca have known this for centuries and they do not need a clinical trial to confirm it.
Keep this brew simple. Water, leaves, a stick of canela, a little piloncillo if you want it sweet. No me vengas con atajos and no me vengas with lavender or chamomile or rooibos blends. Muicle stands on its own.
Muicle (Justicia spicigera), also called mohuitli, mouitle, or trompetilla, was used by the Mexica and other Mesoamerican peoples both as a medicinal infusion and as a textile dye, with references appearing in the 16th-century Codex Badianus, the earliest surviving herbal manuscript of the Americas, compiled in 1552 by the Nahua physicians Martin de la Cruz and Juan Badiano at the Colegio de Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco. Modern phytochemical research has identified flavonoids, alkaloids, and the indigo-related pigment kaempferitrin in the leaves, lending pharmacological support to its traditional use against anemia, menstrual disorders, and inflammation. The plant remains a staple of yerberias across Oaxaca, Puebla, Veracruz, and Chiapas, and it is one of the few pre-Columbian remedies that has continued in unbroken household use from the colonial period to the present day.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
fresh muicle leaves and tender stems (Justicia spicigera)
Quantity
1 cup
loosely packed, or 1/2 cup dried
water
Quantity
4 cups
canela de Ceylan (true Mexican cinnamon)
Quantity
1 small stick, about 2 inches
piloncillo
Quantity
about 2 tablespoons, grated, or honey from the Sierra Norte
to taste
orange peel (optional)
Quantity
1 strip
fresh lime juice (optional)
Quantity
a few drops per cup
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| fresh muicle leaves and tender stems (Justicia spicigera)loosely packed, or 1/2 cup dried | 1 cup |
| water | 4 cups |
| canela de Ceylan (true Mexican cinnamon) | 1 small stick, about 2 inches |
| piloncilloto taste | about 2 tablespoons, grated, or honey from the Sierra Norte |
| orange peel (optional) | 1 strip |
| fresh lime juice (optional) | a few drops per cup |
Equipment Needed
- •Small clay olla or 1-quart saucepan
- •Fine-mesh strainer
- •Clay jarritos for serving
Instructions
- 1
Rinse the muicle
Pull the muicle leaves and tender stems from the woody branches. Rinse under cold water to wash off the dust of the field or the market. Discard the thick, hard stems. They give nothing to the brew. The leaves are dark green on top, paler underneath, and the smell when you crush one between your fingers is grassy, faintly bitter, slightly mineral. That is what you want.
If you are using dried muicle from a yerberia in the mercado, look for leaves that are still olive-green, not brown. Brown leaves have lost their potency and the tea will be weak and dusty. - 2
Bring the water to a simmer
Pour the water into a clay olla if you have one, otherwise a small saucepan. Add the canela. Bring to a low simmer over medium heat. Do not let it reach a hard boil. The clay teaches you patience: the water heats slowly, the canela perfumes it, and the brew that comes out has a roundness that a metal pot cannot give you. Preguntale a las senoras del mercado de Tlacolula. They will tell you the same thing.
- 3
Add the muicle and steep
Drop the rinsed muicle leaves into the simmering water. Within thirty seconds the water turns. First a faint blue-violet, then deeper, then the color of old wine. This is the dye that gave the plant one of its Nahuatl names, mohuitli, the color of dawn before the sun. Lower the heat to its gentlest setting and let the leaves steep for ten to twelve minutes. No longer. Past fifteen minutes the brew turns muddy and the flavor goes flat.
The color is the meter. When the liquid is the color of dark grenadine and the leaves have lost most of their green, the tea is ready. If your water stays pale, you do not have enough leaves. Add another handful and give it a few more minutes. - 4
Sweeten and finish
Pull the pot off the heat. Stir in the grated piloncillo until it dissolves, or hold the piloncillo back and let each person sweeten their own cup at the table with honey. The orange peel goes in now if you are using it, off the heat, just for the perfume. Cover the pot and let it rest five minutes. The flavor settles. The color deepens.
- 5
Strain and serve
Strain into clay jarritos through a fine-mesh sieve. The tea should be the color of dark garnet, almost black at the bottom of the cup, ruby where the light catches the rim. Serve warm. A few drops of lime juice at the table will shift the color, the tea turns pink-red the moment the acid hits, and that small piece of kitchen chemistry is part of the pleasure of drinking it. Take it slowly. This is medicine, not refreshment. Asi se hace y punto.
Chef Tips
- •Muicle is sold fresh in Oaxacan markets, the Tlacolula Sunday market in particular, and dried in any serious yerberia in Mexico City, including the Mercado de Sonora. Outside Mexico, look for it in Latin American botanicas under the names muicle, mohuitli, or hierba de la Virgen. Do not substitute another herb. There is no substitute. If you cannot find muicle, make a different tea.
- •Use canela de Ceylan, the true soft-stick Mexican cinnamon, not the hard cassia bark sold in American supermarkets. Cassia is harsh and bitter and will fight the muicle. Ceylan is delicate and sweet and lets the leaf speak.
- •This is medicinal. Do not drink it as a casual beverage three times a day for weeks on end without speaking to a doctor, particularly if you are pregnant or taking medication. The senoras drink it as a course, daily for a few weeks, then they stop. Respect the plant.
Advance Preparation
- •The brew can be made in the morning and held warm in a thermos for the day. Past 24 hours the color dulls and the flavor flattens, so do not brew more than you will drink that day.
- •Dried muicle keeps in a sealed glass jar away from light for six months. After that the color fades and the medicinal value with it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 245g)
Calories
25 calories
Total Fat
0 g
Saturated Fat
0 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
0 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
5 mg
Total Carbohydrates
6 g
Dietary Fiber
0 g
Sugars
6 g
Protein
0 g
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