Chef Lupita
Chiapas Cochito Adobo Paste
Chiapas' brick-red recado for cochito, built from toasted chile ancho, guajillo, achiote, vinegar, pimienta gorda, and thyme before it stains pork for the oven.
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Nanchi Curtido Chiapaneco
Created by
Chiapas' nanchi curtido from the Comitán table: ripe golden nanche cured with cane aguardiente, sugar, and canela until the fruit turns sweet-sour, fragrant, and lightly boozy.
Sauces & Condiments
Mexican
Make Ahead
Special Occasion
Holiday
30 min
Active Time
0 min cook•672 hr 30 min total
Yield1 two-quart jar, about 24 small servings
Chiapas, especially the Meseta Comiteca around Comitán and the warmer valleys that feed its markets, is where nanchi curtido belongs. The fruit grows where the heat is generous, in the Central Depression, Frailesca, and the lower country toward the coast, then it travels up to highland tables in sacks and baskets when the season is right.
Nanchi is nanche, that small golden fruit with a smell people either love immediately or learn to respect. In Chiapas, women preserve it in cane aguardiente with sugar and canela because the season does not wait for anybody. The fruit is pricked, layered, covered, and left alone until the alcohol softens its bite and the syrup pulls the perfume out. This is patience in a jar.
Do not turn this into a cocktail garnish. Do not drown it in rum extract or use vodka because it was sitting in your cabinet. The point is cane alcohol, fruit, sugar, and time. The jar comes to the table in small portions, often after a heavy meal or when visitors arrive. My mother would have called that practical hospitality: feed them, give them something sweet, send them home warm. Saber cocinar es saber vivir.
Nanche, Byrsonima crassifolia, is native to Mesoamerica and has been eaten fresh, cooked into sweets, and preserved across southern Mexico and Central America since before the conquest. Sugarcane arrived in New Spain with the Spanish in the 16th century, and colonial cane distillation made fruit curtidos in aguardiente a practical way to preserve short-season produce in Chiapas, Tabasco, and neighboring regions. Comitán's nanchi curtido reflects that exchange between warm lowland fruit, cane alcohol, and highland table customs.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
ripe nanche, called nanchi in Chiapas
Quantity
2 pounds
yellow, fragrant, stems removed
Mexican cane sugar
Quantity
2 cups
aguardiente de cana chiapaneco
Quantity
3 to 4 cups
45 to 50 percent ABV, enough to cover the fruit completely
Mexican canela
Quantity
1 raja
whole cloves
Quantity
2
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| ripe nanche, called nanchi in Chiapasyellow, fragrant, stems removed | 2 pounds |
| Mexican cane sugar | 2 cups |
| aguardiente de cana chiapaneco45 to 50 percent ABV, enough to cover the fruit completely | 3 to 4 cups |
| Mexican canela | 1 raja |
| whole cloves | 2 |
Equipment Needed
- •Two-quart glass jar with tight lid
- •Clean bamboo skewer or small knife for pricking the fruit
- •Glass fermentation weight
- •Clean kitchen towel
Instructions
- 1
Choose the nanchi
Pick through the nanchi one by one. You want ripe yellow fruit with that strong, musky perfume that tells you the sugar has arrived. Discard anything green, bruised, moldy, or split open. This preserve is only as good as the fruit. Si no conoces el mercado, no conoces la cocina.
Nanchi is not jocote and it is not a generic plum. Ask for nanche or nanchi, depending on the vendor. In Chiapas, the word nanchi will get you closer to the right fruit. - 2
Clean the jar
Wash a two-quart glass jar and lid with hot soapy water, rinse well, and let them dry completely. The jar must be clean and dry. Extra water weakens the aguardiente and invites trouble. A home cook in Comitán knows this without making a speech about it.
- 3
Rinse and dry
Rinse the nanchi quickly under cool running water. Spread the fruit on a clean towel and let it dry until no surface water remains. Do not soak it. The fruit should go into the jar clean, dry, and whole.
- 4
Prick the fruit
Prick each nanchi once or twice with a clean skewer or the tip of a small knife. Do not mash it. You are opening a small door for the sugar and cane alcohol to enter. If you skip this, the fruit cures unevenly and stays hard at the center. No me vengas con atajos.
- 5
Layer the jar
Add a layer of nanchi to the jar, then a layer of cane sugar. Continue until all the fruit and sugar are inside. Tuck in the raja of canela and the two cloves. Pour in the aguardiente de cana until the fruit is covered by at least one inch. If the fruit floats, set a clean glass fermentation weight on top. The nanchi must stay under the alcohol.
- 6
Start the cure
Close the jar and turn it gently several times to wet the sugar. Keep it in a cool, dark place. For the first week, turn the jar once a day until the sugar dissolves into a golden syrup. Open the lid briefly every day for the first three days, then close it again. You are making a curtido in cane alcohol, not a vinegar pickle.
- 7
Age the nanchi
Let the jar cure for at least four weeks. Six to eight weeks is better. The fruit will wrinkle slightly, the liquid will turn gold to amber, and the smell will move from raw alcohol to fruit, canela, and cane. Taste one piece after four weeks. It should be sweet, sour, lightly boozy, and still recognizable as nanchi.
- 8
Serve small
Serve the nanchi in small glasses or jicara cups, two or three fruits with a spoonful of the amber liquor. This is not a bowl of dessert. It is a table sweet, a digestif, the kind of jar brought out after comida or during December visits. Cada estado, su propia cocina.
Chef Tips
- •Use ripe fresh nanchi when the market has it. If the fruit is green or has no perfume, do not make this now. Mexican grandmothers cook with what the mercado is selling today, not with what the calendar in your head demands.
- •Aguardiente de cana is the backbone. A clean cane spirit from Chiapas or nearby Tabasco is right. Vodka will preserve the fruit, yes, but it gives you a flat jar. That is a compromise, not an improvement.
- •White cane sugar keeps the liquid bright gold. Piloncillo gives a darker, deeper jar with a more molasses flavor. Both are used in homes, but do not use brown sugar with artificial coloring. Preguntale a las senoras del mercado.
- •This is not meant to be hot with chile. Not all Mexican condiments are chile and vinegar. Nanchi curtido is sweet, sour, and alcoholic, and that restraint is part of its identity.
- •If you see mold, slime, or smell rot instead of fruit and cane alcohol, throw the jar away. The fruit must stay submerged, the jar must stay clean, and the alcohol must be strong enough. Asi se hace y punto.
Advance Preparation
- •Nanchi curtido needs at least four weeks before serving. Six to eight weeks gives better fruit and a rounder liquor.
- •Once opened, keep the fruit covered with its liquor and use a clean spoon every time. Refrigerate after opening if your kitchen runs hot.
- •The jar keeps well for several months when the fruit stays submerged. It is made ahead by design, especially for holidays and visits.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 85g)
Calories
190 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
25 g
Dietary Fiber
3 g
Sugars
22 g
Protein
0 g
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