Chef Lupita
Coditos con Camaron Sinaloenses
Sinaloa's pinata-and-wedding pasta salad. Elbow macaroni, small Pacific shrimp, mayo, crema, and the brine from a can of pickled jalapenos. Always cold. Always next to the frijoles puercos.
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Pico de Gallo de Frutas Sonorense
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Sonora's pico de gallo is fruit cut into uniform cubes, dressed with lime, salt, Tajin, and crushed chiltepin. The salsa version, the one the rest of Mexico calls pico de gallo, is called salsa bandera here.
Salads
Mexican
Picnic
Outdoor Dining
Game Day
25 min
Active Time
0 min cook•25 min total
Yield6 to 8 servings
This is from Sonora, and the first thing to clear up is the name. In the Noroeste, pico de gallo means fruit. Jicama, mango, sandia, papaya, pepino, lime, salt, and chiltepin. The chopped tomato, onion, and serrano salsa that the rest of Mexico calls pico de gallo is called salsa bandera in Sonora because the red, white, and green look like the flag. Two different dishes, two different names, and if you walk into a marisqueria in Guaymas and order pico de gallo expecting salsa, the waiter will bring you fruit. Cada estado, su propia cocina.
The chile is the signature. Chiltepin, the wild bird's-eye chile that grows on shrubs in the Sierra Madre Occidental, harvested by hand in the foothills of Sonora and Chihuahua. Sonora declared chiltepin part of its cultural heritage in 2009 and the state takes that seriously. The heat is sharp and clean and it lifts off the tongue quickly, which is why it works on fruit where a slower-burning chile would smother the sweetness. Do not substitute Tajin alone for it. Tajin is the seasoning. Chiltepin is the chile. You need both.
This is a hot-weather dish from a hot-weather state. Sonora summers run past 110 degrees and the cooks build their cuisine around what cools the body: aguas frescas, raspados, ceviches, and fruit dressed to be eaten cold. The senoras at the Mercado Municipal in Hermosillo cut their fruit into perfect uniform cubes because that is the discipline of the dish. Sloppy cuts give you fruit salad. Even cuts give you pico de gallo de frutas. Saber cocinar es saber vivir.
The Noroeste's use of 'pico de gallo' to mean a fruit preparation, distinct from the Central Mexican salsa of the same name, reflects the regional culinary divergence that took root once Sonora and Sinaloa developed independently from the colonial highland kitchens, drawing on tropical and arid-zone fruit production along the Pacific corridor. The chiltepin, Capsicum annuum var. glabriusculum, is considered the wild ancestor of all cultivated chiles and is gathered, never farmed at commercial scale, from the Sierra Madre Occidental; the Sonoran state congress declared it part of the state's cultural heritage in 2009 to protect the harvest from overexploitation. Tajin Clasico, often used to rim the bowl, was created in 1985 in Jalisco by Horacio Fernandez and rapidly became standard across northern Mexican fruit-vending culture, layered onto a much older indigenous tradition of dressing fruit with salt and chile.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
jicama
Quantity
1 small (about 1 pound)
peeled and cut into 1/2-inch batons
ripe mangoes (Ataulfo or Manila preferred)
Quantity
2
peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
seedless watermelon (sandia)
Quantity
3 cups
cut into 1/2-inch cubes
ripe papaya
Quantity
2 cups
peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
large pepino (cucumber)
Quantity
1
peeled in stripes, halved lengthwise, seeded, and sliced into half-moons
navel orange (optional)
Quantity
1 small
peeled and segmented (Hermosillo style)
fresh lime juice
Quantity
1/2 cup (about 6 to 8 Mexican limes)
kosher salt
Quantity
1 tablespoon, plus more to taste
whole dried chiltepin
Quantity
1 to 2 teaspoons
crushed in a chiltepinero or molcajete
Tajin Clasico
Quantity
1 tablespoon, plus more for the rim of the bowl
lime wedges (optional)
Quantity
for serving
crushed chiltepin (optional)
Quantity
for serving
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| jicamapeeled and cut into 1/2-inch batons | 1 small (about 1 pound) |
| ripe mangoes (Ataulfo or Manila preferred)peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes | 2 |
| seedless watermelon (sandia)cut into 1/2-inch cubes | 3 cups |
| ripe papayapeeled, seeded, and cut into 1/2-inch cubes | 2 cups |
| large pepino (cucumber)peeled in stripes, halved lengthwise, seeded, and sliced into half-moons | 1 |
| navel orange (optional)peeled and segmented (Hermosillo style) | 1 small |
| fresh lime juice | 1/2 cup (about 6 to 8 Mexican limes) |
| kosher salt | 1 tablespoon, plus more to taste |
| whole dried chiltepincrushed in a chiltepinero or molcajete | 1 to 2 teaspoons |
| Tajin Clasico | 1 tablespoon, plus more for the rim of the bowl |
| lime wedges (optional) | for serving |
| crushed chiltepin (optional) | for serving |
Equipment Needed
- •Sharp paring knife and a steady cutting board
- •Wooden chiltepinero or small molcajete for crushing the chile
- •Wide glass cazuela or thick ceramic bowl for serving (no metal)
- •Large wooden spoon for gentle tossing
Instructions
- 1
Cut everything to one size
Cut the jicama, mango, sandia, papaya, and pepino into roughly 1/2-inch pieces. Uniform size matters here. When every spoonful carries every fruit at once, the dish works. When the watermelon is in chunks and the mango is in slivers, you get a fruit salad pretending to be pico de gallo. The Sonoran cooks who sell this from carts in Hermosillo and Ciudad Obregon cut everything to the same size for a reason. Asi se hace y punto.
Seed the cucumber. The watermelon brings enough water to the bowl. A wet cucumber and a watery sandia together will drown the dish in twenty minutes. - 2
Crush the chiltepin
Place the dried chiltepin in a chiltepinero or a small molcajete. Crush them with the wooden pestle until they break into rough flakes, not a powder. The chiltepin is Sonora's chile, the wild bird's-eye chile that grows in the Sierra Madre Occidental and that Sonora declared part of its cultural heritage in 2009. The heat comes fast and it leaves clean. One teaspoon for guests who do not know it. Two for guests who do.
Wash your hands well after crushing. The oils linger and they will find your eyes hours later. The senoras at the Mercado Municipal in Hermosillo will tell you the same thing. - 3
Combine the fruit
Place the jicama, mango, sandia, papaya, pepino, and orange segments if using in a wide glass cazuela or a thick ceramic bowl. Glass or ceramic, never metal. Acid plus metal turns the fruit gray and dulls the flavor. Toss gently with your hands so nothing gets crushed. Pico de gallo de frutas is supposed to keep its edges.
- 4
Dress at the last minute
Pour the lime juice over the fruit. Sprinkle the salt and the Tajin evenly across the top. Add half the crushed chiltepin. Toss gently, taste a piece of jicama, and decide. The salt should make the mango taste more like mango. The lime should wake everything up. The chiltepin should arrive a second after the sweetness, not before. Adjust with more salt, more lime, or more chiltepin until the bowl tastes like Sonora in summer.
- 5
Serve immediately
Rim the edge of the serving bowl or the individual cups with extra Tajin for the visual signature every Sonoran cook recognizes. Set the remaining crushed chiltepin and lime wedges on the table so each person can push the heat further. Eat within an hour. Pico de gallo de frutas does not improve with time. The sandia weeps, the papaya softens, and the chiltepin loses its sharpness. Recetas probadas y garantizadas, but only if you serve it the moment it is dressed.
Chef Tips
- •The mango variety matters. Ataulfo and Manila are the small yellow mangoes that hold their shape when cubed and carry enough acid to balance the sandia. The big red Tommy Atkins mangoes turn to mush in the bowl. If Ataulfo is out of season, wait. Mexican grandmothers cook with what the mercado is selling today.
- •If you cannot find chiltepin, the closest substitute is dried chile piquin, which is a cousin from the same family. It is not the same chile, and a Sonorense will know the difference, but it will get you closer than chile de arbol or cayenne. A substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade.
- •Some Hermosillo cooks add a few drops of Salsa Huichol or even Maggi to the dressing. That is regional preference, not a mistake. If you grew up with it, add it. If you did not, leave it out and let the chiltepin do the work.
- •This is the cart-vendor version, served in a bowl. To do it the way the carts on Boulevard Kino sell it, layer the fruit into a tall plastic cup, dress it from the top, and eat it with a long wooden skewer.
Advance Preparation
- •The fruit can be cut up to four hours ahead and held separately in the refrigerator, each fruit in its own container. The sandia and the papaya weep the most, so keep them cold and dry until the last moment.
- •Crush the chiltepin and squeeze the lime juice up to one hour ahead. Do not combine the fruit and the dressing until the moment you serve. Pico de gallo de frutas waits for nobody.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 305g)
Calories
130 calories
Total Fat
1 g
Saturated Fat
0 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
1 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
670 mg
Total Carbohydrates
29 g
Dietary Fiber
6 g
Sugars
19 g
Protein
2 g
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