SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
People across the country are out grilling this weekend. And if you are looking to include some veggies in your barbecue platter, consider nopales. The rounded spiny cactus, mother to the prickly pear fruit, is a staple in Mexican cuisine. And if you're unfamiliar, our next guest says they're not only healthy, they're historic and represent important aspects of Mexican culture. Maria Melendez is a writer with Mexico News Daily, an English language news site based in Mexico City, where she contributes to the Taste of Mexico series. Welcome to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED.
MARIA MELENDEZ: Thanks. Thanks so much for the invitation, and thanks so much for the space to talk about something that I'm extremely excited about, which is Mexican food and Mexican ingredients.
DETROW: So for people who maybe are excited by the idea but less familiar with nopales themselves, can you describe the plant and what it tastes like?
MELENDEZ: Nopales is this cacti plant that we have all across Mexico. The landscape that we have, you probably have seen, like, far in the middle of nowhere, this enormous plant that is kind of round. This is a nopal. And they have been crucial for our pre-Hispanic cultures because basically that's what allowed them to survive in the middle of nowhere. In terms of taste, it's super herbaceous.
DETROW: OK.
MELENDEZ: The way that it smells is amazing. It's like freshly cut grass.
DETROW: Ooh.
MELENDEZ: And I know that for some people, that might sound, like, super gross. That's definitely what you don't want in your plate. But once you combine it with some other ingredients, it has, like, this incredible fresh taste.
DETROW: What are some of your favorite ways to prepare nopales, to eat nopales?
MELENDEZ: Honestly, like, every single way.
DETROW: (Laughter).
MELENDEZ: One of the beautiful things about nopales is that they're incredible versatile. So you can grill them, you can boil them and - or cook them, and you can have them, like, completely raw. It's completely up to you. One thing that you do have to know is that nopales, they have, like, this slime. Once you start, like, cutting it or chopping them, you're going to see that they are, like, liberating some sort of juice. It's kind of unpleasant for some, but you can take it away by giving your nopales some sort of massage. So what you do is you grab salt, like in grain. And then you, like, massage your nopales, and then you just like - you can mix it with everything. If you want to grill them, we - in Mexico, you know, like, we always have, like, these grilling parties...
DETROW: Yeah.
MELENDEZ: ...The carnes asadas, and we always throw some nopales with the bare minimum - you know, like, just a little bit of salt, a little bit of olive oil or just, like, some sort of vegetable oil. And let them grill, and you're going to see, like, the color will start to change, and that's when they are done.
DETROW: So let's stick with that for a moment because, I mean, like, this is a big grilling weekend in the U.S. If you are throwing them on the grill, like you said, kind of minimal approach, what would you recommend pairing them with if you want to make a meal out of this, this weekend?
MELENDEZ: Well, here in Mexico, we just eat them like that, you know? Like, we just, like, take it out of the grill, put a little bit of lime juice on top of it and salsa, maybe, and that's it. We can make tacos of nopal.
DETROW: OK.
MELENDEZ: But if you want to pair them with something and give it, you know, like - or making your nopal, like, your main dish, there's, like, so much that you can do. You can put a little bit of fried beans on top or a little bit of guacamole. And then put - if you want your favorite protein, you can put - like, if you're grilling, you can put some of the meat on top and then just, like, top it with some salsa, which would be, like, amazing. This, like, particular dish in Mexico is called huarache, which we love. But also you can make some sort of - or some twist of the pico de gallo, and you just, like, add boiled nopales. And that's also, like, a very good side dish for your regular grilling dishes.
DETROW: These are very practical approaches, and I'm going to put several of them to use. But zooming out a little bit, in a piece that you wrote for Mexico News Daily, you wrote that the nopal is culturally a part of Mexico. You point out that the plant is front and center on the country's flag. What's the best way to describe its importance in Mexican culture?
MELENDEZ: I got to say that it is crucial. It's part of our identity. So we have to go back 20,000 years ago. There were, like, several nomadic groups across the country. Nopales were crucial for them. They represent surviving, obviously.
DETROW: Yeah.
MELENDEZ: They represent, obviously, like, this very, like, resilient character that we still have.
DETROW: I'm curious, what does this dish mean to you personally? Is there a particular memory or a particular person or place that you associate it with when you taste it or smell it or come across it?
MELENDEZ: You know, like, it's part of our everyday life. I remember, like, very clearly eating nopales with my grandmother. It was always something that you have in your kitchen. It's super cheap. It's very easy to prepare. The smell of nopales is, like, very, very characteristic.
DETROW: Yeah.
MELENDEZ: So that always, like, brings me back to my grandmother's kitchen.
DETROW: That is Maria Melendez, who writes the Taste of Mexico series for Mexico News Daily. Thank you so much.
MELENDEZ: Thank you.
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