1 Tehuacn is the second largest city in the state of Puebla, located in the southeastern Mexican state of Puebla, located

130 km from the city of Puebla and 257 km from Mexico City at an altitude of 1,676 meters, semi-warm and semi-dry climate. The population according to the 2010 census, is 274.907 inhabitants. Most of the municipality of Tehuacan (31.61% of its total area) has a semidry, mid warm climate (BS1h), the area has a rain shadow effect that is formed by the mountains of Zongolica, located between the Valley and the Gulf Mexico. The city of Tehuacan has semidry, arid weather with an annual average temperature of 18.6 C in winter and a fresh annual rainfall of 479.5 mm. It is worth mentioning that the low rainfall in the valley has led to very rich soil, because through the pass a minimal amount of water does not cause the loss of much mineral material. Because of this the quantities of bases such as calcium, magnesium and potassium, are considerable. The percentage of winter rains over the total annually is less than 5%. The prevailing winds follow directions east and southeast, with a speed of between 6 and 11 kilometers per hour for the former and from 13 to 26 km for the latter, especially during the months of February and March. There are 6 to 8 dry months during the year, with minimal freezing occurring in the Tehuacan Valley during the months of November to February when some frost then presents itself. During April and May hailstorms occur, few of which are of considerable size. In the community of Santa Catarina Otzolotepec and its vicinity (27.32% of the municipal area) the climate is temperate and humid with summer rainfall in the low humidity range. The rest of Tehuacan has a dry to semidry climate, a semi warm temperature with rain in the summer and high humidity. a mayor parte del municipio (el 31.61% de su superficie total) cuenta con un clima semiseco semiclido (BS1h), producto del efecto de sombra de lluvia orogrfica que se forma por la sierra de Zongolica, ubicada entre el Valle y el Golfo de Mxico. La ciudad de Tehuacn presenta un clima semirido semiseco con una temperatura media anual de 18.6 C, con invierno fresco y una precipitacin anual de 479.5 mm. Cabe mencionar que la precipitacin en el Valle ha dado lugar a que los procesos del suelo se efecten con mucha lentitud, pues a travs de los mismos pasa una mnima cantidad de agua que no provoca la prdida de materiales por lavado. Debido a esto, las cantidades de bases tales como calcio, magnesio y potasio, son considerables. El porcentaje de lluvias invernales respecto al total anual es inferior al 5%. Los vientos dominantes siguen las direcciones este y sureste, con una velocidad de entre 6 y 11 Kilmetros por hora para los primeros y de 13 a 26 Km/Hora para los segundos, especialmente durante los meses de Febrero y Marzo. Se cuenta con 6 a 8 meses ecosecos durante el ao. Los das con heladas registrados para el Valle de Tehuacn son de 2.20 a 26 (del mes de Noviembre a Febrero se presentan algunas heladas). Durante Abril y Mayo ocurren granizadas de cierta consideracin. En la comunidad de Santa Catarina Otzolotepec y sus inmediaciones (27.32% de la superficie municipal) el clima es templado subhmedo con lluvias en verano de baja humedad o C(w0). El resto del territorio de Tehuacn presenta clima seco semiclido, semiseco templado, templado subhmedo con lluvias en verano de humedad media, templado subhmedo con lluvias en verano de humedad alta y seco muy clido. 2 in the late twentieth century, the city was well known for its mineral springs. In fact, Peafiel (now owned by Cadbury Schweppes), a well known soft drinks manufacturer, extracts water from these wells for use in their products. Tehuacn also has an important cluster of poultry producers, making the city and its surroundings one of the most important egg producing regions in Mexico

3 3 Hecha de piedra y adobe y mide 57 metros de largo desde su prtico principal, 14 metros de ancho, 25 metros de largo en el crucero, 15 metros de altura en la nave principal y cpula y campanarios que alcanzan 28 metros. Made of stone and adobe and is 57 meters long from front porch, 14 feet wide, 25meters long on the cruise, 15 meters high in the nave and dome and bell towersreaching 28 meters. 4 This museum belongs to the National Institute of Anthropology and History and occupies a part of the former Convent del Carmen, on top of which is the House of Culture and the municipal library. In their cabinets such articles are displayed as samples of prehispanic findings, vases, plates, necklaces accounts, grinding stones and remains of human skeletons. From its walls hang maps and slides synthesizing a history of nearly ten thousand years. We can learn the importance of Coxcatln Viejo, one of the manors that flourished towards the fifteenth century. As corn is part of the main focus of this museum, it tries to follow the evolution of this cereal, one of the most important cornerstones of the world and the cultures of Mesoamerica. Museo perteneciente al Instituto Nacional de Antropologa e Historia ocupa una parte del ex convento del Carmen, arriba del cual se halla la Casa de la Cultura y la biblioteca municipal. En sus vitrinas se exhibe un muestrario de hallazgos prehispnicos, como vasijas, platos, collares de cuentas, piedras de moler y restos de osamentas humanas. De sus muros cuelgan mapas y lminas que sintetizan una historia de casi diez mil aos. Ah podemos enterarnos de la relevancia de Coxcatln Viejo, uno de los seoros que florecieron hacia el siglo XV. iendo el maz el centro de atencin de este museo, en l se intenta seguir la evolucin de este cereal, uno de los ms importantes del mundo y piedra angular de las culturas de Mesoamrica. The Museum of Mineralogy in Tehuacan was erected at the initiative of Don Miguel Romero, a prestigious Mexican scientist. Romero devoted much of his life to gathering a collection of nearly ten thousand samples of minerals in different shapes, textures and various colors, which now provides us with an interesting overview of the geological history of the crust of soil Poblanos.

5 Beginning in mid-October, and lasting for a month, a five-hundred-year-old ritual encompassing history, tradition and cuisine takes place in the valley of Tehuacan, in the Mixteca Poblana region of southern Puebla. The annual twenty-day long event known as La Matanza - the killing of the goats - is not only the culmination of a year of hard work but an event that sums up much of the region's history and gastronomy. October's matanza has been called a manifestation of Mixteca folklore syncretized in religious observance, cuisine and dance. Today it is a civic as well as a ritual occasion, with municipal officials, reporters, and thousands of visitors flocking to Tehuacan to eat the famous mole de caderas, However, hundreds of years before becoming an event that attracts gourmets and tourists from many parts of Mexico, La Matanza was crucial to the region's economy. Nowadays, the Matanza is a much more public occasion, with the participation of dancers carryingflor de muertos and baskets of a local bread called pan de burro because it was transported by burros in times past. 6.Typical dish in Tehuacn traditionally starts in the early seventeenth century as a product of miscegenation, being introduced goats in New Spain, began mixingfood and one result is the molecular mass of hip or spine, and a variety of dishes such as: E s p i n a z o a l m o j o d e a j o *Espinazo al ajo arriero Mole de caderas a stew made with the meaty hind quarters of the goat and flavored with local seasonal ingredients such as costeo chiles, avocado leaves and guajes, pods born of the tree of the same name platillo tpico por tradicin que en Tehuacn inicia en los primeros aos del siglo XVII como producto del mestizaje, al ser introducido el ganado caprino en la Nueva Espaa, comenz el mestizaje alimenticio y uno de sus resultados es el mole de caderas o mole de espinazo, as como una gran variedad de platillos como:

A yearly culinary ritual: La matanza

Beginning in mid-October, and lasting for a month, a five-hundred-year-old ritual encompassing history, tradition and cuisine takes place in the valley of Tehuacan, in the Mixteca Poblana region of southern Puebla. Traveling through this rocky, hardscrabble land, one wonders how the inhabitants have sustained themselves for thousands of years and marvels at the fact that this part of Mexico is the place where corn was first cultivated from a wild grain that grew in the valleys between steep, cactus-strewn mountainsides. For these hardy agricultural people, the Mexican culinary triumvirate of corn, beans and squash made up the basis of their diet for centuries. Not until the arrival of the Spaniards were bovine and wool-bearing animals introduced, and one look at this rugged countryside is enough to realize that one of the few capable of surviving here is the goat. The annual twenty-day long event known as La Matanza - the killing of the goats - is not only the culmination of a year of hard work but an event that sums up much of the region's history and gastronomy. October's matanza has been called a manifestation of Mixteca folklore syncretized in religious observance, cuisine and dance. Today it is a civic as well as a ritual occasion, with municipal officials, reporters, and thousands of visitors flocking to Tehuacan to eat the famous mole de caderas, a stew made with the meaty hind quarters of the goat and flavored with local seasonal ingredients such as costeo chiles, avocado leaves and guajes, pods born of the tree of the same name (and for which the southern state of Oaxaca, bordering on the Mixteca Poblana, was named.) However, hundreds of years before becoming an event that attracts gourmets and tourists from many parts of Mexico, La Matanza was crucial to the region's economy. After the Spanish conquest, a system known as the encomienda was established in Mexico, with the objective of repartitioning the indigenous land and its inhabitants. The new "owner," or encomendero,had to provide religious instruction in exchange for work that was assigned to the inhabitants. In the case of the Mixteca region, the instructors were Dominican friars and the work assigned to the people was the raising of goats to clear the land. So successful were they in their new occupation that by the end of the 16th century the Mixtecas were able to pay for religious festivals and buy European products from Spanish merchants in exchange for the derivative products of the goat slaughter: coarse wool for clothing, tallow for candles, and skins for leather goods. The cebadores - "fatteners"- and matanceros - slaughterers - became central figures in the local economy. The arrieros, or herders, led the animals to the coast during the dry season and back to the Mixteca when the rainy season made grass plentiful, a route still followed today by the descendents of those herders. (The family of Don Iigo Garcia of Tehuacan has been carrying on the tradition of raising goats according to the strictest nutritional and gastronomic standards for more than two hundred years.) In the mid-1700s, to give thanks for the bounty provided by the goats, these people began to gather for a ritual sacrifice of the animals. The first to be slaughtered was adorned with flowers, and a prayer was offered as the matancero began his work, accompanied by song, dance, incense and lapo, a regional alcoholic beverage.

Nowadays, the Matanza is a much more public occasion, with the participation of dancers carrying flor de

muertos and baskets of a local bread called pan de burro because it was transported by burros in times past.
As the tourists and "foodies" begin to descend upon Tehuacan's restaurants, the ex-haciendas where the slaughter takes place become the centers of activity for the makers of chito - goat meat jerky - as well as for buyers of hides for shoe factories in Leon and makers of buttons and knife handles carved from bone. During this time, many of the region's culinary specialties, in addition to mole de caderas, are showcased in markets and restaurants. The corn produced during the just-ended rainy season goes into a thick corn and meat stew called elopozole. The famous garlic of San Gabriel Chilac is the basis for sopa de ajos, or garlic soup, and the region's abundant amaranth crop is promoted in a kiosk in Tehuacan's main plaza, where leaflets containing recipes using amaranth are distributed. The red beans peculiar to this area are used to make the dish called frijol de arriero - herder's beans (sometimes translated as mule driver's beans) - perhaps named in honor of the goat herders. Plums and zapotes are made into fruit desserts, and pineapples are featured in both volteado - similar to upside-down cake - and tepache, a fermented beverage that adds to the festive atmosphere. The Matanza ceases for the last day in October and first of November in order to observe Day of the Dead, when the Mixteca home altars will hold flowers, candles, bread, beverages, and bowls of - what else? - mole

de caderas.
The following recipes from Tehuacan and nearby towns in the Mixteca region reflect a style of cooking that makes creative use of every ingredient nature has to offer, each one considered a blessing in this spare, and at times harsh, environment. Perhaps the recipe for mole de caderas will inspire some to visit Tehuacan and try one of the most exquisite regional specialties in Mexico.

Un ritual anual culinaria: La Matanza

A partir de mediados de octubre, y durar un mes, una de quinientos aos de edad, el ritual que abarca la historia, la tradicin y la cocina se lleva a cabo en el valle de Tehuacn, en la regin de la Mixteca Poblana del sur de Puebla. Viajando a travs de esta rocosa tierra, msera, uno se pregunta cmo los habitantes se han mantenido durante miles de aos y se maravilla ante el hecho de que esta parte de Mxico es el lugar donde el maz se cultiv por primera vez de un grano salvaje que creca en los valles entre empinada, cactus sembrado laderas de las montaas. Para estas personas agrcolas resistentes, el triunvirato mexicano culinaria de maz, frijol y calabaza constituan la base de su dieta durante siglos. No fue sino hasta la llegada de los espaoles introdujeron la lana de bovino y los animales portadores, y un vistazo a este agreste es suficiente para darse cuenta de que uno de los pocos capaces de sobrevivir aqu es el de cabra. El informe anual de veinte das de eventos de largo conocida como La Matanza - la muerte de las cabras - no slo es la culminacin de un ao de duro trabajo, sino un acontecimiento que resume gran parte de la historia de la regin y la gastronoma. Matanza de octubre se ha denominado una manifestacin de folclore Mixteca sincretiza en la cocina de la observancia religiosa, y la danza. Hoy en da es una ciudadana, as como una

ocasin ritual, con los funcionarios municipales, periodistas, y miles de visitantes que acuden a Tehuacn a comer el famoso mole de caderas, un guiso a base de los cuartos traseros carnosos de la cabra y condimentado con ingredientes locales de temporada tales como los chiles costeos, hojas de aguacate yguajes, vainas nacidos del rbol del mismo nombre (y para el cual el estado sureo de Oaxaca, en la frontera en la Mixteca Poblana, fue nombrado). Sin embargo, cientos de aos antes de convertirse en un evento que atrae gastrnomos y turistas de muchas partes de Mxico, La Matanza, fue crucial para la economa de la regin. Despus de la conquista espaola, un sistema conocido como laencomienda se estableci en Mxico, con el objetivo de volver a particionar el territorio indgena y sus habitantes. El nuevo "dueo", oencomendero, tena que impartir clases de religin a cambio de trabajo que se ha asignado a los habitantes. En el caso de la regin de la Mixteca, los instructores fueron los frailes dominicos y el trabajo asignado a la gente era la cra de cabras para limpiar la tierra. Por lo tanto xito tuvieron en su nueva ocupacin que, a finales del siglo 16 los mixtecas fueron capaces de pagar por las fiestas religiosas y comprar los productos europeos de los comerciantes espaoles a cambio de los productos derivados de la masacre de cabra: la lana gruesa para prendas de vestir, sebo para velas, y pieles para marroquinera. Los cebadores - "engorde" - y matanceros - mataderos - se convirtieron en figuras centrales de la economa local. Los arrieros, o pastores, llev a los animales a la costa durante la temporada seca y de vuelta a la Mixteca en la poca de lluvias hizo hierba abundante, sigue una ruta seguida hoy por los descendientes de los pastores. (La familia de don Iigo Garca de Tehuacn se ha estado llevando a cabo la tradicin de la cra de cabras de acuerdo a los ms estrictos estndares nutricionales y gastronmicas de ms de doscientos aos.) A mediados de la dcada de 1700, para dar gracias por la generosidad proporcionada por las cabras, estas personas comenzaron a reunirse para un ritual de sacrificio de los animales. Los primeros en ser sacrificados fue adornada con flores y una oracin fue ofrecido como el matancero comenz su trabajo, acompaado por el canto, la danza, el incienso y Lapo, una bebida alcohlica regional. Hoy en da, la Matanza es una ocasin mucho ms pblico, con la participacin de bailarines que llevan flor de

muerto y cestas de pan local llamado pan de burro, ya que fue transportada por burros en tiempos pasados. A
medida que los turistas y los "gourmets" comienzan a descender sobre restaurantes de Tehuacn, las haciendas ex-donde la masacre se lleva a cabo se convierten en los centros de actividad para los fabricantes de chito - carne de cabra desigual -, as como para los compradores de cueros para fabricas de calzado en Len y los responsables de los botones y los mangos de los cuchillos tallados en hueso. Durante este tiempo, muchas de las especialidades culinarias de la regin, adems de mole de caderas, se exhiben en los mercados y restaurantes. El maz producido durante la temporada de lluvias que acaba de terminar entra en el grano grueso y guiso de carne de llama elopozole. El ajo famoso de San Gabriel Chilac es la base de sopa de ajos, o sopa de ajo, y la regin de cultivo de amaranto abundantes se promueve en un kiosco en la plaza principal de Tehuacn, donde volantes con recetas a base de amaranto se distribuyen. Los frijoles rojos propios de esta rea se utilizan para hacer el plato llamado frijol de arriero - granos de pastores (a veces traducido como granos de arriero) - tal vez su nombre en honor de los pastores de cabras. Las ciruelas y zapotes se convierten en postres de frutas, la pia y se ofrecen tanto en volteado - similar a la torta al revs - y el tepache, una bebida fermentada que se suma a la atmsfera festiva.

La Matanza deja para el ltimo da de octubre y el primero de noviembre con el fin de celebrar el Da de los Muertos, cuando los altares caseros Mixteca celebrar flores, velas, pan, bebidas y platos de - qu ms? -

Mole de caderas.
Las siguientes recetas de las ciudades de Tehuacn y cerca de la regin Mixteca, reflejan un estilo de cocina que hace un uso creativo de cada ingrediente naturaleza tiene para ofrecer, cada uno considera una bendicin en esta reserva, y en ocasiones duro entorno,. Tal vez la receta de mole de caderas inspire a algunos a visitar a Tehuacn y probar una de las especialidades regionales ms exquisitos de Mxico.