Sotol: This Chihuahua Spirit Is Getting Hot
11/08/22 • 42 min
On this episode, Sandro Canovas sits down with Aarón and Zarela to discuss Sotol, the state spirit of Chihuahua. They outline how it is made from plants of the dasylirion genus, close relatives of the onion, it's significance to the state of Chihuahua, and it's popularity in the United States.
Sandro is a bi-national third-generation brick maker turned adobero. Raised in Mexico City, aka Tenochtitlan, he immigrated to Oregon in 1995 and began working with earth-based construction techniques. After spending 19 years as a seasonal commercial fisherman in the Bering Sea of Alaska, he made his home in south Presidio County, Tejas.
Since early 2022, he has been a vocal opponent of the appropriation of Sotol in Texas. Spearheading the defense of the designation of Sotol that exists since 2002 for Chihuahua, Coahuila y Durango in Mexico. When not playing with mud he spends his time advocating and educating people about how the patrimony of the tradition of Sotol is affected by the appropriation efforts in the US and its industrialization in Mexico. Sandro started his campaign to protect Sotol in Texas by pressuring the distillery in Marfa to respect the DO and implement science based practices into their business model.
For more recipes from Zarela and Aarón, visit zarela.com and chefaaronsanchez.com
Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Cooking in Mexican from A to Z by becoming a member!
Cooking in Mexican from A to Z is powered by Simplecast.
On this episode, Sandro Canovas sits down with Aarón and Zarela to discuss Sotol, the state spirit of Chihuahua. They outline how it is made from plants of the dasylirion genus, close relatives of the onion, it's significance to the state of Chihuahua, and it's popularity in the United States.
Sandro is a bi-national third-generation brick maker turned adobero. Raised in Mexico City, aka Tenochtitlan, he immigrated to Oregon in 1995 and began working with earth-based construction techniques. After spending 19 years as a seasonal commercial fisherman in the Bering Sea of Alaska, he made his home in south Presidio County, Tejas.
Since early 2022, he has been a vocal opponent of the appropriation of Sotol in Texas. Spearheading the defense of the designation of Sotol that exists since 2002 for Chihuahua, Coahuila y Durango in Mexico. When not playing with mud he spends his time advocating and educating people about how the patrimony of the tradition of Sotol is affected by the appropriation efforts in the US and its industrialization in Mexico. Sandro started his campaign to protect Sotol in Texas by pressuring the distillery in Marfa to respect the DO and implement science based practices into their business model.
For more recipes from Zarela and Aarón, visit zarela.com and chefaaronsanchez.com
Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Cooking in Mexican from A to Z by becoming a member!
Cooking in Mexican from A to Z is powered by Simplecast.
Previous Episode
Whiskey in Mexico - In Years Past and Today
As a woman whose first sip of whisky created the female doppelganger of a Mr. Yuk sticker, Shelley Sackier’s view of the spirit changed on a trip to Scotland. After completing a short course in Scotland’s Bruichladdich Distillery, she began writing about — and working within — the world of whisky. For the past twenty-five years she has devoted her efforts toward creating a plainspoken, easygoing, and humorous grasp on the subject to welcome more into this realm. As the Director of Distillery Education at Reservoir Distillery in Virginia, her aim is to distill down this sophisticated spirit one simple sip at a time.
In this episode, Shelley sits down with Aarón and Zarela to talk about her journey into whiskey, how whiskey is defined, and Mexico's obsession with the brown spirit.
If you want to learn more about Shelley you can visit her at www.shelleysackier.com.
For more recipes from Zarela and Aarón, visit zarela.com and chefaaronsanchez.com
Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Cooking in Mexican from A to Z by becoming a member!
Cooking in Mexican from A to Z is powered by Simplecast.
Next Episode
How Mexican Food Migrated to the Northeast
On this episode of Cooking In Mexican From A to Z, Aarón and Zarela sit down with Lori Flores. Lori is an associate professor of History at Stony Brook University, where she teaches classes in US Latino, labor, immigration, and food history. They discuss Lori's background growing up in rural Texas, her migration to the East Coast, and how Mexican food arrived in East Coast cities like New York.
Lori is the author of the award-winning book Grounds for Dreaming: Mexican Americans, Mexican Immigrants, and the California Farmworker Movement (Yale, 2016). Her new book on the history of Latino food workers in the US Northeast from 1940 to the present day has received support from the Russell Sage and Rockefeller Foundations.
For more recipes from Zarela and Aarón, visit zarela.com and chefaaronsanchez.com
Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Cooking in Mexican from A to Z by becoming a member!
Cooking in Mexican from A to Z is powered by Simplecast.
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