How one factory in the mountains of Mexico helped put pickled jalapeños on the world’s culinary map
LA TimesMy whole life, the smoky, vinegar-laced scent of pickled jalapeños — and their little-known origin story — has been lingering under my nose. But it wasn’t until this summer, when I revisited my family in Xalapa, in Veracruz state, that I realized that my parents’ hometown has played a major role in the history of the pickled jalapeño. Jalapeño, or Xalapeño, literally means “from Xalapa,” where the chile was largely cultivated because of the area’s fertile land. “That factory was truly emblematic of Xalapa in those times,” says Jimenez Guerra’s granddaughter, Nelly Jimenez Barradas, 60, whose father, Mario Jimenez Cabrera, inherited the business in 1944. Echoes of a fading legacy My tío Enrique Chazaro, who grew up in the 1970s in Xalapa, recalls La Jalapeña’s significance while driving me around the city.
Discover Related
