A Dessert Worth the Journey into the Sierra Madres

For less than a day’s car journey from Tucson, Arizona, you can taste dessert whose fame has echoed across northern Mexico and the American Southwest. 

In the central Sonoran community of Banamichi, is a hotel that serves one of the most unusual variations on the classic Mexican dessert of flan. While most of us have sampled creme caramel, there is one addition that a hotel in the community along the Sonora River includes in their recipe that has risen quite a few eyebrows.

Next to the salt on the tables of the restaurant inside Hotel La Posada del Rio Sonora, you can find this special ingredient, chiltepínes, a staple condiment in Sonoran homes. Next to the jar of these dried red peppercorn-sized chiles, you’ll also find its ironwood-carved partner. A tool known as a chiltepínero is a small mortar and pestle for grinding the peppercorn-sized chiles before sprinkling over your food. 

Chiltepínes are the wild ancestor of all modern chiles and are native to the Arizona-Sonora borderlands. That’s right, we have our own wild pepper! The subtle suggestion of heat and piquancy imparted by the addition of this crushed chile is what takes the hotel’s world-famous flan de chiltepín, to the next level and a higher plane of deliciousness. 

Want to taste flan de chiltepín for yourself? Join us on the Rio Sonora route this September 15-17, 2023 for Mexican Independence Day celebrations in the pueblo of Banamichi. Despite only being a few hours' drive away, you’ll feel like you are a thousand miles away from home in this special place. 

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