Chapulines

Join us for chapulines season! Add this experience onto an overnight at Rancho Los Nahuales in September or October. We venture out in the into the agave and corn fields surrounding Rancho Los Nahuales and search for grasshoppers with a maestro mezcalero. We hand select them and bring them back to the ranch to learn how to process them and cook them with a cocinera tradicional, and finally feast on Oaxaca´s favorite snack! The rumor is that if you eat chapulines in Oaxaca you’ll keep coming back. Check our Calendar for upcoming scheduled seasonal outings.

Dates: Oct 2024 / / Itinerary: 2 days, 1 night

Cost per person: $450 USD/8,500 MXN (Open Outing 2-6 people)

Includes:

• Personalized guide and translation service (Spanish/English)

• Comfortable transportation round trip from Oaxaca City (2 hours each way)

• Quick breakfast of antojitos, little local snacks at our favorite roadside comedor

• Visit to 2 traditional mezcal palenques, learning about the process and history of the mezcal of the region directly from the producing family

• Tasting of traditional mezcal made on site

• A chance to purchase mezcal directly from the producers (price not included), our help packing it for travel

• Early morning rise to learn to collect chapulines with a maestro mezcalero

• Learn to prepare chapulines salt with a cocinera traditional, take home some of the chapulines we prepare

• Farm to table lunch

• Head back to Oaxaca

• Drinking water and light snacks

• Donation to future community youth center

Sal de gusano

Once a year after the rainy season we have the unique pleasure of making fresh sal de gusano or worm salt. In Oaxaca city most mezcal is served with orange slices and worm salt, a localized version of the salt and lime served with tequila. In traditional mezcal producing communities worm salt is often served sprinkled on apples or mangoes and is rarely seen in the company of a traditional mezcal. Producers long ago learned to use this annoying plague that kills mezcal producing agaves as a tasty way to sneak a little extra protein into their diets. Join us as we harvest the worms with a maestro mezcalero and make salt by hand with a cocinera tradicional. in September and October, check our Calendar for upcoming scheduled seasonal outings.

Dates: Aug 2024 / / Schedule: 9am-7pm

Cost per person: $185 USD/3,330 MXN (Open Outing 2-6 people)

Includes:

• Personalized guide and translation service (Spanish/English)

• Comfortable transportation round trip from Oaxaca City (2 hours each way)

• Quick breakfast of antojitos, little local snacks at our favorite roadside comedor

• Learn to harvest agave worms with a maestro mezcalero

• Learn to prepare worm salt with a cocinera traditional, take home some of the worm salt we prepare

• Farm to table lunch

• Visit to a traditional mezcal palenque, learning about the process and history of the mezcal of the region directly from the producing family

• Tasting of traditional mezcal made on site

• A chance to purchase mezcal directly from the producers (price not included), our help packing it for travel

• Drinking water and light snacks

• Donation to future community youth center

Maíz criollo

Elotiza

¨Si no hay tortilla, no comiste,¨ if there is no tortilla then you didn´t really eat. A common phrase heard throughout Oaxaca. Corn is the base of the daily diet throughout Mexico and Oaxaca used daily to make many types of tortillas: blandas, tlyudas, tostadas, memelas, tetelas not to mention other corn based dishes such as tamales, espeso de guías, and many types of moles thickened with corn masa. Many Oaxacans still grow heirloom varieties seasonally and harvest fresh elotes (ears of corn) at the end of the rainy season in September. If there is a healthy rainfall and your visit coincides with this harvest you can join us in an elotiza in the Miahuatlán region. A harvest day tradition where mezcal producing families celebrate the harvest, feasting on grilled and boiled from corn. Join us on September 7th and 14th, 2022. Keep your eyes on our Calendar for more dates!

Dates: Sept 2024 / / Schedule: 9am-7pm

Cost per person: Cost per person: $185 USD/3,330 MXN (Open Outing 2-6 people)(Open Outing 2-6 people)

Includes:

• Personalized guide and translation service (Spanish/English)

• Comfortable transportation round trip from Oaxaca City (2 hours each way)

• Quick breakfast of antojitos, little local snacks at our favorite roadside comedor

• Learn about traditional agriculture systems that grow corn, beans, and squash alongside agave for mezcal production. We´ll harvest and cook fresh corn.

• Enjoying the lunch we cook of corn based dishes

• Visit to a traditional mezcal palenque, learning about the process and history of the mezcal of the region directly from the producing family

• Tasting of traditional mezcal made on site

• A chance to purchase mezcal directly from the producers (price not included), our help packing it for travel

• Drinking water and light snacks

• Donation to future community youth center

Traditional Mezcal

While we visit traditional mezcal palenques year round, February through May we have the chance not only to see the traditional mezcal process in action but even participate in various parts of the process such as a tapada de horno (agave roast) or harvesting wild agaves. We highly recommend our overnight experiences at Rancho Los Nahuales which allow you to immerse yourself deep in the heart of mezcal country. Write to us here for more information.

Mushrooms

We are so excited to announce our new mushroom foraging trips in Oaxaca this summer 2023! We are lucky to be working with two local mycologists as well as hongeros-community members with a vast knowledge of local mushrooms, and traditional cooks who will learn all about the mushrooms of the region with. Join us for our inaugural group trip to the Sierra Sur for a weekend of immersing ourselves in the beautiful landscape of the high pine forests where wild mushrooms flourish during the summer months in Oaxaca. We´ll also be offering day trips to the Sierra Norte mushroom foraging and cooking with mushrooms with our local guide Lalo.