Street Cart · Corn in a Cup
Esquites
Photo: Panochahumedalegend / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Vendors cook the corn kernels with a sprig of epazote, an herb with a flavor unlike almost anything else in Mexican cooking, which is what gives esquites their distinct background taste next to grilled corn on the cob.
Corn kernels are simmered off the cob with epazote until tender, then spooned into a cup and topped with crema, cotija cheese, lime, and chile powder or hot sauce, eaten with a small spoon. Street carts throughout Mexico City sell it as the loose, cup-based counterpart to corn-on-the-cob elote.
Why it's made this way: Esquites let vendors serve corn quickly to pedestrians without the mess of a cob, and the cup format has made it one of Mexico City's most common cool-weather street snacks.
More from Mexico
Part of World of Street Food — 3443 dishes from 118 countries.
Something wrong here? Tell us in the comments below.
Photo credits.