Street Stand · Agave Spirit
Mezcal
Photo: Cerebral726 / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Sal de gusano, the salt served with Oaxacan mezcal, is made by grinding toasted maguey worms with chile and coarse salt.
Agave hearts are roasted in underground pits, crushed, fermented, and distilled into a smoky spirit, then poured into small clay cups (copitas) at street stands and family-run palenques around Oaxaca. It's typically sipped slowly, not shot, alongside an orange wedge and worm salt.
Why it's made this way: Oaxaca produces the large majority of Mexico's mezcal, and its underground pit-roasting method, distinct from tequila's above-ground ovens, is central to the region's identity.
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