# What might I find in a Mexican grocery? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 26, 2012, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-might-i-find-in-a-mexican-grocery/620045 "2012-04-26T19:10:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-might-i-find-in-a-mexican-grocery/620045/41 "2012-04-26T23:03:59Z")
And frozen fruit bars and ones with coconut- my favorite. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-might-i-find-in-a-mexican-grocery/620045/42 "2012-04-26T23:20:48Z")
> [@Cheez\_Whia](#): > > [This](http://www.amazon.com/Better-Homes-Gardens-Mexican-Cook/dp/B001DSK77Y/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335470507&sr=1-1) is a cookbook that I own, and it is an excellent primer for newbies to Mexican cuisine. Try the Pollo Aguascalientes, it’s delicious! Cool! I will look in to it. > [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > I’ve found that a lot of the Mexican/Hispanic grocers around here are more likely to have dried beans and sometimes rice in bulk. And if you go through a lot of dried beans, this can save a lot of money. Some of the stores have bulk spices, too. The selection is usually different, and many products are labeled in Spanish. Sometimes they’re also labeled in English, sometimes it’s Spanish only. The book and magazine section has Spanish language books and magazines, and rarely has English language offerings. > > It’s entirely possible to conduct business without being able to speak Spanish, money talks in a way that most everyone understands. And that was maybe something I was concerned about! But I guess if I dump an armload of stuff on the counter and look at the total on the register, the mission will be accomplished. > [@Taomist](#): > > Hehe, don’t feel bad. I went into a korean grocery, found a GREAT deal on a bag of frozen scallops, only to get home, try to cook them, and realize they weren’t scallops at all but some kind of discs made of…gluten, as far as I can tell. 😛 I have a much easier time in hispanic stores. 😃 There are a couple asian markets here that I’ve visited…apart from reminding me of Japan, and ogling all of the ‘fresh’ fish, it was fun to try to figure out what’s in the brightly labeled packages. > [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Cook some chorizo. (Take the skin off first, since you want to break it up.) Cook some potatoes. Put some chorizo and potatoes into a tortilla. (Add scrambled eggs if you want, but I like just _choizo con papas_.) And there’s your breakfast burrito. Or lunch burrito. Or snackage. Ok, I’m hearing **chorizo** loud and clear! I was reading the Wikipedia article about it a few weeks ago, so I was kind of curious to check it out, anyway. So, top of the list. > [@Zyada](#): > > Our hispanic grocery has a really large section of Goya food products. Goya ginger beer is about **rjk** ’s preferred brand - it has a touch of capsaicin in it to add to the bite of the ginger. > > They also have really good store-made chorizo, and a great variety of hispanic cheeses, unusual canned and frozen produce, as well as a few fresh veggies that you don’t see in your local Safeway. > > Check out the beauty section for items you haven’t seen in a grocery store since the 70s. > > The herbs and spices tend to be a lot cheaper. > > I would recommend that you stay away from Mexican vanilla though. There is a plant that tastes similar to vanilla, and is used to make cheap vanilla but is [potentially toxic](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2328/is-mexican-vanilla-toxic-plus). It’s illegal to sell it in the U.S., but that doesn’t always stop sales. I do kind of want to try ginger beer. Let’s pretend the label is in Spanish, what would it say? > [@Zsofia](#): > > Rice ice cream! Also, actually ripe avocados. Oh wow, also worth a trip. My default for avocados right now is Aldi, since they tend to have ones that will be too ripe in about 6 hours… ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-might-i-find-in-a-mexican-grocery/620045/43 "2012-04-27T00:02:44Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > Send them to me, then. Well, I’ll continue to use them for hot chocolate, but I’m glad you enjoy eating them “raw” . . . you animal, you! ---
**Author:** ![Cheez\_Whia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d26b3c/32.png) [@Cheez\_Whia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheez_Whia)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-might-i-find-in-a-mexican-grocery/620045/44 "2012-04-27T01:35:07Z")
> [@Sicks\_Ate](#): > > I do kind of want to try ginger beer. Let’s pretend the label is in Spanish, what would it say? Cerveza de Jengibre ---
**Author:** ![urban1a](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47c2d/32.png) [@urban1a](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/urban1a)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-might-i-find-in-a-mexican-grocery/620045/45 "2012-04-27T02:00:13Z")
Freshly killed and butchered chickens (with the heads on); chicken feet (they eat them somehow although I have never asked how). Beef cuts unlike any you see in american stores. And, yes, the GOOD Coke and Pepsi. Bob ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-might-i-find-in-a-mexican-grocery/620045/46 "2012-04-27T02:16:08Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > Oh, and here in north Texas, the Mexican grocery stores have waaaaayyyyy better prices on fresh food like produce and meat than the U.S. based chains. That’s reason enough to go. ¡Viva Fiesta! (Fiesta’s the name of a rather large Mexican grocery chain here in Texas) The meat seems kind of sketchy to me, although a lot of that may be the lighting, which for whatever reason, is not the same as in a normal US grocery butcher case. The produce on the other hand, is both stellar quality and considerably cheaper than what you’ll find at a normal US grocery store, and in many cases, there’s more variety in fruits than what you’re used to as well. Things like multiple varieties of banana, tropical fruits like guavas, mangos, and papayas are all common. They have fresh (often still warm!) corn and flour tortillas for super-cheap- I think I’ve seen 88 cents/100 corn tortillas before. They also have some really interesting snack foods and frozen foods that you won’t find in other stores- things like plantain chips, yuca chips, and frozen yuca, and convenience foods like empanadas that you may not be able to find elsewhere. Plus, they usually have an old lady at the front of the store selling $1 tacos that are delicious. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-might-i-find-in-a-mexican-grocery/620045/47 "2012-04-27T02:22:09Z")
Horchata ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-might-i-find-in-a-mexican-grocery/620045/48 "2012-04-27T02:30:40Z")
Oh god, how did I forget horchata? Horchata. (It’s a drink made of rice and cinnamon and stuff - grocery stores often have a mix you dilute.) It’s delicious. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-might-i-find-in-a-mexican-grocery/620045/49 "2012-04-27T02:35:58Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > About ten years ago I was thinking of moving to a town where the only nearby grocery store was Hispanic. I had cats at the time, and did not see any cat stuff: food, litter, etc. My high-school Spanish did not cover this, so I tried to ask the clerk using the universal language of mime. I pretended I was a cat, I squatted, I buried with my paws, I scooped. Reminds me of trying to buy mousetraps in Vietnam, as our hooches were overrun with the critters. Pantomiming a mouse, a mouse running across the floor, and a mouse getting caught in a trap resulted in a “aha!” moment, and the shopkeeper proudly showed me to a live trap so I could keep them for pets. Then I had to imitate being a _dead_ mouse – you can imagine that, I’m sure. Aack! But they didn’t see why anyone would want to kill one – it was just a normal part of domestic household activity. I gave up – I had to get some traps from the states. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-might-i-find-in-a-mexican-grocery/620045/50 "2012-04-27T03:11:39Z")
There is a totally unassuming carniceria/Mexican grocery in a old strip mall behind the old Wendy’s on Bissonet by the SW freeway in Houston, from the outside it looks rather like a convenience store and gives no clue it has a lunch counter inside with a cook. The cook speaks not one word of English but he makes UN-FUCKING-BELIEVABLE beef fajitas :eek: OMG out of this world! Marinated strips of beef hot off the grill behind the counter in thick soft tortillas and tons of salsa and onions and cilantro, I don’t know his secret but they have to be the best I have ever had! Cheap as dirt too along with a cold beer(you have to pay for the beer separately for some reason.) I have been tempted to go back to Houston for those fajitas, the guy is probably gone and the place might be too:( But damn I have had cravings for them out of the blue. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-might-i-find-in-a-mexican-grocery/620045/51 "2012-04-27T03:12:44Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Oh god, how did I forget horchata? Horchata. (It’s a drink made of rice and cinnamon and stuff - grocery stores often have a mix you dilute.) It’s delicious. My local discount store recently got a shipment of horchata they were selling for fifty cents a bottle. I cleared the shelf. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-might-i-find-in-a-mexican-grocery/620045/52 "2012-04-27T03:57:35Z")
> [@urban1a](#): > > Freshly killed and butchered chickens (with the heads on); chicken feet (they eat them somehow although I have never asked how). Beef cuts unlike any you see in american stores. And, yes, the GOOD Coke and Pepsi. > > Bob As far as I know, chicken feet are mostly used to make stock with, much like wing tips. There’s not much meat on them, but they will make an incredibly tasty broth. It’s sort of like ham hocks for beans, except the ham hocks do have some meat on them. OK, tomorrow I’m going out for tortilla soup, and nobody’s gonna stop me. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-might-i-find-in-a-mexican-grocery/620045/53 "2012-04-27T04:14:50Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > As far as I know, chicken feet are mostly used to make stock with, much like wing tips. There’s not much meat on them, but they will make an incredibly tasty broth. It’s sort of like ham hocks for beans, except the ham hocks do have some meat on them. > > OK, tomorrow I’m going out for tortilla soup, and nobody’s gonna stop me. My wife cooks chicken feet to eat by themselves, I’ve also seen them for sale in local restaurants here in Trinidad. There are also souse sellers on the street selling chicken foot souse which is kinda pickled. You cut the toenails off before cooking, but you are right they don’t have much meat on them. They make really thick jelly like juice too. ---
**Author:** ![Pyper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pyper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyper)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-might-i-find-in-a-mexican-grocery/620045/54 "2012-04-27T04:29:40Z")
> [@Sicks\_Ate](#): > > I do kind of want to try ginger beer. Let’s pretend the label is in Spanish, what would it say? You shouldn’t have to worry about this. From what I can tell, Goya Ginger Beer is a product only manufactured in the U.S. with an English label. It’s basically ginger ale. If you are partially to drinks with chunks of stuff in them (as I am), try some agua de coco (coconut water) or aloe juice. I was just at my favorite Mexican market today, and they are now selling aloe juice in many assorted flavors! What I picked up on my quick shopping trip: Refried beans\* Chicken tamale and cheese tamale House-made tortilla chips Coconut water Guava-flavored aloe juice and tea-flavored aloe juice Crema mexicana (sour cream, but tastier and runnier) \*Anyone in the Westminster, CA area must immediately proceed to El Ranchito and try their refried beans. No beans ever tasted so good, ever. ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-might-i-find-in-a-mexican-grocery/620045/55 "2012-04-27T22:23:39Z")
> [@Sicks\_Ate](#): > > I do kind of want to try ginger beer. Let’s pretend the label is in Spanish, what would it say? Good question. Here’s what the goya brand actually looks like: [http://www.sodapopstop.com/products/detail.cfm?link=330](http://www.sodapopstop.com/products/detail.cfm?link=330) And here’s what it might say in Español: Cerveza de jengibre - However, ginger beer/ginger ale seems to be enough of an english import that they usually just say “ginger beer/ale” (Even in the spanish wiki) BTW, in Spanish, jamaica means hibiscus. And you can buy jamaica soft drinks (refrescos) and jamaica Kool-aid ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2012, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-might-i-find-in-a-mexican-grocery/620045/56 "2012-04-28T15:42:00Z")
**Pulykamell** pretty well nailed it. If they have house-made chorizo in the butcher case, grab a chunk, cut the casing from it and fry in a skillet. Avoid the factory stuff in transparent, plastic casings. There is a Mexican grocery by my work that had hot rotisserie chickens for $3.49/ea! One of those and 4 or 5 dollars worth of store-made green salsa, onion, limes, tortillas and cilantro is a great couple of meals. They also have a tub of rice for $1.49, a nice add-on. Outer skirt steak mentioned earlier in the thread can be half the price compared to more mainstream groceries. Avocados are cheap and the turnover is good. A block of [prepared achiote paste](http://www.elyucateco.com/english/products/condiments/annatto.html) mixed with the juice of an orange for a chicken or pork marinade is hard to beat on the grill. Cotija cheese resembles grated parmesan but doesn’t taste like it. Try some. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2012, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-might-i-find-in-a-mexican-grocery/620045/57 "2012-04-30T18:14:45Z")
The Hispanic grocery I go to has way better prices on fruits and some veggies than my local Safeway supermarket. That is also the only place I can find ripe avocados and mangos. Normally, if I need one of those and don’t plan at least a few days ahead, I have to do without. At the local Best Way I can expect to find something properly ripe and ready to eat. ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2012, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-might-i-find-in-a-mexican-grocery/620045/58 "2012-04-30T20:15:48Z")
Lots and lots of lard. And not the Crisco kind hidden in cans. Lard in huge chunks wrapped in clear plastic. After a few intestinal mishaps we stopped buying meat from one. ---
**Author:** ![stegon66](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee59a6/32.png) [@stegon66](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stegon66)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2012, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-might-i-find-in-a-mexican-grocery/620045/59 "2012-04-30T20:19:11Z")
> [@](#): > > OK, tomorrow I’m going out for tortilla soup, and nobody’s gonna stop me. Mmmm. A local Mexican restaurant (not part of a chain) makes the best tortilla soup! Now I’m hungry… ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2012, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-might-i-find-in-a-mexican-grocery/620045/60 "2012-04-30T20:19:24Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > They asked me to leave. Just like Sara Bareilles in her [Gonna Get Over You](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUe3oVlxLSA&feature=relmfu) video. (A favorite.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-might-i-find-in-a-mexican-grocery/620045.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-might-i-find-in-a-mexican-grocery/620045.md?page=4)