BLOGS

Oh so sweet tamales

Blog: Nosh On

Behold the tamale. Soft and flavorful, stuffed with spicy meat and blanketed by a corn husk. This may be news to you, but not all tamales are filled with spicy meat. I learned that the hard way.

I had my first sweet tamale on a trip to Mexico when I was about 13 or 14 years old. The restaurant we were eating in had a buffet. I don't recall whether the buffet included signs. If it did, I didn't notice them. I grabbed a tamale, took it back to my table and slathered it with salsa and crema Mexicana (Mexican sour cream.) I took a bite. Because I have OK table manners, I swallowed the bite, although not without a significant amount of cringing. I had accidently snatched up a sweet corn tamale. Let's just say, the salsa probably wasn't the best topping for the dessert-like tamale.



Despite the experience, I didn't come away anti-sweet tamale. In fact, the next opportunity I got to try one again, I did. When Doña Juana's first opened here in Wenatchee, my mom and I stopped in to try the many flavors the tamale shop offers, including a sweet one.

We had sweet tamales again this weekend as a fun addition to dinner of carne asada and meat tamales. My sister Shana found the proper accompaniment, too, grilled pineapple slices. No salsa on these tamales.