Have a snack ‘pan de muerto’ during Day of the Dead

By MARÍA TERESA HERNÁNDEZ

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The first bite is an assault on the senses. A sweet, lemony, fluffy delight.

“Pan de muerto” or “bread of the dead” is baked every year in Mexico, from early October to mid-November, in the middle of Day of the dead parties.

Pan de muerto is shaped like a bun, decorated with bone-like pieces of bread and sugar on top, and can be seen in coffee shops, dining tables or homemade altars. that Mexicans build to commemorate their deceased loved ones and welcome them back for one night on November 2.

The date of origin cannot be specified, but pan de muerto can be seen as a fusion of Mesoamerican and Spanish traditions, says Andrés Medina, a researcher at the Anthropological Research Institute of the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

Mexicans have commemorated the dead with festivities and food for centuries

Festivities for the dead and skull-shaped products have been made since pre-Hispanic times. But in the 16th century, when the Spanish arrived, new elements such as sugar and bread were included in the native offerings.

Those early celebrations, according to Medina, coincided with the harvest season, which gives pan de muerto a spiritual, symbolic meaning. If the decorations resemble bones, that’s because Mesoamerican worldviews viewed them as the origin of life.

According to an ancient myth, Quetzalcóatl created humanity from bones. Details vary from source to source, but shortly after the god apparently stole them from the underworld, he fell. And from his blood was born the seed of life.

“According to this worldview, the bones of the human body, like the inside of the fruit, are seeds,” Medina said. “So in a sense, altars are offerings to fertility. And Day of the Dead is a celebration of the life that is in every seed.”

The form, ingredients and preparations of Pan de muerto vary from one Mexican state to another, but it is eaten throughout the country.

100 and counting: one man’s quest to try every variation of ‘pan de muerto’

In Mexico City, hundreds of bakeries make their own version. Rodrigo Delgado has spent years trying to taste them all.

For fun, he challenges himself to try as many as he can and rate them his Instagram account. On his first search, ten years ago, he tried fifteen. In 2023 he ate a hundred. This year he expects to taste at least 110.

“I love pan de muerto because of what it means during the Day of the Dead season,” says Delgado, who also reviews local restaurants on his blog. Godinez Gourmet. “The blend of flavors of the bread, as well as the texture, is very comforting.”

He can’t remember the first time he tried pan de muerto, but he cherishes the memories of his mother baking it at home. He and his brother kneaded the dough, he said, and formed the bone-like decorations of the top.

Baking pan de muerto is not an easy task. Bee Panaderia Dos VeinteIn Mexico City’s San Rafael neighborhood, owner Manu Tovar said preparing these sweet rolls for sale takes three days of work: one to extract the infusions that will give the bread its flavor, another to incorporate them into the dough. processing and another. day to knead and shape the rolls.

There’s no secret to his recipe, Tovar said. The ingredients – although seasonal – are simple: orange blossom, mandarin peel, anise and butter.

His special touch, what makes his bread unique, is the sourdough. “It’s an ancestral process,” Tovar said. “A millennial way of making bread.”

The sourdough he and four assistants use is twenty years old. He adds water and flour daily to keep it alive, and mixes some of it with new dough. This gives the bread a better flavor, he said, and makes it easier to digest.

The seasonal flavors of Pan de muertos make it special

For years, Tovar said, he resisted the temptation to fry pan de muerto in early October. The quality of the ingredients improves as November approaches, but customers kept asking when the sandwiches would be ready, so he relented.

This season, in addition to baking 90 pan de muertos a day, he came up with two new creations: a croissant roll filled with marigold cream and a roll – locally known as ‘concha’ – in the shape of a marigold flower and prepared with tangerine instead of vanilla or chocolate .

“If you bake it in a traditional way, now you can only eat pan de muerto because that’s when the fruit is available,” Tovar said. “I think that’s what makes it so special.”

The atmosphere of the Day of the Dead season also plays a role, he added. At this time of year, evening falls earlier and there is a certain mystique, a certain feeling in the air.

“It probably has to do with the melancholy of what this holiday means,” he said. “One day a year you can feel closer to those who are no longer with you.”

Associated Press religion reporting receives support through the APs cooperation with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Originally published: October 29, 2024 at 12:22 PM CDT