112956 Wed Jun 11 19:54:15 -0700 2003 6 7 Chicago Area 0 613961 I happened upon La Guadalupana "La Casa de la Mesa" today on 4637 S. Archer and I stopped in to see what sort of tamales they had. As the name implies they have a lot of tamale ingredients for sale. In the back there is a heated container with bags and bags of tamales-$7 for a dozen. There were 6 kinds and I was told to mix and match if I wanted. There were hot and mild versions of chicken and pork as well as strawberry and a pineapple-coconut. I tried everything except the pineapple-cococunt. I regret that from an experience standpoint, although I doubt I would have enjoyed it. Anyway, the chicken and pork were OK, a little dry but good flavored meat. I might be a little jaded now as my most recent tamales were from the famed maroon van which blew me away. The strawberry tamale, on the other hand, was a bit strange. The flavor was VERY strawberry and kind of good---but very dry. So dry that I really couldn't finish it. I've never seen strawberry tamales before. Any other places that have these that are good? The bag they put the tamales in says they have a another, bigger, location on 3215 W 26th St. Also, any word on the papusas a few blocks north on Archer at the El Salvadoran place? Wed Jun 11 19:54:15 -0700 2003 0 CMC 1 613967 They are sold at Tamal Oaxaca at Maxwell Street (though as Vital Info is at some pains to point out, apparently the strawberry style is not Oaxacan, only the big green tamale in the banana leaf is). According to the folks who tried them on video, they're not heavy on the strawberry taste, mostly taste like corn/masa. Wed Jun 11 21:04:06 -0700 2003 613961 0 Mike G 2 613969 I got a strawberry tasting bright pink/red tamale at the maroon van last week. Sure tasted like strawberry...no actual fruit in it that I could tell. Very pretty. RST, was it in fact strawberry? Wed Jun 11 22:10:28 -0700 2003 613967 0 Ligament 3 613971 I had one at the Maxwell outing and was pretty turned off by it. Too sweet for my tastes, but for 35 cents or whatever it cost, it was worth it to find out. Wed Jun 11 22:23:38 -0700 2003 613969 0 J. Luke Seemann 3 614064 No, those "tamales de regalo" are not made with strawberry but tinted with cochinilla (cochineal), a natural food dye that has been in use in these parts of Mexico since pre-Hispanic times. Cochineal (also used for making superior dyes for cloths) was a coveted (and very high-priced) export item in European-Mexican trade a couple of centuries back. I have little experience tasting cochinilla and do not know if the maroon van uses this in fact. I will verify this weekend. However, I am almost certain that it IS cochineal bec if you look carefully at the tamal, you will see a most beautiful natural-looking pink color: not at all lurid. Cochineal is I think also used in certain Eastern European countries for dyeing Easter eggs. It is classified as safe by the FDA (with I think some conditions noted for extremely high quantities and in certain combinations with chemicals). There was a brouhaha a couple of years ago raised by vegetarians when they discovered that Tropicana (?) used cochineal (which is extracted from the cochineal insect) to make their orange and grapefruit juices redder. RST Fri Jun 13 12:49:35 -0700 2003 613969 0 RST 4 614068 Is it possible that tamale I originally posted about contained this or was it actual strawberry? It sure tasted like real strawberry. Also, they did have pineapple/coconut. Is there a similar flavoring used instead of actual pineapple? Fri Jun 13 13:10:20 -0700 2003 614064 0 CMC 1 613977 I'm pretty sure that somewhere on the board there's a Rene G thorough post on the Casa De Masa in little village, maybe as part of his omnibus casa de masa post. Anyway, I've seen strawberry versions around town a number of times from various street vendors. At least 2 in Rogers PArk also carry them, but I've not really been all that impressed by them. Thu Jun 12 09:35:43 -0700 2003 613961 0 zim