Esquites

Esquites is a derivative of pre-Hispanic ízquitl (Nahuatl for «toasted corn»), originally a dry-roasted corn snack of the Mexica. The mayonnaise-and-cheese dressing is generally traced to 19th-century French culinary influence in Mexico (the dish was even Europeanized as «dientes de odalisca» under Maximilian's Second Empire); the modern wet, broth-cooked, cart-vendor street version then took its familiar Mexico City form in the 20th century. It is sold from cart vendors with a steaming pot, almost always after dark, alongside elote on the cob.

Wet, mayonnaise-and-cotija version is 20th-century CDMX, paralleling McCormick México mayo's 1950s rise. The cobs go into the cooking water — corn-glucose leaks out and the kernels poach in their own concentrate. No epazote, no esquites.

Eaten with a tiny spoon while walking. First, sweet hot kernels in a slightly creamy bath, then the salt-funk of cotija (it tastes like a drier feta), then the chile-lime-sour of tajín on the back of the tongue. The epazote stock isn't visible but it's the resinous green note threading through everything. A street esquites in CDMX is served in a clear plastic cup with a thumb-sized wooden spoon, eaten before crossing the street.

Two hidden moves. The cobs go into the cooking water — they leak corn-glucose and the stock becomes inherently sweet, so the kernels poach in their own concentrated essence. Without epazote (Dysphania ambrosioides), esquites tastes like creamy corn salad; with it, you get that resinous-citrus depth that distinguishes Mexican corn cookery from the American street-corn imitators. Mexican mayo (egg yolk + lime) is looser and limier than American — substituting Hellmann's gives you a heavier, less acidic cup.