What is This? Latin Food From A to Z

Adobo - Spanish for marinade, Adobo can be a sauce or a "rub" or paste made from blended herbs and spices.

Azucar - Sugar

Boniatos- Like our sweet potatoes but white inside, rather than orange. Don't expect them to "sweet" tasting, however. They aren't.

Buñuelos - Fried pieces of dough traditionally served with honey and/or cinnamon and sugar. Yum.

Chayote - This pale green vegetable is shaped like a pear and prepared like squash.

Chicharrones - Pieces of pork crackling cooked until crunchy and most of the fat is rendered out. Served hot or cold as an appetizer. In Nicaragua this is served as a main dish with Yuca and a cabbage salad.

Chicos - Dried sweet corn that can be used whole or crushed. A popular ingredient for soup recipes.

Chile Caribe - Red chile pods pureed with water.

Chile Verde - Green chilies. You'll find these in a variety of sizes, shapes, and degrees of hotness.

Chorizo - Spicy Spanish sausage, distinguished by the strong red color from the paprika and hot peppers they are made with.

Cilantro - Also known as Chinese Parsley or Coriander. Popular as a seasoning, it is used both fresh and dried.

Enchilada - Rolled or flat corn tortillas stuffed with meat, cheese and onions and smothered in either red or green chile sauce.

Empanada - Fried or baked pastries filled with dried fruit or meat.

Flan - Custard with a caramel coating. This is a traditional dessert in Latin homes.

Flautas - Literally, Flute and a variation of the traditional Taco. Two tortillas are overlapped, stuffed with meat, cheese, onion and chile and then rolled up and fried.

Frijoles - Spanish for beans and a staple in the Latin diet.

Gazpacho - A cold vegetable soup with a tomato base and containing a variety of fresh, uncooked vegetables, spices and herbs.

Guacamole - A popular side dish and garnish made by mashing ripe avocado and seasoning with garlic or other spices.

Guayaba - Guava. This sweet tasting fruit can be found fresh in the produce section as well as canned. It is used in recipes in consistencies that vary from large chunks in syrup to a smooth paste. Fresh guava should be eaten when they are yellow and slightly soft. If purchased green, they will ripen nicely at room temperature if placed in a paper bag. A traditional Cuban meal ends with slices of guava accompanied by cheese.

Harina Azul - Blue corn meal flour

Huevos Rancheros - scrambled egg on a corn tortilla and topped with a green chile sauce with onions and tomatoes.

Jicama - A large gray-brown root vegetable with a crisp white flesh resembling that of a potato. Frequently used raw in salads.

Malanga - A hard root vegetable shaped like a yam, and with a thin brown skin and beige colored flesh.

Mojo - A pungent Latin marinating sauce containing onion, garlic, cumin, oregano, salt, black pepper, orange, and lemon juice. In the process of marinating, Mojo adds flavor as it is absorbed, and it makes raw foods tender. It is typically used in meat, poultry, shellfish and vegetables.

Mole - A popular Central American gravy-like meat sauce made with cocoa beans, red chiles and other spices. In some Latin countries, crushed sesame seed, pumpkin seed, or nuts are added.

Nopales - The leaves of prickly pear cactus. The taste is similar to that of green beans.

Pastelitos - Pastries

Quelites - A dish consisting of spinach mixed with pinto beans, bacon and crushed chile pods.

Quesadillas - A folded tortilla made with a variety of fillings but most typically cheese.

Quinona - A grain used as a side dish

Paella - The signature dish of Spain. There are many variations of this wonderful rice and seafood dish. Look for Nuevo Cocina Paella in stores now. Additions include chicken, sausages and seafood.

Plantains - This fruit looks like a large banana, but should always be cooked before eating. Plantains can be cooked in any stage of ripeness, from green to "black and mushy." In fact, the darker the skin color, the sweeter the taste.

Sofrito - The boquet garni of Latin cooking and an important addition to Caribbean and Cuban dishes. A fragrant blend of chopped onion, garlic and peppers

Sopapillas - Puffy and crisp, deep-fried pastry.

Tamale - Pork and vegetables encased in masa dough and wrapped in a corn husk and then steamed or boiled.

Tostadas - Open faced taco.

Tortilla - In Mexico a tortilla is a corn or flour like pancake. In Spain, tortillas are egg omlets served in triangle pie like wedges.

Tuna - No, it's not the fish. This "Tuna" is a cactus fruit. The moist, granular flesh is eaten raw as a dessert with lemon and sugar and is also candied for use as sweet treat.

Verdolagas - This common garden weed can used as a herb or added to salads. It is known in English as Purslane.

Yuca - This starchy tuber is the "potato" of Central and South America served baked, boiled and "French Fried." Fresh yucca has a hard flesh that's white and stringy flesh. Yuca has a brown skin that looks and feels like tree bark.