Mole

A brief note on mole. According to the Moon guide, there are 7 kinds of mole in Oaxaca. So far I have tried 4: negro (black, chocolatey in a savory way), coloradito (kind of like Indian masala sauce with a tomato base and complex spices), amarillo (ground almonds, really more orange than yellow, also reminiscent of Indian spices), and verde (like tomatillo salsa). Coloradito is by far my favorite. It's brownish-red in color and has a much more complex flavor profile than negro, which is also good but tends to be more one-note.

You can buy mole in the grocery store in little bags and jars. In the bags, it's more of a paste, so I assume it's concentrated and you water it down with some sort of liquid. The jars look like a desperate, I-can't-cook-and-I-miss-mom's-cooking kind of thing, and only come in a few flavors. You can also buy mole in the markets, where it is kept in large jars and poured into plastic bags for individual sale. Restaurants with gift shops catering to tourists also sell high-quality mole in jars.