Tejocote (pronounced te-ho-COT-e) is the more common name for Crataegus Mexicana. The hard wood tree with small crab apple-like fruit is one of more than a dozen varieties of Hawthorne tree. Mexican Hawthorne is considered the most valuable of the hawthorn plants as a source of food.

Tejocote fruit has a round to oval shape and a light orange outer skin. They have a texture and taste somewhat similar to apples yet more neutral, with both bitter and sweet undertones. The center of the small fruit has very tightly clustered seeds that form a kind of nut. Raw, the fruit is a bit hard; after boiling, cream colored flesh softens. The flesh oxidizes quickly.

Nutritional Value

Tejocote is very high in pectin, which is a naturally occurring substance that acts as a stabilizer or congealing agent. The pectin is extracted from the fruit and used in foods, pharmaceuticals and for industrial use.

Serving Ideas

The fruit of the Mexican Hawthorne is most often used as the main ingredient in a punch served in Mexico at Christmastime. “Ponche” is made using tejocotes that have been peeled, halved, deseeded and boiled until soft. They are added to a punch with various spices and other fruits. Tejocotes are also canned after preparation for commercial sale. Jams, jellies and pastes are also made from the fruit; tejocotes can be eaten raw as well.

Ethnic/Cultural Info

Tejocote, or Manzanitas in Spanish, are made into a paste and combined with sugar and chili powder to make a Mexican candy called rielitos. These candies are used as offerings for the dead on the Day of the Dead on the first of November. The word tejocote comes from the Nahuatl word "texocotl," meaning stone fruit.

Geography/History

Tejocotes are native to the mountainous regions of Mexico into Guatemala. Due to the potential of exposing American agriculture to foreign fruits that may harbor exotic pests, bringing tejocotes across the border into the US was illegal. The small fruit is so popular among native Mexicans that those who moved to the US had resorted to smuggling the popular ponche ingredient across the US-Mexico border. Between 2002 and 2006 the Mexican Hawthorne topped the seizure list of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Smuggling, Interdiction and Trade Compliance program. In the late 1990s a Southern California farmer obtained root stock from a Crataegus Mexicana plant in San Diego, CA and after ten years, the orchard was ready to introduce the tejocotes to the American market.

Seasons/Availability

Tejocote are available during the fall and winter months.