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Chicago-Area Startup Takes Better-for-People-and-the-Planet Approach
Ernesto Rodriguez is the founder and recipe creator for El Molcajete Sauces, a startup based in the Chicago suburb of Evanston. He makes five varieties of moles, the traditional simmer sauces of his home state of Oaxaca in Mexico, plus a different fresh salsa every week, organic tortilla chips and chili oil.
Ernesto reached out to me to ask if I’d be interested in learning more about his work, and I visited with him at his occasional stand at the Evanston Farmers Market this past Saturday (July 27). The warm, friendly greeting I received made me want to like his products; the samples he set out for customers sealed the deal. Ernesto is a very talented sauce maker.
But there is much more to him than that. Ernesto brings a thoughtful, values-based approach to his business that situates him well within the better-for-people, better-for-the planet community that Local Food Forum serves.
The first things he told me were that all the ingredients in his salsas are seasonal and fresh, purchased at the farmers market, and that his chips are healthier than most because he fries them in coconut oil. The moles are all plant based and gluten free.
There’s more, but first a little background. Ernesto emigrated to San Francisco from Oaxaca 15 years ago, and it was there that he started El Molcajete. He explained that he moved to the Chicago area – his wife’s hometown -- because “after COVID, San Francisco changed a lot,” and he felt Evanston would be a better environment to raise their daughter.
“We were lucky enough that people have been very supportive,” he added.
Ernesto noted that the family produces out of a commercial kitchen in Evanston. Again projecting a Good Food approach, he said, “Everything is cooked in very small batches. It’s made the traditional way that we made it in Oaxaca, one at a time. There are no preservatives, it’s 100 percent natural. They’re gluten free, vegan, plant based.”
He said that there are seven main varieties of mole in Oaxaca and he creates and jars five of them: Mole Negro (Black Mole), Mole Verde (Green Mole), an expression simply called Mole Sauce; Estafado Sauce, which he describes as a version of traditional Mole Amarillo, or Yellow Mole; and Mole Blanco (White Mole).
He held up a jar of Mole Blanco to explode one myth about mole: that it is always made with chocolate as an ingredient. “It’s made with nuts, cashews, pine nuts, peanuts, coconut oil...,” he said. “This one is very particular because it’s nice and it’s smooth, a delicate sauce. I recommend using it with seafood like scallops, shrimp. But it’s very good with pasta, almost like alfredo sauce. It’s very good with veggies. I grilled asparagus with some nuts on top, it was great.”
There are other misperceptions about Mexican cooking, Ernesto said, and he seeks to address them through his products.
One of these is that Mexican food always contains animal products. Ernesto noted that while traditional Oaxacan mole often contains lard, his does not. He said the same is true for sugar, noting that his products are either low in sugar or have no added sugar.
He added, “I try to break all these ideas of Mexican has to be heavy and greasy and not healthy. There are a lot of people who watch what they’re eating, so these sauces are better for them.”
The conversation swung back around to his passion for local sourcing. “For me, it’s very important to know where our food comes from,” Ernesto said. “We buy our veggies at the farmers market, all local farmers, it keeps our small businesses moving. It’s very important for everything to be very fresh and know where it came from. That’s the reason why I use seasonal produce for my fresh salsa every week.”
His salsa of the week was a deep purple color, made with hibiscus, tamarind, tomatoes, jalapeño, and cilantro. It was truly extraordinary, and a container (along with a bag of his chips) came home with me, along with a jar of Mole Sauce that I've yet to try out.
It’s not all about the tasty food for Ernesto, though. He seeks to present what he sees as the best of the region and country in which he was raised.
“I’m not selling mole. I’m showing people our culture, my roots,” Ernesto said. Describing a traditional communal Sunday dinner back home, he said, “It is a party in Mexico, it’s a celebration. It’s something that we have to show, we cook for everybody and then you cook for the people that you love.”
He concluded, “I want people to experience that in a jar.”
Ernesto is scheduled to vend at the Evanston Farmers Market again this Saturday (August 3). El Molcajete products can be purchased on their e-commerce site (click below to access) and at a handful of retail outlets, including the new Wild Onion Market co-op in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood (see the photo above).
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