quelites
ingredient / ingredient-quelites
ケリテス
Quelites: a Mexican cultural category of edible wild and partly cultivated young leaves, stems, flowers, and other parts. The word derives from Nahuatl quilitl (edible plant) and encompasses more than 350 species rather than a single taxon.
Photographs (captions in Japanese)
Tacos filled with boiled quelites (a collective term for wild young leaves) and served with salsa, based on the tradition of the Otomi people of the Toluca Valley. Quelites are a cultural category covering 350 or more species and do not refer to a single plant species, so this photograph also does not show a specific species.
Prepared formShown: Not applicable (a collective category of wild and semi-cultivated young leaves in Mexico, not a single taxon)Part / state: Tacos filled with boiled quelites
Photo: Natho Nzujni / CC BY-SA 4.0 / original image / ledger's original image
Scope and provenance of the photo
Identification: Identified as labelled in the source. Not the quelites alone but their appearance after cooking and plating. Because it is not a single taxon, individual species cannot be identified.
Image shown: The full-size file from Wikimedia Commons, reduced to 2400 px on the long side with sips. No cropping or color changes by NIGAMI LAB (resizing only). For display, a WebP capped at 1200 px wide is served; the ledger's original image can be checked from the link above.
On this page (7 sections)
Reading the bitterness
According to an official page from Mexico’s National Commission for the Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity (CONABIO), quelite derives from the Nahuatl quilitl, meaning an edible plant or tender vegetable, and has corresponding words in several Indigenous languages.
A 2025 thesis on the chemical composition of huazontle (Chenopodium berlandieri subsp. nuttalliae) inflorescences says in its background discussion that quiyollotl, derived from quilitl, refers to young stems, shoots, and sprouts, citing descriptions by Sahagún (ca. 1577) and Hernández (ca. 1571). This is a secondary presentation in a thesis, however, not direct consultation of the colonial-period originals.
The same CONABIO page defines quelites broadly as edible young parts: the whole plant excluding the root, seedlings, young branches and sprouts, tender leaves, leaves without veins, petioles, and stems. It says that more than 350 species are selected and eaten in Mexico according to local traditions.
A catalogue of quelites published by Mexico’s Secretariat of Agriculture and Rural Development (SADER) describes one of those more than 350 species, "flor de colorín" (in translation: "colorín flower") (Erythrina genus). It says that, besides smooth-textured young leaves, flower buds and fully opened flowers are eaten. When preparing the flowers, the center is removed to keep a stew from becoming bitter.
Sources for this overview
Checked for this overview: Confirmed CONABIO’s explanation deriving the word from quilitl. / Confirmed the definition of edible quelite parts and the reported species count.
Checked for this overview: Confirmed the meaning of quiyollotl and the context of the citations to primary historical sources.
Los quelites, tradición milenaria en México
Checked for this overview: The preparation step of removing the center of colorín flowers to avoid bitterness.
Other names: quilitl (nah), quiyollotl (nah, identification medium)
Structured claims — open a section to read each claim's confidence, evidence and limits
Composition and content (2)
Scope: The etymological explanation on an official CONABIO page.
Show data
ingredient-quelites —has_name_etymology→ (the claim sentence above)Scope: Mexico-wide; the official CONABIO definition.
Show data
ingredient-quelites —is_defined_as→ (the claim sentence above)How processing and cooking change it (1)
Scope: Layer: literature (official source). A preparation description in SADER’s quelites catalogue (read in full) for one listed Erythrina spp. type (colorín), not for quelites in general.
Note: Quelites is a cultural category encompassing more than 350 species. This account concerns preparation of one of them, colorín, and does not establish bitterness for the category as a whole.
Show data
ingredient-quelites —is_documented_as_having→ (the claim sentence above)