Gentle cabrones:
As I’ve written many times before in these here cantos, I love to garden.
And because I’m, well, a writer, I love to write about gardening.
I don’t have time to join any gardening societies, or submit my meager crops to the Orange County Fair or some rare-plants society. But I do like showing off what I grow — not as some damn flex, but because of the stories and lessons behind them.
Like the time I posted on IG about the Suriname cherry in my front yard, a tree I bought because I wanted a fruit no one would know anything about so no one would pick them — and instead, a dear friend asked me how on Earth did I get a ñangapiri tree, whose tart, waxy fruit they grew up on, and that they had never heard it called a Suriname cherry tree?
I now collect all the fruit for my friend and only them.
Plants — but especially fruits and vegetables — have that Proustian magic. So if you ever have a chance to make someone happy by provoking those memories, why not do it?
That’s what I did with my guamúchil.
Gentle cabrones:
As I’ve written many times before in these here cantos, I love to garden.
And because I’m, well, a writer, I love to write about gardening.
I don’t have time to join any gardening societies, or submit my meager crops to the Orange County Fair or some rare-plants society. But I do like showing off what I grow — not as some damn flex, but because of the stories and lessons behind them.
Like the time I posted on IG about the Suriname cherry in my front yard, a tree I bought because I wanted a fruit no one would know anything about so no one would pick them — and instead, a dear friend asked me how on Earth did I get a ñangapiri tree, whose tart, waxy fruit they grew up on, and that they had never heard it called a Suriname cherry tree?
I now collect all the fruit for my friend and only them.
Plants — but especially fruits and vegetables — have that Proustian magic. So if you ever have a chance to make someone happy by provoking those memories, why not do it?
That’s what I did with my guamúchil.
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Maybe three years ago, I went to one of my favorite nurseries and checked out the bargain bin.
I don’t see specials here; I see plants that no one wants, orphans that the growers brought to life to make money and are now offloading to make some money back.
And if they don’t sell? I don’t even want to think about the prospects of a perfectly fine plant being thrown away.
That’s how I came across a bunch of young guamúchil. It’s a thorny tree whose fruits are pods that are green until they turn a pink red, then open up to reveal black seeds wrapped in a white cocoon. The taste is somewhere between coconut and hibiscus — sweet and tart.
It’s native to the Pacific Coast of Mexico, especially Sinaloa, where there’s a city named after it. Joan Sebastián once name-checked guamúchil in a song.
I had never encountered one until I came across it, so I bought the little plant—might as well try to grow something Mexican, you know? It was no more than a foot high, so I left it in its plastic container as I figured out where to plant it.
I mostly forgot about it. I never let it dry out, but it barely grew because I left it in its container. But its roots snaked out to establish itself to the ground where I left it.
Resilient. I like that.
I decided to give the guamúchil a full chance at life. I planted it in what used to be the median between the sidewalk and the street in front of my house. I took out the grass there long ago — not just because I don’t care for lawns, but mostly because the soil is really bad and can only support succulents
The tree is now at least 8 feet tall, with shoots going up a good 20 feet. It’s going to be massive — and the guamúchil harvest is INCREDIBLE.
I eat some of them, but the fruit is too tart for me. It’s not my fruit, although I love to see the tree blossom with its fuzzy flowers (although the thorns are satanic). So last year, during the pandemic, I was tending to the tree when a woman who lives in the neighborhood walked past me, stopped, and stared.
¿Es guamúchil?
Pos sí.
She went on to rave about how she rarely sees the tree in the U.S., how she grew up on the fruit in her native Sinaloa.
Agarre cuando quiera, I said. Get some whenever you want.
Our neighbor across the street recently told my wife she always sees people picking at our guamúchil, and should she shoo them away?
Nah. It’s my mitzvah to those who need it, who need to get transported to somewhere else with a quick snack or smell. And heaven knows we all need that every once in a while, especially during these times.
I’m glad I planted a guamúchil, a plant to which I had no particular relationship until I gave it a chance. Now, it will be a perpetual reminder to me as long as it grows of neighborliness, altruism, and the beautiful things that can happen when you encounter an underdog and give it what it needs to flourish — a true giving tree.
But everyone stay away from my Indio mandarinquats, kalamansi, and white mulberries, damnit!
GRÍTALE A GUTI
This is the column where I take your questions about ANYTHING. And away we go…
I like quesadillas too. On another matter, why do people use the term Latinx? I hate it. It makes us appear… weird. If people want to use a gender neutral term, use Latins or Hispanics. We don’t call Americas Americax or any other country / ethnic group by such terms; e.g., Asians, Europeans, etc.
Wow, you subscribe to my newsletter, but obviously don’t bother reading much of it or bother with other stuff that I do. Because if you did, you’d know that a couple of weeks ago, I HOSTED A PINCHE EPISODE ON ON MY PINCHE PODCAST THE VERY TOPIC YOU’RE WHINING ABOUT.
Sadly, homeboy isn’t the only person I’ve had to reprimand on this very subject. At least five people who are my friends have asked me about my feelings on Latinx this month…and not a single one of them subscribes to my podcast, or even knew I had a podcast. More reason to hate the algorithms that govern our lives, and one of the reasons why I started this newsletter…and then pendejadas like the question above. Subscribe to my podcast, porfas — and read this pinche newsletter you subscribe to, you know?
Got a question for Guti? Email me here.
**
Enough rambling. This was the semana that was:
IMAGE OF THE WEEK: Cesario “Chayo” Covarrubias, production manager for La Princesita Tortillería in East L.A., holding a 60-pound basalt stone he just prepped to put in a molino to grind out masa. I wrote about his craft for my KCRW #TortillaTournament this week, which I’ve linked below — you’re going to read it, right?
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Truth uncompromisingly told will always have its ragged edges.”
—Herman Melville
LISTENING:“Do Re Mi,” Woody Guthrie. This should be California’s official state song — and this should’ve happened the moment Portolà traipsed through the Golden State. Still laugh at the time LA Weekly tried to cancel Woody gtfo.
READING: “The unstoppable dreams of USMNT prodigy Ricardo Pepi”: Roberto José Andrade Franco is such a great writer — of sports, of the borderlands, of Texas — sk I was lucky enough to commission a piece from last year before he truly started to blow up. Someone hire the profe full-time!
SHOUTOUT TO: Mountain, who kindly donated 100 tacos to sponsor TWO full month of MailChango! I know Mountain, so I’ll reward his generosity with a round or 8 at Kelly’s Korner Tavern in Placentia next time we trivia.
Gustavo Appearances
Oct. 10 aka TOMORROW, 12 p.m.: The grand finale for my KCRW #TortillaTournament happens at Smorgasburg at the Row DTLA. Go eat some amazing tortillas and see me and my fellow judges award the Golden Tortilla. Judging starts right at noon and ends at around 2:30 — GO GO GO!!!
Oct. 14, 6 p.m.: I’ll be in conversation with Rosecrans Baldwin, author of the great new book Everything Now: Lessons from the City-State of Los Angeles, at the Wende Museum, 10808 Culver Boulevard, Culver City. Admission is FREE, and you can also Zoom in — details here.
Gustavo in the News
“Latino Journalist Gustavo Arellano Unpacks Identity at ICA Event”: A nice write-up of an event I recently did at Pepperdine University.
“The dangers of jaywalking in California”: One LA Times newsletter you should subscribe to plugs a podcast of mine.
“Letters to Sports: Lakers, LeBron James and the vaccine dilemma”: Another LA Times newsletter you should subscribe to plugs my columna.
“The Sports Report: Dodgers sweep Brewers, don’t win division”: Still another LA Times newsletter you should subscribe to plugs an appearance of mine.
“Can tacos help solve global challenges? The new International Taco Council aims to find out.”: The Washington Post highlights something I’m a part of.
“Chris Reed: Hey San Diegans who want great, authentic food, go to the strip mall”: A San Diego Union-Tribune columnista says nice things about me, the way he almost always has for over a decade #respect
“For the love of tacos: San Antonio eaters share their favorites, and more”: The San Antonio Express-News reprints one of my best quotes EVER.
“32 Fun Things to do This Weekend in L.A. [10-8-2021 to 10-10-2021]”: A plug for my KCRW #TortillaTournament
“Coal-Fired NYC Pizza Spot Grimaldi’s Quietly Closed Seven-Year-Old LA Location”: A plug for my podcast
“A Season to Celebrate Art”: A plug for my latest contribution to Alta Journal.
“32 Fun Things to do This Weekend in L.A. [10-8-2021 to 10-10-2021]”: A plug for my KCRW #TortillaTournament
“Major upset in the flour tortilla category heading into the Fuerte Four”: The latest in my KCRW #TortillaTournament.
“The Fuerte Four, boba, Thai in Hollywood, dates”: The second-latest in my KCRW #TortillaTournament.
Gustavo Podcast
Latest roster of episodes for “The Times: Daily news from the L.A. Times,” the podcast that I host. Listen to them, and SUBSCRIBE. Don’t let me become the Poochie of podcasts!
“Maitreyi Ramakrishnan on her ‘Never Have I Ever’ fame”: I turn the mic over to my colleagues at “Asian Enough,” who talk to the star of the breakout Netflix comedy.
“The push to decriminalize jaywalking”: California just might do it.
“California put homeless people in hotel rooms. Then what?”: All about Project Roomkey, complete with a great baseball metaphor that I did and that my colleage Doug Smith one-upped and then some!
“How COVID-19 nurses get through the day”: My colleague Karen Garcia talks with the subjects at hand.
“On the front lines of the homicide epidemic”: My colleague Kurtis Lee reports from Milwaukee.
Gustavo Stories
“Grítale a Guti, Ep. 71”: Latest edition of my Tuesday night IG Live free-for-all.
“Huntington Beach oil spill is similar in size and scope to 2015 Refugio oil spill”: My latest KCRW “Orange County Line” talks about the latest coastal disaster to hit OC.
“Tortilla Tournament, Week 4: Expected, Unexpected Winners on the Road to Fuerte Four!”: My preview and analysis of the four finalists for tomorrow’s grand finale of my #TortillaTournament. KEY QUOTE: “But I don’t run an everyone-gets-a-trophy outfit, folks. There can be only one Golden Tortilla, and we will determine who it is this Sunday at Smorgasburg at the Row DTLA.”
“The Diane Rehm Book Club: “The House of Broken Angels,” by Luis Alberto Urrea”: I appear on the book club of the public-radio legend to talk about my compa’s incredible book.
“Behind the grind of Cesario “Chayo” Covarrubias, East LA’s tortilla-stone master”: My latest KCRW #TortillaTournament columna checks in with a man who carves out the stones needed to grind the masa at La Princesita Tortilleria in East L.A.. KEY QUOTE: “On a table were Covarrubias’ tools for the day: a small circular saw, a flat-edged screwdriver connected to an air hose, and about a dozen smooth, 60-pound millstones made from basalt, the porous volcanic rock that has served as Mexico’s base to grind corn for millennia.”
You made it this far down? Gracias! Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram while you’re down here. Don’t forget to forward this newsletter to your compadres y comadres! And, if you feel generous: Buy me a Paypal taco here. Venmo: @gustavo-arellano-oc
