Mojo (, from

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

''molho'' , meaning "sauce") is the name, or abbreviated name, of several types of

sauce In cooking, a sauce is a liquid, cream, or semi-solid food, served on or used in preparing other foods. Most sauces are not normally consumed by themselves; they add flavor, moisture, and visual appeal to a dish. ''Sauce'' is a French wor ...

s, varying in spiciness, consisting primarily of

olive oil Olive oil is a liquid fat obtained from olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea''; family Oleaceae), a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin, produced by pressing whole olives and extracting the oil. It is commonly used in cooking: ...

, local pepper varieties (called ''pimienta'' in the Canary Islands),

garlic Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a species of bulbous flowering plant in the genus '' Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, Welsh onion and Chinese onion. It is native to South Asia, Central Asia and northeas ...

paprika Paprika ( US , ; UK , ) is a spice made from dried and ground red peppers. It is traditionally made from '' Capsicum annuum'' varietals in the Longum group, which also includes chili peppers, but the peppers used for paprika tend to be milder ...

(called ''pimentón'' in Spain),

cumin Cumin ( or , or Article title
) (''Cuminum cyminum'') is a

coriander Coriander (;

, and other spices. Mojo originated in the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, :es:Canarias, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to ...

, where the main varieties are green mojo (''mojo verde''), red mojo (''mojo rojo''), and spicy red mojo (''mojo picón''). Other countries have recipes similar to mojo, where acidic ingredients such as

vinegar Vinegar is an aqueous solution of acetic acid and trace compounds that may include flavorings. Vinegar typically contains 5–8% acetic acid by volume. Usually, the acetic acid is produced by a double fermentation, converting simple sugars to eth ...

lemon The lemon (''Citrus limon'') is a species of small evergreen trees in the flowering plant family Rutaceae, native to Asia, primarily Northeast India (Assam), Northern Myanmar or China. The tree's ellipsoidal yellow fruit is used for culin ...

orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

, or lime juice may be used.

Canarian mojo

Typology

Green mojo, or mojo containing green spices, is commonly used for fish, especially the proper ''green mojo'' (made with green pepper) but also coriander mojo (''mojo de cilantro'') and parsley mojo (''mojo de perejil''). As coriander mojo and parsley mojo contain some water, they need to be kept in the refrigerator and have to be consumed within two days after preparation. Red mojo, made of small red peppers from

La Palma La Palma (, ), also known as ''La isla bonita'' () and officially San Miguel de La Palma, is the most north-westerly island of the Canary Islands, Spain. La Palma has an area of making it the fifth largest of the eight main Canary Islands. The ...

(called ''pimienta picona'' or ''pimienta palmera'') and

, is usually eaten with meat. Red and green mojo can be used interchangeably to season some dishes, prominently ''

papas arrugadas Papas arrugadas ( ) is a traditional boiled potato dish eaten in the Canary Islands. It is usually served with a chili pepper garlic sauce, called mojo rojo, or as an accompaniment to meat dishes. The dish is made from small new potatoes whic ...

con salsa mojo'', or potatoes with ''mojo''. Mojo is also commonly served with fresh bread rolls at the beginning of a meal.

Preparation

To prepare red mojo, it is necessary to dry the peppers. Once dry, peppers can be kept for a long time before preparation. Before making mojo, peppers are soaked in water, so they lose their spiciness. Then, grains and fibers are removed, but for a few, that will make the mojo spicy. In the case of green mojo, spiciness will be regulated by the amount of garlic and can also be intensified by adding ground coriander seeds.

Canarian variations

Local variations of mojo include recipes with cheese, such as ''mojo con queso'' (''mojo with cheese'') from

and

El Hierro El Hierro, nicknamed ''Isla del Meridiano'' (the "Meridian Island"), is the second-smallest and farthest-south and -west of the Canary Islands (an autonomous community of Spain), in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa, with a populatio ...

, as well as

almogrote Almogrote is a soft paste made from hard cheese, peppers, olive oil, garlic, and other ingredients, which is typically eaten spread on toast. It is native to La Gomera in the Canary Islands. See also * List of spreads This is a list of spr ...

from

La Gomera La Gomera () is one of Spain's Canary Islands, located in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa. With an area of , it is the third smallest of the eight main islands of this archipelago. It belongs to the province of Santa Cruz de Tene ...

, where it is turned it into a paste that can be spread over bread. Every Canarian family has its own mojo recipe, which can vary greatly in flavour, spiciness, and texture. There is also almond mojo, an ideal accompaniment to various roasted dishes. Saffron mojo, whose main ingredient is Canarian saffron, tastes excellent with any fried cheese. Garlic mojo is ideal on

pizza Pizza (, ) is a dish of Italian origin consisting of a usually round, flat base of leavened wheat-based dough topped with tomatoes, cheese, and often various other ingredients (such as various types of sausage, anchovies, mushrooms, on ...

. Herb mojo is made of mixed spices and is ideal for any salad.

International variations

Similar sauces, also known as ''mojo'', are also popular in

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribb ...

and throughout the islands of the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean ...

, Hispanic or non-Hispanic, due to heavy Canarian emigration to the Caribbean, and have even influenced some

barbecue sauce Barbecue sauce (also abbreviated as BBQ sauce) is a sauce used as a marinade, basting, condiment, or topping for meat cooked in the barbecue cooking style, including pork or beef ribs and chicken. It is a ubiquitous condiment in the Southern ...

s in the

Deep South The Deep South or the Lower South is a cultural and geographic subregion in the Southern United States. The term was first used to describe the states most dependent on plantations and slavery prior to the American Civil War. Following the wa ...

region of the United States, particularly the states of Florida, Texas, and Louisiana. The flavor can be made of almost everything, from tomato or pepper to avocado. In Cuban cooking, ''mojo'' applies to any sauce made with garlic, olive oil, or pork lard, and a citrus juice, traditionally

bitter orange Bitter orange, Seville orange, bigarade orange, or marmalade orange is the citrus tree ''Citrus'' × ''aurantium'' and its fruit. It is native to Southeast Asia and has been spread by humans to many parts of the world. It is probably a cross be ...

juice. It is commonly used to marinate roast pork or as a dip for plantain chips and fried cassava (yuca frit

The sauce is occasionally called by its diminutive, 'mojito,' but should not be confused with the beverage Mojito, of the same name. To create the marinade for pork, the ingredients are bitter orange juice, garlic, oregano, cumin, and salt. In

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

, ''mojo'' is a herb sauce of finely chopped

cilantro Coriander (;

parsley Parsley, or garden parsley (''Petroselinum crispum'') is a species of flowering plant in the family Apiaceae that is native to the central and eastern Mediterranean region (Sardinia, Lebanon, Israel, Cyprus, Turkey, southern Italy, Greece, ...

with salt, plenty of crushed garlic, and olive oil.

Black pepper Black pepper (''Piper nigrum'') is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, known as a peppercorn, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit is a drupe (stonefruit) which is about in dia ...

, butter, grated

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus '' Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the on ...

, vinegar, and any citrus fruit can also be added. It is commonly used on the island as a marinade for chicken roast and a dip for ''

tostones Tostones (, from the Spanish verb ''tostar'' which means "to toast") are twice-fried plantain slices commonly found in Latin American cuisine and Caribbean cuisine. Most commonly known as ''tostones'', Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Cuba, Fl ...

'', fried cassava, and sometimes mashed with ''

mofongo Mofongo () is a Puerto Rican dish with plantains as its main ingredient. Plantains are picked green, cut into pieces and typically fried but can be boiled or roasted, then mashed with salt, garlic, broth, and olive oil in a wooden pilón (mortar ...

''. Puerto Rican Chef Jose Enrique mojo mixed with papaya and avocado topped on fish has become a part of Puerto Rican gastronomy. There is also a version popular in the town of Salinas, called ''mojo isleño'', which is served with

seafood Seafood is any form of sea life regarded as food by humans, prominently including fish and shellfish. Shellfish include various species of molluscs (e.g. bivalve molluscs such as clams, oysters and mussels, and cephalopods such as octopus an ...

, particularly fish. In the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...

, it is called

wasakaka Wasakaka is a savory sauce found in Dominican Republic cuisine, Dominican and Venezuelan cuisine. The name is also spelled ''guasacaca'', pronounced the same. It is often used in chicken dishes. Variations Venezuela In Venezuela the sauce is ...

and is used as a sauce for roasted chicken and boiled cassava. Wasakaka is made of boiling plenty of water with parsley, garlic, olive oil, and sour orange or lime juice.

References

Recipes for mojo sauce
{{Culture of Canary Islands Canary Islands cuisine Caribbean cuisine Chili sauce and paste Cuban cuisine Puerto Rican cuisine Sauces