page_title: Toluca
section_title: Food and drink
hierarchical_section_title: Toluca / Food and drink
caption_attribution_description: Español: Chorizo Toluqueño.
context_page_description: Toluca, officially called Toluca de Lerdo, is the state capital of the State of Mexico as well as the seat of the Municipality of Toluca. It is the center of a rapidly growing urban area, now the fifth largest in Mexico. It is located 63 kilometres west-southwest of Mexico City, about 40 minutes by car to the western edge of the city. According to the 2010 census, the city of Toluca has a population of 819,561. The city is the fifth largest in Mexico by population. The municipality of Toluca, along with thirteen other municipalities, make up the metropolitan population of 2,116,506 in Greater Toluca as of 2015, making it the fifth most populous metropolitan area in Mexico.
context_section_description: Mexican food mixes European and Mesoamerican elements. In Toluca the most famous dish is chorizo, a regional sausage made of ground pork and tomato sauce, pumpkin mole, pipian and other ingredients such as salt, pepper, white wine, almonds, potatoes, vinegar, garlic and chile. In Mexico, the word "chorizo"  is used as a nickname for anything (anybody) from Toluca.  Other popular dishes, which must be mentioned are "tacos de carnitas" (pork tacos) and "tacos de plaza" made of barbacoa, pork, chicharron (fried pork rind), papalo Porophyllum ruderale, onion, coriander, nopales, cueritos, chili sauce, salt and lime.
  The traditional food includes vegetables from the region such as "quelites", "quintoniles", "huazontles", spinach, "verdolagas", carrots, potatoes, tomatoes and so forth.
  Toluca has a variety of traditional candies such as "alegrías", "jamoncillos" (a candy bar with flavors such as lemon, pineapple, apple or chocolate), "lemons" (lemons decorated with coconut), "chilacayotes" (pumpkin in syrup), "cocadas" (mainly made with coconut), "palanquetas" (a peanut bar covered with melted sugar).
  Traditional drinks include "mosquito" and, as in many other regions of Mexico, "tepache". "Mosquito" is a drink obtained from the infusion of fruit in alcohol. "Mosquito" can be also flavored with sugar, syrup or honey. "Tepache", the popular beverage of fermented pineapple and other fruit, is not native to the Valley of Toluca since this tropical plant does not grow there.
caption: Toluca chorizo
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