Day of the Dead FOOD

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Day of the Dead - FOOD
Food is a crucial part of the Day of the Dead
festivities. The foods offered to the dead vary
according to age and taste, but bread, water, and
salt are always included. The bread is made
from a special egg dough in a round shape, with
crisscrossed strips of dough forming bones, and a
skull in the center. Sugar candies with similar
skull and calavera (skeleton) designs are also
popular. In some areas of Oaxaca and Michoacán,
bakers shape the bread to resemble humans or
animals
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Bread
Pan de muerto is a sweet egg bread made in
various shapes, from plain rounds to skulls and
rabbits often decorated with white frosting to
look like twisted bones.
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DEAD BREAD RECIPE By Mary J.
Andrade.  Ingredients -5 flour cups.-8
tablespoon of crumbled compressed yeast-5
yolks. -5 eggs.-2 bars of margarine. -1 sugar
cup.3 tablespoon of orange blossom water.-1
tablespoon of grated orange peel. -2 eggs to
glaze. -1 pinch of salt. -Sugar to
sprinkle Instructions dissolve in lukewarm
water four tablespoon of yeast add cup and a
half of flour and form a small ball of smooth
dough. Leave it to rest 15 minutes in a lukewarm
place until it puffs up to the double of its
size. Sift the flour along with the salt and the
sugar put eggs in the middle (including the
yolks), the margarine, the grated orange peel and
the orange blossom water knead well. Later add
the small dough ball, knead again and let it rest
in a lukewarm place during one hour. Knead again
and form breads to the wished size. Put them on
greased trays and glaze with the egg yolks. Adorn
the bread with "tears" done of the same dough and
stick them with beaten egg, glaze the bread with
the egg and sprinkle with sugar. Finally, place
the bread in the oven preheated at 350Û during 40
or 50minutes.
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Sugar Skulls Candies
Nothing is more empheral than the sugar used to
make elaborate skulls, angels, and animals for
the Day of the Dead. Saving these items for the
following year would never occur to Oaxacans.
Children used to wait all year for parents to
buy them calaveras de azucar with their names
inscribed in the icing. Sugar skulls are gifts
that can be given to both the living and the
dead. Today, chocolate skulls are replacing the
sugar ones, but the tradition of eating sweet
skulls is as alive as ever.

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Sugar Skulls Supplies1 set of plastic skull
moldsMixing bowl and spoon2 cups of granulated
sugar2 teaspoons of meringue powder2 teaspoons
of water1 piece of cardboard, approximately 5" x
5 Mix the dry ingredients together in the bowl.
Sprinkle the water in and continue to mix until
the sugar is completely moistened and becomes the
consistency of moist sand. Scoop some of the
mixture into the mold and pack it evenly and
firmly. Place the piece of cardboard on top of
the mold and quickly flip it over so the sugar
skull pops out. Very carefully slide it onto a
flat surface. Continue making the rest of the
skulls. Let them dry for 24 hours in a dry place.
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Or.. for Sugar Skulls2/3 cup of water1/2 cup
meringue powder2 pounds of powdered
sugarElectric mixerConcentrated food coloring
(the kind professional cake bakers use)1 pastry
or Ziploc bagPlastic cupsSpoon Blend the
ingredients with an electric mixer until the
peaks form in the icing. If using assorted
colors, scoop the white icing into separate bowls
and add a dab of different colored food coloring
in each one. Mix again. Scoop the icing into the
pastry or Ziploc bag (snip the corner for the
latter). Continue until you have several bags of
different colors. Keep sealed and refrigerated
until use.
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Other Day of the Dead Treats.
Offerings for children are miniature in size and
relatively simple breads, candies, fruits, and
milk or soft drinks. The adult dead receive the
finest foods, grown-up breads and sugar figures,
as well as candied pumpkin and other sweets. More
elaborate preparations include mole (turkey in a
rich chili sauce) and tamales (corn dumplings
stuffed with meat and chili and steamed in husks
or banana leaves). The spirits also drink their
favorite beverages, whether soft drinks, coffee,
chocolate, beer, or tequila. Some people maintain
that the level of the liquid decreases overnight,
showing that the dead do indeed return to share
in the feast.