Moles La Gran Fiesta: CLC Craft Food

The season of summer is beloved for the vibrancy, warmth and fruitfulness of our surroundings. On Aug. 9–11, Salt Lake City will celebrate summertime, along with the best of our state’s DIY engineers, craft foodies, performers and craftspeople at the 11th Annual Craft Lake City DIY Festival Presented By Harmons at the Utah State Fairpark. Every year, Craft Lake City commemorates the best of Utah’s creators, this year being CLC’s first at the Utah State Fairpark—there is much to celebrate! Visit craftlakecity.com to learn more about the 11th DIY Festival.

Six generations of secret family mole recipes from Moles La Gran Fiesta are a reason to visit this year’s Craft Lake City DIY Festival. They tout 32 hand-selected, fresh ingredients that make up the delicious moles that are packaged in a powder form, versus the typical paste usually seen in stores. The powder form of their product makes it easy for customers to make mole sauce in their kitchen. Just add water or chicken broth in a pan and simmer it together, making instant mole that tastes homemade.

Moles La Gran Fiesta started back in 1970 with the late Alejandro Cruz. The family-owned business—now run by Cruz’s wife, Lorena Jimenez, and three kids, Cesar Cabrera, Orlando Cabrera and Fatima Cabrera—offers 12 selections of mole ranging from sweet, mild and spicy flavors based on different regions of Mexico, such as Oaxaca, Mexico City and Puebla. With recipes rooted deep in family tradition, they are known for authentic culinary flavors most crave from traditional Mexican cuisine. Their most famous mole is the “Poblano,” which comes from the region known globally as a mole destination, Puebla. This specific mole has a sweet, tangy flavor to it, and it is also one of the family’s favorites because it combines a tremendous original mole taste that’s both spicy and flavorful in addition to its sweetness. While we don’t have their recipe—you’ll have to taste it for yourself—typically, Puebla mole ingredients include unsweetened chocolate, various chiles, cinnamon, spices, tomatoes and onions.

Discover Moles La Gran Fiesta at the DIY Festival, where you can meet the family behind this household staple. Moles La Gran Fiesta can also be purchased online at their site. Shipping is available to all states in the U.S., as it makes for great gift ideas. They also sell their mole every Sunday at the Redwood Swap Meet in West Valley City. They currently sell at all Rancho Markets and a variety of Mexican stores, including El Potrero Market, La Palapa Mexican Restaurant and more. –Mandy Murry

More on SLUGMag.com:

Food Review: Red Iguana
A Taste of Mexique with Chef Carlos Gaytan