Mole’s origin it’s in prehispanic kitchen.
The first mentions found about mole were found in the General History of Things in New Spain by Fray Bernardino de Sahagún.
Alonso de Molina translates the phrase salsa or chilli stew, into chilmulli, from which it’s deduced that mulli means salsa.
The moles were prepared for the gods. When merchants or pochtecas, arrived at their homes after a trip, offered to the god of fire, “heads of hens with their molli …” When they obtained good transactions in their trips, they had to give a splendid banquet. The preparations remind us of what happens in many communities of the country nowadays.
They were provided with guajolotes(mexican turkey) and chickens, about eighty or a hundred. They also bought chiquihuites (recipient for the tortillas) and molcajetes, which were earthen pots with three legs to serve the meat stewed with chilli. In addition, they acquire what was necessary to make and serve cocoa.
The original sauces that generically were called mulli, were introduced by indigenous cooks to Creole houses and convents and were added, through three centuries of the spanish influence, ingredients brought from Europe, that mixed well with the original concept.
They added garlic, onion and, according to the mole, oriental seasonings such as cloves, cinnamon, cumin, black pepper, anise, coriander seed and herbs. They were thickened with tortilla dough or masa, but in some cases toasted bread was used instead. Pumpkin seeds found their equivalent in sesame mainly, but also in almonds, pine nuts and walnuts.
A more recent cookbook, the Newest Kitchen Art, from 1872, contains a “palace clemole” with “half a pound of golden cocoa”: it is the first mention we have of this ingredient.
The Guajolote, bird native to Mexico, similar to turkey, was considered the quintessential ingredient for mole.