Recipes: Taos Blue Corn Muffins + Taos Retreat

Posted by Claire Ragozzino

Taos has always held a fond place in my heart. There’s something so special about its many micro climates, of vast horizons over the sage spotted mesa, the white cotton candy-like clouds painting shadows and light across the expansive views, the cold mountain streams tracing pathways through the aspens. It takes my breath away every time.

My dear friend and I have been making annual trips to Taos for the last four years. During an afternoon hike down to the hot springs in the gorge, we had the vision of bringing a group of women out to the lands where we each had found our own peace, clarity and connection. Combining her work as a yoga and energetics teacher/flower essence therapist and mine in ayurveda, yoga and nourishment, we created Alchemy of Spirit Retreats together. Now our second year hosting a retreat in Taos, this retreat was centered around an experience of the chakras, each day building upon the next in experiences. We ate meals outside under the apple orchards and willow trees, took our guests on adventures to the mountains and meditated each morning with the sunrise over the mesa.

The menu for our Taos retreat was designed to incorporate locally-grown food and regionally-inspired flavors. As a fully plant-based menu, it was a fun challenge to create balanced meals using Ayurvedic principles with the rich cultural food history of the region. Corn – think posole and atole – is a big ingredient with strong roots in New Mexican cooking. We were lucky to find Taos Family Farms, a new company that celebrates the beauty of native, heirloom non-gmo blue and yellow corn, was located just a field’s walk away from our retreat home. We couldn’t more local than that! We met owners, David Frazer and Jason Seck, at the farmer’s market and learned about the mission behind this small, sustainable agriculture initiative.

Jason’s wife is also owner/founder of the lovely local restaurants, The Love Apple and its newer sister, Manzanita Market. The Love Apple is nestled inside a charming 1800’s adobe chapel and serves the most divine cast-iron baked blue corn muffins with a savory chive butter and sweet apple cinnamon butter. For us, the Love Apple has always been a pilgrimage site and these blue corn muffins the holy grail.

It only seemed fitting to include our own version of these heavenly muffins on our retreat menu. We used Taos Family Farm’s blue corn flour to make these, and served them with an ample side of whipped cinnamon apple butter. If you’re in Taos or Santa Fe, you can find their heirloom blue corn and yellow corn flour, ground meal, chicos and parched corn available at the Manzanita Market in Taos, Modern General in Santa Fe and at the weekend farmer’s markets.

What does Ayurveda think about corn? In the Vedic tradition, corn relates to the moon and symbolizes nourishment and fertility, similar to the history of Native American and Central/South American cultures where the many wide varieties of maize provided a staple sustenance and correlated to their creation stories. Corn’s qualities are light, warming, dry and rough, making this a great grain for reducing kapha in late winter and springtime when our outer environment is often damp and cool. The addition of ghee in the base mixture and the added topping of sweet apple butter makes this a vata friendly food as well. As with anything, eaten with moderation and in total blissful enjoyment meets the needs of each dosha.

BLUE CORN MUFFINS