Jumiles

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Jumiles are small stink bugs from the Taxco area in Guerrero, Mexico. They eat the leaves of the encina oak (Quercus ilex). Chumiles are a smaller, similar bug found in the same region (southern Morelos and northern Guerrero). Other edible bugs in the Coreidae or Pentatomidae families can also be called jumiles.

People collect jumiles for food and they can be roasted, fried, ground, or eaten raw. A salsa is made by mashing jumiles with fresh tomatoes, chiles, and onions in a molcajete, then served with corn tortillas.

The jumil season begins on November 1, and Taxco holds a big festival in the mountain park of Huisteco where people gather jumiles and crown a Jumil Queen. Jumiles are plentiful from November to February and become scarce after the first rains.

They have a cinnamon-like odor and are an acquired taste because their high iodine content gives a bitter, medicinal flavor. They are also a good source of tryptophan and vitamins riboflavin and niacin.