These pots were found in the Pinotepa Nacional mercado. These are the pots that Diana Kennedy features in her seminal book Oaxaca al Gusto for the dish El Cabio on page 137.

I should have bought the specific pot for that dish but I fell in love with a cazuela and an olla and could barely carry those back. It's amazing how little airline and airline security people care about hand carrying clay pots!

These pots were very light in weight. The real appeal is how they look and I assume they'll only look better over time. There's no glaze so there's no worry about lead.

The first thing I did when I got home was to cure them by filling them up with water and then adding some garlic cloves, chopped in half. I set them on a low flame and let the water evaoprate all day until they were nearly dry. I discarded the garlic, rinsed with water and the wiped with olive oil. Most Mexican chefs would rather use manteca, or lard, but for me the olive oil is more practical.

We aren't even considering importing these. I love them, as I do most of my clay pieces, but we've got too much on our plates right now. I think you should tour Oaxaca and find them at the mercado, too!