Loroco en pupusa (loroco flower bud filling)

El Salvador, Guatemala, and Southern Mexico — Mesoamerican indigenous plant; Central America's most distinctive culinary ingredient

Loroco (Fernaldia pandurata) is a Central American vine flower bud used as a vegetable flavouring — pungent, earthy, slightly fermented in character. It is the most distinctively Salvadoran and Guatemalan ingredient, with no adequate substitute. In pupusas, loroco is combined with quesillo (string cheese) to create the quesillo con loroco — the most popular pupusa filling. The loroco provides an intense, aromatic flavour that permeates the cheese and masa. Also used in soups and tamales.

Pungent, earthy, slightly fermented, floral — unlike any other herb or vegetable; an acquired taste that defines Salvadoran food identity