By weaving pop-culture puns, a conversational style, and coy copy into these
historical vignettes about their ingredients, I kept Chipotle's irreverent, quality-focused
voice intact. These were printed on drinking cups in burrito joints across the country.
A Lesson in Limes
We juice a lot of limes at Chipotle. They add a delicious, subtle citrus tang to our
cilantro-lime rice, as well as a wonderful zing to our tortilla chips, which are always
lime-juice-drizzled before getting a sprinkle of Kosher salt. But we've never seen a lime
seed, and it got us wondering why not. So we did a little research.
Here's the squeeze: according to the Florida Department of Citrus, limes actually do have
seeds, but they're so small you can't usually see them. Limes are picked and consumed before
they mature, and therefore have underdeveloped seeds.
Now you know. And knowing is half the burrito.
Iceberg Straight Ahead!
Just kidding. There are no iceberg sightings at Chipotle. Iceberg lettuce, that is. Instead
we use freshly shredded, green-with-that-little-bit-of-aubergine romaine — the preferred
lettuce for many chefs who eschew the practically flavorless but widely popular iceberg — in
our burritos and tacos.
Once thought to have medicinal value, romaine lettuce originated on the Aegean island of Cos
and was served at the tables of Persian kings as early as 55 B.C. And get this: romaine's dark
green leaves are higher in Vitamin A than its more common crunchy cousin.
We're not certain if romaine lettuce was served aboard the Titanic.
That's Amore! Er, Cilantro
Cilantro is sacred at Chipotle. We use it fresh from the fields of California (and, in the
wintertime, Arizona, which has a longer growing season), hand-plucking the leaves then finely
chopping it for use in our signature cilantro-lime rice, made in each restaurant daily.
But did you know that cilantro has captured hearts, minds, and palates since ancient times?
The Chinese believed it could bestow immortality, and in the Middle Ages it was used in love
potions. That old cilantro magic may still be at work; our rice has been known to bestow an
undying love for our burritos.
See? All you really need is love. Er, Chipotle.
We Admit It. We're Salt Snobs.
What makes the sea more than just a great big lake? Salt. What makes our chips more than just
fried corn tortillas? Kosher salt.
Called kosher because its coarse grains make it suitable for meat preparation according to
Jewish dietary laws, additive-free kosher salt is also used by many gourmet chefs (like ours)
who prefer its lighter, flakier texture and cleaner, less bitter flavor to traditional table
salt. Each day at Chipotle, we juice limes into our hot, freshly made chips before salting
them to help those primo grains stick better.
We don't mean to be salt snobs. But anything else just wouldn't be kosher.
Berry. Jam Berry.
You've heard of tomatillo, right? The main ingredient in our red hot and medium green salsa?
Well, though equally strange-sounding, at least this one is easier to say. In fact, the
infamous Jamberry is actually another name for the tongue-twisting tomatillo. Other aliases
include the Mexican green tomato, the strawberry tomato, or the husk tomato.
Like another famous J.B., it's also a master of disguise. Our hot tomatillo-based salsa gets
its red color — and its heat — from de árbol chilies. But even deceptively mild-looking green
tomatillo-based salsas (like our medium roasted chili-corn salsa) can cleverly camouflage
scorching peppers.
What can we say? Our burritos are full of hotties!