If you have lived in these parts for any period of time, you have likely heard talk of chicos, often in conjunction with beans, as in “chicos and beans.” But if you are not from these parts, you may not have any idea of what chicos are or why they are doted upon by so many.
Chicos are kernels of sweet corn which have been roasted on the ear in an outdoor, wood-fired adobe oven called an horno (pronounced orno, the “h” is silent) and then hung by the husks and dried.