Rossy Earle, food stylist and owner of Diablo’s Fuego Hot Sauce

“After all the corn was gathered from the harvest, the hard work wasn’t yet over,” says chef Rossy Earle. The corn still had to be dried and ground—a key component of Panamanian tamals. Tamals are cornmeal packets saturated with flavour and stuffed with chicken, olives, roasted peppers and capers. Their inherent portability means they travel well, and so they became a Christmas tradition in many Latin American countries. “I never made them until I was in my 30s,” says Earle. “My mom came to visit, and we made them together. To be able to make something like that in Canada; it felt just like home.” Now Earle produces about 200 of them every Christmas for friends. She says she gets huge pleasure out of it—as do the lucky recipients.