National Ceviche Day

When: June 28

Ceviche is raw fish cured in citrus juice — primarily lime — until the proteins denature and the fish becomes opaque and "cooked" without heat. The technique is ancient Peruvian, the chemistry is exact, and the dish is one of the most refreshing preparations for hot weather in existence.

Ceviche is the dish that proves acid can cook — and the result is one of the freshest, most vibrant preparations in any cuisine.

Ceviche is the dish that proves acid can cook — and the result is one of the freshest, most vibrant preparations in any cuisine.

The Moche people — a coastal civilization that dominated northern Peru roughly 2,000 years ago — were curing fish in the juice of tumbo, a native passion fruit, long before the Inca Empire existed. The technique was practical: acid denatures the proteins in raw fish the same way heat does, turning the flesh opaque and firm without cooking it. This was a preservation and preparation method born of geography. The Pacific coast of Peru is cold, nutrient-rich, and full of fish. Curing with acid made the catch safe, edible, and flavorful without fire. The lime arrived with the Spanish in the 16th century. Peruvian limes — smaller and more aromatic than the Persian limes sold as "limes" in most of the world — replaced tumbo as the curing agent and sharpened the dish dramatically. Red onion, aji amarillo chile, salt, and fresh white fish. The preparation that emerged from that Spanish contact with Moche technique became one of Peru's most culturally significant foods, eventually declared...