What Cotija means
Cotija is a Mexican ingredient name of Purépecha origin meaning "cheese from Cotija". It comes from Cotija, a town in Michoacán. It is pronounced koh-TEE-hah, and it is most associated with Michoacán.
Etymology uncertain: the place name is of Purépecha origin and is often read as place of the jars, but the analysis is not settled. The cheese is named for the town, whatever the town's name means.
About this origin. The etymology is uncertain, disputed, or the name is a modern brand rather than an old word. The reading above is the best-supported one; food writing repeats stories that the dictionaries do not confirm.
Cotija is one of the many Mexican food words formed in Purépecha. Spanish borrowed it, and in several cases English borrowed it again from Spanish. See how Nahuatl builds words and the full list of Mexican food names.
This is a site about what Mexican words mean, so there is no recipe here. For the name itself: The words that appear inside dish names: the chiles (ancho, guajillo, pasilla, chipotle), the corn words (nixtamal, masa, tortilla, elote), and the tools (comal, molcajete, metate). Learn these and most menu items decode themselves.
