Domesticated plants of Mesoamerica
Encyclopedia
Domesticated plants of Mesoamerica, established by agricultural
developments and practices over several thousand years of pre-Columbian
history, include maize and capsicum. A list of Mesoamerican cultivars and staples
:
The early use of maize focused on the consumption of unripened kernels. Before people settled into villages and began farming, the amount of time it took to invest in maize was too great. The output of wild maize did not justify the time and work needed to grow the crop.
However, maize could be both dried and stored which was very important to early Mesoamericans as it could be used on a year-round basis. Drying meant that it could be transported as well. The common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) was often grown with maize. These two plants provide complementary dietary amino acids. Since maize was such a significant part of the Mesoamerican diet, calcium was also added to maize by a grinding process using limestone.
Maize is also associated with festival and feast foods. Before it was domesticated and became a main crop, maize was used as a basis for beer. Beer was transported in decorated vessels and ceramic pottery. These vessels could be taken to social and ritual occasions.
Ritual events or festivals, such as ball games, feasts, and calendar turnings, involved the royal members who took part in the sacrifice of blood-letting and piercing as repayment to the gods for having given maize to the people that year.
Another example of how maize played such a large role in Mesoamerica, is when deities were portrayed with maize. Quetzalcoatl
is connected as being a creator of humans in Mesoamerica. This deity is also seen as the one who took maize from the underworld and gave it to humans in the present world.
name of the chili pepper
plant, which is a native domesticated plant from Mesoamerica. Capsaicin reduces the bacterial load when something can not be refrigerated. In Mesoamerica, the capsaicin spice was also used to relieve joint pain, and as an intestinal stimulant, so capsicum is also known as a medicinal plant. The peppers from capsicum plants can be used in a fresh or dried state. A dried chile pepper is stronger and more effective than a fresh chile pepper.
During the Middle Archaic Period or the Coxcatlán phase, between 5700-3825 BC, the domestication of plants, such as the chile, was thought to have begun. Mesoamerica's chile crops along with the majority of other food crops, were all domesticated by the Late Formative Period. When the domestication of crops began, the majority of people were working at cultivating fields and crops like the chile. Chiles were a relied on source of food in Mesoamerican times. Chile crops were combined with maize, beans, and squash crops.
Chiles were a part of trade and gift giving. Chiefs or other elite members would use foods and stews spiced with chiles when involved in a feast. Using such strongly spiced foods was to show a stylistic and powerful approach to those receiving the dishes.
The chile plant was featured in different stews including vegetables, turkey, and dog meats and in chile-spiced tomato salsa with tortillas. Chiles were also added at times to cacao, when it was in a beverage form. In Mesoamerica, chiles were used for ritual purposes and therefore, the chile crops did not extend into North and South America like maize, beans, and squash. A cuisine distinct to Mesoamerica was a maize-and-chile pepper based food.
traditionally planted in conjunction with the "two sisters", maize and squash, to help condition soil; runners grew on maize)
native to Mexico
. Etymologically, vanilla derives from the Spanish
word "", little pod. Originally cultivated by Pre-Columbian
Mesoamerican peoples, Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés
is credited with introducing both vanilla and chocolate to Europe
in the 1520s. Attempts to cultivate the vanilla plant outside Mexico and Central America proved futile because of the symbiotic relationship between the tlilxochitl vine that produced the vanilla orchid and the local species of Melipona bee
; it was not until 1837 that Belgian botanist Charles François Antoine Morren
discovered this fact and pioneered a method of artificially pollinating the plant. The method proved financially unworkable and was not deployed commercially. In 1841, a 12-year-old French-owned slave by the name of Edmond Albius
, who lived on Île Bourbon, discovered the plant could be hand pollinated
, allowing global cultivation of the plant.
There are currently three major cultivars of vanilla grown globally, all derived from a species originally found in Mesoamerica
, including parts of modern day Mexico. The various subspecies are Vanilla planifolia (syn. V. fragrans), grown on Madagascar
, Réunion
and other tropical areas along the Indian Ocean
; V. tahitensis, grown in the South Pacific; and V. pompona, found in the West Indies, Central
and South America
. The majority of the world's vanilla is the V. planifolia variety, more commonly known as "Madagascar-Bourbon" vanilla, which is produced in a small region of Madagascar and in Indonesia
.
Vanilla is the second most expensive spice after saffron
, due to the extensive labor required to grow the vanilla seed pods. Despite the expense, it is highly valued for its flavor
, which author Frederic Rosengarten, Jr. described in The Book of Spices as "pure, spicy, and delicate" and its complex floral aroma depicted as a "peculiar bouquet." Despite its high cost, vanilla is widely used in both commercial and domestic baking
, perfume
manufacture and aromatherapy
.
xicamatl, ʃiˈkamatɬ), also Yam and Mexican Turnip, is the name of a native Mexican vine
, although the name most commonly refers to the plant's edible tuberous root. Jícama is one species in the genus Pachyrhizus
. Plants in this genus are commonly referred to as yam bean, although the term "yam bean" can be another name for jícama. The other major species of yam beans are also indigenous within the Americas.
and Veracruz
, Central America
and northern South America
, the papaya is now cultivated in most tropical countries, such as Brazil
, Bangladesh
, Pakistan
, India
, Indonesia
, South Africa
, Sri Lanka
, Vietnam
, Philippines
and Jamaica
. In cultivation, it grows rapidly, fruiting within 3 years. It is, however, highly frost sensitive.
Sunflower seeds
Under cultivation in Mexico and Peru for thousands of years, also source of essential oils.
Tobacco
note: the tobacco plant was cultivated throughout Central America, the Caribbean and North America.
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
developments and practices over several thousand years of pre-Columbian
Pre-Columbian
The pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences on the American continents, spanning the time of the original settlement in the Upper Paleolithic period to European colonization during...
history, include maize and capsicum. A list of Mesoamerican cultivars and staples
Staple food
A staple food is one that is eaten regularly and in such quantities that it constitutes a dominant portion of a diet, and that supplies a high proportion of energy and nutrient needs. Most people live on a diet based on one or more staples...
:
Maize
Maize was domesticated in Western Mexico and Mesoamerican cultures expanded wherever it was cultivated. It became widespread in the Late Archaic Period and was grown wherever conditions allowed.The early use of maize focused on the consumption of unripened kernels. Before people settled into villages and began farming, the amount of time it took to invest in maize was too great. The output of wild maize did not justify the time and work needed to grow the crop.
However, maize could be both dried and stored which was very important to early Mesoamericans as it could be used on a year-round basis. Drying meant that it could be transported as well. The common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) was often grown with maize. These two plants provide complementary dietary amino acids. Since maize was such a significant part of the Mesoamerican diet, calcium was also added to maize by a grinding process using limestone.
Maize is also associated with festival and feast foods. Before it was domesticated and became a main crop, maize was used as a basis for beer. Beer was transported in decorated vessels and ceramic pottery. These vessels could be taken to social and ritual occasions.
Ritual events or festivals, such as ball games, feasts, and calendar turnings, involved the royal members who took part in the sacrifice of blood-letting and piercing as repayment to the gods for having given maize to the people that year.
Another example of how maize played such a large role in Mesoamerica, is when deities were portrayed with maize. Quetzalcoatl
Quetzalcoatl
Quetzalcoatl is a Mesoamerican deity whose name comes from the Nahuatl language and has the meaning of "feathered serpent". The worship of a feathered serpent deity is first documented in Teotihuacan in the first century BCE or first century CE...
is connected as being a creator of humans in Mesoamerica. This deity is also seen as the one who took maize from the underworld and gave it to humans in the present world.
Capsicum
Capsicum is the genericGenus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
name of the chili pepper
Chili pepper
Chili pepper is the fruit of plants from the genus Capsicum, members of the nightshade family, Solanaceae. The term in British English and in Australia, New Zealand, India, Malaysia and other Asian countries is just chilli without pepper.Chili peppers originated in the Americas...
plant, which is a native domesticated plant from Mesoamerica. Capsaicin reduces the bacterial load when something can not be refrigerated. In Mesoamerica, the capsaicin spice was also used to relieve joint pain, and as an intestinal stimulant, so capsicum is also known as a medicinal plant. The peppers from capsicum plants can be used in a fresh or dried state. A dried chile pepper is stronger and more effective than a fresh chile pepper.
During the Middle Archaic Period or the Coxcatlán phase, between 5700-3825 BC, the domestication of plants, such as the chile, was thought to have begun. Mesoamerica's chile crops along with the majority of other food crops, were all domesticated by the Late Formative Period. When the domestication of crops began, the majority of people were working at cultivating fields and crops like the chile. Chiles were a relied on source of food in Mesoamerican times. Chile crops were combined with maize, beans, and squash crops.
Chiles were a part of trade and gift giving. Chiefs or other elite members would use foods and stews spiced with chiles when involved in a feast. Using such strongly spiced foods was to show a stylistic and powerful approach to those receiving the dishes.
The chile plant was featured in different stews including vegetables, turkey, and dog meats and in chile-spiced tomato salsa with tortillas. Chiles were also added at times to cacao, when it was in a beverage form. In Mesoamerica, chiles were used for ritual purposes and therefore, the chile crops did not extend into North and South America like maize, beans, and squash. A cuisine distinct to Mesoamerica was a maize-and-chile pepper based food.
Pinto bean
Frijol pinto ("painted/speckled" bean) nitrogen-fixerNitrogen fixation
Nitrogen fixation is the natural process, either biological or abiotic, by which nitrogen in the atmosphere is converted into ammonia . This process is essential for life because fixed nitrogen is required to biosynthesize the basic building blocks of life, e.g., nucleotides for DNA and RNA and...
traditionally planted in conjunction with the "two sisters", maize and squash, to help condition soil; runners grew on maize)
Vanilla
Vanilla is a flavoring derived from orchids of the genus VanillaVanilla (orchid)
Vanilla, the vanilla orchids, form a flowering plant genus of about 110 species in the orchid family . The most widely known member is the Flat-leaved Vanilla , from which commercial vanilla flavoring is derived. It is the only orchid widely used for industrial purposes...
native to Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. Etymologically, vanilla derives from the Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
word "", little pod. Originally cultivated by Pre-Columbian
Pre-Columbian
The pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences on the American continents, spanning the time of the original settlement in the Upper Paleolithic period to European colonization during...
Mesoamerican peoples, Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés
Hernán Cortés
Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro, 1st Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca was a Spanish Conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Castile in the early 16th century...
is credited with introducing both vanilla and chocolate to Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
in the 1520s. Attempts to cultivate the vanilla plant outside Mexico and Central America proved futile because of the symbiotic relationship between the tlilxochitl vine that produced the vanilla orchid and the local species of Melipona bee
Melipona
Melipona is a genus of stingless bees. These are widespread in warm areas of the Neotropics, from Sinaloa and Tamaulipas to Tucumán and Misiones . At least 40 species are known....
; it was not until 1837 that Belgian botanist Charles François Antoine Morren
Charles François Antoine Morren
Charles François Antoine Morren , was a Belgian botanist and horticulturist, and Director of the Jardin botanique de l’Université de Liège....
discovered this fact and pioneered a method of artificially pollinating the plant. The method proved financially unworkable and was not deployed commercially. In 1841, a 12-year-old French-owned slave by the name of Edmond Albius
Edmond Albius
Edmond Albius was an important figure in the cultivation of vanilla. At the age of 12, he invented a technique for pollinating vanilla orchids quickly and profitably. Albius's technique revolutionized the cultivation of vanilla and made it possible to profitably grow vanilla beans away from their...
, who lived on Île Bourbon, discovered the plant could be hand pollinated
Hand pollination
Hand pollination is a technique used when natural, or open pollination is insufficient or undesirable. The most common techniques are for crops such as cucurbits, which may exhibit poor pollination by fruit abortion, fruit deformity or poor maturation...
, allowing global cultivation of the plant.
There are currently three major cultivars of vanilla grown globally, all derived from a species originally found in Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica is a region and culture area in the Americas, extending approximately from central Mexico to Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, within which a number of pre-Columbian societies flourished before the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 15th and...
, including parts of modern day Mexico. The various subspecies are Vanilla planifolia (syn. V. fragrans), grown on Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
, Réunion
Réunion
Réunion is a French island with a population of about 800,000 located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, about south west of Mauritius, the nearest island.Administratively, Réunion is one of the overseas departments of France...
and other tropical areas along the Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
; V. tahitensis, grown in the South Pacific; and V. pompona, found in the West Indies, Central
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
and South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
. The majority of the world's vanilla is the V. planifolia variety, more commonly known as "Madagascar-Bourbon" vanilla, which is produced in a small region of Madagascar and in Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
.
Vanilla is the second most expensive spice after saffron
Saffron
Saffron is a spice derived from the flower of Crocus sativus, commonly known as the saffron crocus. Crocus is a genus in the family Iridaceae. Each saffron crocus grows to and bears up to four flowers, each with three vivid crimson stigmas, which are each the distal end of a carpel...
, due to the extensive labor required to grow the vanilla seed pods. Despite the expense, it is highly valued for its flavor
Flavor
Flavor or flavour is the sensory impression of a food or other substance, and is determined mainly by the chemical senses of taste and smell. The "trigeminal senses", which detect chemical irritants in the mouth and throat as well as temperature and texture, are also very important to the overall...
, which author Frederic Rosengarten, Jr. described in The Book of Spices as "pure, spicy, and delicate" and its complex floral aroma depicted as a "peculiar bouquet." Despite its high cost, vanilla is widely used in both commercial and domestic baking
Baking
Baking is the technique of prolonged cooking of food by dry heat acting by convection, and not by radiation, normally in an oven, but also in hot ashes, or on hot stones. It is primarily used for the preparation of bread, cakes, pastries and pies, tarts, quiches, cookies and crackers. Such items...
, perfume
Perfume
Perfume is a mixture of fragrant essential oils and/or aroma compounds, fixatives, and solvents used to give the human body, animals, objects, and living spaces "a pleasant scent"...
manufacture and aromatherapy
Aromatherapy
Aromatherapy is a form of alternative medicine that uses volatile plant materials, known as essential oils, and other aromatic compounds for the purpose of altering a person's mind, mood, cognitive function or health....
.
Jicama
Jícama (icon; ˈxikama; from NahuatlNahuatl
Nahuatl is thought to mean "a good, clear sound" This language name has several spellings, among them náhuatl , Naoatl, Nauatl, Nahuatl, Nawatl. In a back formation from the name of the language, the ethnic group of Nahuatl speakers are called Nahua...
xicamatl, ʃiˈkamatɬ), also Yam and Mexican Turnip, is the name of a native Mexican vine
Vine
A vine in the narrowest sense is the grapevine , but more generally it can refer to any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent, that is to say climbing, stems or runners...
, although the name most commonly refers to the plant's edible tuberous root. Jícama is one species in the genus Pachyrhizus
Pachyrhizus
Pachyrhizus is a small genus of five or six species of tropical and subtropical plants growing from large, often edible taproots.- Jícama :...
. Plants in this genus are commonly referred to as yam bean, although the term "yam bean" can be another name for jícama. The other major species of yam beans are also indigenous within the Americas.
Papaya
Originally from southern Mexico, particularly ChiapasChiapas
Chiapas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas is one of the 31 states that, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 118 municipalities and its capital city is Tuxtla Gutierrez. Other important cites in Chiapas include San Cristóbal de las...
and Veracruz
Veracruz
Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave , is one of the 31 states that, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided in 212 municipalities and its capital city is...
, Central America
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
and northern South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
, the papaya is now cultivated in most tropical countries, such as Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
, Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
, Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
, Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
and Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
. In cultivation, it grows rapidly, fruiting within 3 years. It is, however, highly frost sensitive.