Found on the wall in an obscure corner of the National Palace in Mexico City:
the world owes to Mexico
This plaque lists both the Spanish and the Nahuatl words for various indigenous plants. Roughly translated it says, ‘the world owes to Mexico: corn, beans, tobacco, cocoa, cotton, henequén (I suspect this is sisal), tomato, peanuts, ‘tunas’ (the red fruit of the prickly pear), maguey (agave, the basis of pulque, mezcal and tequila), avocado, pineapple, chicle (chewing gum, think ‘chiclets’), the small zapote (a lesser known fruit), the white zapote (ditto), the zapote prieto (boy, whoever wrote this really liked zapote), el mante (no idea), el mamey (lesser known fruit), el capulin (no idea), papaya, chiles, yucca, jicama (crunchy cross between a potato and an unripe pear). Hey, tequila, apart from the ‘maguey’ connection, isn’t on the list!!! Or vanilla, the bean from an orchid that originally grew wild in the jungles surrounding Veracruz. Or nopales (prickly pear paddles)… Or… (I’m sure there must be more!)
CORN (EL MAÍZ, TLAYOLLI)
Traditionally corn is dried in the sun and then ground with a metate.
metates for grinding corn
Lime (the stone, not the fruit) is added in this process to break down the corn and release the nutrients.
The ground corn flour (masa) is used to make atoles, tamales, pozoles, salbutes and tortillas. In turn, tortillas are a key ingredient in chilaquiles, quesadillas, flautas, tacos, enchiladas, totopes and sopes (y ¡más!)
BEANS (Los frijoles, Etl)
Flor de Mayo Beans
PRICKLY PEAR FRUIT (Tunas, Notchli) & PADDLES (Nopales)
nopales are the paddles of the prickly pear. The red fruits are known as tunas.
Nopales are the paddles of the prickly pear. This cactus, in San Miguel de Allende, was guarded by a very protective mother pig out with her little ones. We tried to get photos of them snacking on the bright red fruits known as tunas in Mexico. But between being charged by momma pig, and backing away in a mass of cactus spines, we didn’t get too many photos.