Posted on 07/09/2007 5:47:32 PM PDT by blam
Source: Smithsonian
Date: July 9, 2007
Ancient Americans Liked It Hot: Mexican Cuisine Traced To 1,500 Years Ago
Science Daily — One of the world's tastiest and most popular cuisines, Mexican food also may be one of the oldest.
These chili peppers from the Guila Naquitz cave in Oaxaca Mexico date to between A.D. 490 and 780, and represent two cultivars or cultivated types. A Smithsonian scientist analyzed the chili pepper remains and determined that Pre-Columbian inhabitants of the region hundreds of years ago enjoyed a spicy fare similar to Mexican cuisine today. (Credit: Linda Perry, Smithsonian Institution)
Plant remains from two caves in southern Mexico analyzed by a Smithsonian ethnobotanist/archaeologist and a colleague indicate that as early as 1,500 years ago, Pre-Columbian inhabitants of the region enjoyed a spicy fare similar to Mexican cuisine today. The two caves yielded 10 different cultivars (cultivated varieties) of chili peppers.
"This analysis demonstrates that chilies in Mexican food have been numerous and complex for a long period of time," said lead author Linda Perry, of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. "It reveals a great antiquity for the Mexican cuisine that we're familiar with today."
Perry and Kent V. Flannery, of the University of Michigan, studied desiccated plant remains from excavations in Guilá Naquitz and Silvia's Cave, two dry rock shelters near Mitla in the Valley of Oaxaca, southern Mexico. Guilá Naquitz is famous for its well-preserved plant remains, dating back to the beginnings of squash cultivation in Mexico some 10,000 years ago. Arid conditions through the centuries prevented decay of the crop remains, which include corn, squash, beans, avocados and chili peppers.
This new study focuses on the two upper layers of ash and debris known as Zone "A" and "Super-A," spanning the period circa A.D. 500--1500. Perry was able to distinguish different cultivars among the abundantly preserved chili peppers, a type of analysis that had not been completed on ancient Mexican chilies.
Perry found that peppers from Guilá Naquitz included at least seven different cultivars. Peppers from the smaller sample in Silvia's cave represented three cultivars.
It is unknown whether the cultivars found in the cave correspond to modern varieties, or if they were types that died out after the arrival of Europeans in Mexico. Perry said one looks like a Tabasco pepper and another like a cayenne pepper, but it is difficult to know how closely related they are to modern varieties without a genetic analysis.
"What was interesting to me was that we were able to determine that they were using the peppers both dried and fresh," Perry said. (Chilies broken while fresh had a recognizable breakage pattern.) "It shows us that ancient Mexican food was very much like today. They would have used fresh peppers in salsas or in immediate preparation, and they would have used the dried peppers to toss into stews or to grind up into sauces like moles."
During the period circa A.D. 500--1500, the caves served as temporary camps and storage areas for farmers from Mitla--a major town on the river of the same name--whose cultivated fields evidently extended to the slopes of the piedmont below Guilá Naquitz and Silvia's Cave. The Zapotec-speaking people planted crops in several environmental zones--river bottoms, piedmont and mountains-- probably as a way of buffering risk; it also added variety to the diet.
"In the cave deposits, we can see excellent documentation for the sophistication of the agriculture and the cuisine at this point in time," Perry said. "You don't grow seven different kinds of chilies unless you're cooking some pretty interesting food."
The study will be published the week of July 9 in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by Smithsonian.
GGG Ping.
Chili has long been used to mask the taste of rancid meat etc.,
America was’nt a word then,,
Mexican food predates Mexico? Will wonders never cease?
Did they also speak Spanish before the arrival of Spaniards and play mariachi music before the arrival of Germans, Poles, and Czech in Tejas?
“Grog, drop the Chalupa!”
also, in the absence of refrigeration, the pepper chemistry extends the life of the food. Loads of bacteria cannot hack it neither.
Garlic was probably popular back then too for similar reasons. Salt brine was probably used as a preservative as well.
So they used the peppers the way middle easterners used salt. I wonder if they had access to much salt.
All pecans are traceable to Texas.
Honey too.
Pecans and hot peppers...sounds like a good meal.
Tastes good. . . and is good for you. So the 2-week-old tamal in my fridge is still good, eh?
All I can say is, hats off to whomever thought to stuff a green chili with cheese, batter it an deep fry it!
Nothing like a Chili Relleno and 2 Margarita lunch
Mmmmm... chili’s
It’s hard to beat good Mexican food. The only things that come close are hickory smoked barbecued ribs with all the fixings. Or maybe fried channel catfish and hushpuppies...
The only thing better is a Chili Relleno and 2 Margarita breakfast!
Chili Relleno, the first meal I ate on a recent trip to Texas, hmmmm.
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