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.
dont let it fool you.
processed food? IF it wont rot in your fridge - you shouldnt be eating it....
your eyes are just teasing you
The Indians of México and the what is now the southwestern US ate the “CBS diet” (corn, beans, and squash), which gives a complete amino acid combination for making all the protein the body needs. It is a good, staple diet.
The peppers provide vitamin C and other useful nutrients, some of which have antimocrobial properties.
They were able to preserve food by drying it.
Good Méxican food is great. Of course, every developed culture has some good food, but this diet was available generally, and was probably preferable to what people in some other places were eating.
No argument from me. All great meals.
Rice and beans provide protein and niacin. Another Mexican staple.
I didn’t grow any this year, I’ve still got several pints of 100% habañero puree from last year, also some flaked and dryed for use in shakers, And several quart freezer bags full of whole peppers. I must be nuts.
Chocolate and vanilla are also from Mexico.
I forgot to mention the pik kee nu pints. I know I’m nuts.
Interesting that the U.S. has about a squadrillion restaurants serving Mexican food, and almost none serving Canadian food. Of course, a reason for that is that nobody really knows what Canadian food is. Beer and doughnuts, I guess.
"The origins of chocolate, which is derived from the Theobroma cacao tree, stretch back at least 4000 years.The plant is believed to have originated in the Amazon or Orinoco basins in South America and was regarded by the Aztecs as being of divine origin ('Theobroma' means 'food of the gods'). They used the tree's beans as currency - 100 beans would buy a slave, 12 beans the services of a courtesan and 10 beans a rabbit."
“...They used the tree’s beans as currency...12 beans the services of a courtesan and 10 beans a rabbit.”
So a guy with 12 beans had to ask himself; “Am I hungry or horney?”
I know I’m nuts too. A steady diet of hot peppers, vodka and dual-base smokeless powders has sustained me thus far.
Correct. Vespucci had not even been born!
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
"Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list or GGG weekly digest
-- Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)
I know. Don’t worry, just an attept at a chile pepper joke.
“....All the hot peppers in the world today can trace their origins to the Caribbean Islands....”
What is your source for that?
All I have read points to the Chiltepin as the ancestor of modern Chiles. The Chiltepin grows wild from central Mexico to Arizona.
I love them—I swallow a couple whole every day, like vitamins.
That means it is time to smoke the ribs with a mole rub.
Poutine. Rapee pie. Tourtiere. All french-Canadian.
Moose, elk, caribou, salmon, blueberries, bakeapples, fiddleheads - Canadian ingredients. In fine restaurants serving “Canadian” food, fresh, wild ingredients tend to be the distinguising characteristic.
For the most part Canada is a land of immigrants, like the US, so it’s hard to speak of “Canadian food” as any specific dishes, other than those french-Canadian specialties.
Oh, another one: Montreal smoked meat sandwiches. Lobster rolls. Lobster dinners served family style. Regional cuisine.
Of course not. Everyone knows you don't eat beaver in a restaurant.
I recognize that species of pepper; it is the only one that ever has made me barf due simply to pure heat!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.