Long and
delectable is the list of ingredients and flavors that Mexico
brought to the world. Exotic and spicy flavors with bright colors that invite
you to taste them. While many recipes from pre-Columbian times have been
forgotten, practically all of the ingredients have survived.
Thus, we Mexicans have a living legacy from our ancestors, one that we share
proudly with the world.
 CORN (Tlaolli)
Considered
a sacred plant; corn
is the most important staple of
both past and
present-day Mexicans. The
Mexica people of the
Great Tenochtitlan
reported that
the Toltecs,
a civilization that emerged in
the state of
Hidalgo, were responsible for introducing the
cultivation of maize
during the
seventh century AD. However, thanks
to archaeological finds, today we know that corn has
been present in
the Mexican
diet for
more than seven
thousand years. From Mexico come two
universally known
ways of consuming corn: the Mexica baked
it in the
form of a large,
thin and flexible wafer
called
tlaxcalli
or tortilla, which
is also the basis
for savoring
a delicious taco
and the Mayans learned to pop the corn
kernels to
become what
is now known as
popcorn, except
that they used it
to make bracelets and
necklaces.
 BEANS (Etl)
The second pillar of
Mexican cuisine for many centuries, the
bean, has
transcended its original territory to
join the staple
diet of many
nations, including Brazil
and France. There
are seven major
varieties of beans, grouped
by color and
size. One of the
big advantages is that beans can
be eaten when they
are still tender (green
beans) or once
they’ve dried. Beans
also have high
nutritional value since 20 percent of
their composition is
made up of proteins. One
of the most
traditional dishes in Mexican
cuisine is ‘frijoles
charros’ (or ‘ranch-style beans’), cooked with
onions, epazote and pork
cracklings. The
Yucatan Peninsula is
particularly famous
for its
‘frijoles puercos’ (or “pig
beans"), made with pork.
 CHILE (Chilli)
Chile
is the third pillar of Mexico's
pre-Hispanic cuisine.
An essential guest
for every meal in
homes throughout the
country, chile was so
important to the ancient Mexicans that
they
kept thorough accounts of
the
chile tributes to
be paid by
subdued provinces, as
described in
the
Codex
Mendocino.
There are six varieties of cultivated
chile,
which generally
has a high vitamin C
content , in addition to being attributed various healing
properties: it
is a
diuretic, an
appetite stimulant and is
known to
cure some skin
infections.
 AVOCADO (Ahuacatl)
The avocado is one of the
fruits of the
pre-Hispanic world most appreciated worldwide. Fray Toribio
de Benavente "Motolinia",
one of the
great evangelists, called
it "the best fruit in
New Spain, both
in taste and virtue”.
The buttery texture of
its flesh has a
mild flavor that makes
it the perfect companion for spicy Mexican dishes. It’s the
main ingredient in a delicious dressing, guacamole, which today
often accompanies
Mexican dishes, topped
with tortilla chips and crumbled
bits of fresh farmer’s cheese.
 VANILLA (tlilxochitl)
Beautiful and virtuous, vanilla is
a black-colored orchid that,
once
discovered by
the conquerors,
became the star of
desserts on
the Old Continent.
Its elegant and unmistakable
aroma is the
essence of perfumes,
cakes, candies
and liqueurs. Vanilla
is the legacy of the Totonac civilization that
lived in the humid
highlands of Veracruz.
They discovered that you
had to pollinate the
orchid in
order for it
to yield its aromatic pods,
so they entrusted that
delicate task to the youngest
and most
virtuous women of
the community. Up
until a few years ago, the Totonac and
their successors engaged
in a large festival in
honor of the vanilla plant, a festival which they named Xanat. Today, a high percentage of
the vanilla consumed in the
world is artificial,
another portion is produced in Asia and only a small
part comes
from Mexico, although its quality is
significantly superior.
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