Mexico Cooks!

De Vaga en Veracruz, Tierra Jarocha :: Vacation Wanderings in Veracruz, Part IV

Did you know that vanilla--that leathery, wrinkled, don't-know-what-to-do-with-it, dark-brown bean in the back of your pantry, that bottle of extract in your cupboard, the ice cream that drips from your cone--is the pod of an orchid that originally grew only in Mexico?  Since long prior to Spain's arrival in what we know today as Mexico, Vanilla planifolia (flat-leafed vanilla) grew in the cool forests of the low easternmost mountains near the Gulf of Mexico--specifically, in and around Papantla, Veracruz. Today, the area produces about 80% of the vanilla grown in Mexico.  The orchids were not in bloom while we were there; hence this photo, courtesy Wikipedia.com.


In our search for Veracruz vanilla, we stopped here: Vainilla Gaya, one of the original Italian vanilla growers in Mexico.  I had made an appointment for a tour, but we arrived late after erroneously going to another of Gaya's locations.  Nevertheless, we were well-attended and able to see--albeit quickly--the areas of 'beneficio' (betterment), where green vanilla pods, newly harvested from vines in commercial production rooms, are cured and fermented both in ovens and in the open air.


One of the growing rooms at Vainilla Gaya.  Vanilla is a vine that requires the support of jungle trees, of individual limbs, or, in this case, of metal and bamboo supports.  Click on any photo to enlarge it.  


Trays of vanilla pods curing at Gaya.  Of the three vanilla businesses that we visited, Gaya appears to be the most like a modern laboratory. If you're looking for jungle-grown vanilla, it's not at Gaya.  

You might well ask, "How did vanilla get its name?" It was originally called xánat, by the Totonacos; the name in Náhuatl is tlilxóchitl.  The Spanish name is vainilla, the diminutive of vaina, a pod.  So vainilla--vanilla, in English--is a little pod.  Even though most of us call it a vanilla bean, it is in no way related to phaseolus vulgaris, the common bean--pinto, black, navy, kidney, or any other you can think of, none of them and none of their relatives are related to vanilla.  If you're asking for a vanilla bean in Spanish, the commonly used phrase is "ejote de vainilla".


The store at Gaya.  The company produces and sells the pods, natural vanilla extract, vanilla saborizante (flavoring), vanilla powder, sugar flavored with vanilla, coffee flavored with vanilla, vanilla liqueur, and some other products.  We bought a few pods and some vanilla extract.

Our tour guide at Gaya gave us a good deal of information about what the vanilla vine requires to prosper, flower, and produce pods.  Among the various details were:

--a warm, humid, tropical climate with temperatures ranging from 71 - 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
--more than 80% humidity.
--annual rainfall of 48 to 118 inches.
--location at zero to 600 meters above sea level.
--light at 80%.
--well-drained soil with pH between 6 and 7.
--plenty of organic material as its main nutrients.

March, April, and May are the time when new vanilla plants are cut and planted from older vines.  From planting to first flowering, vanilla normally requires three years of growth.  From pollination to harvest, each pod requires nine months to the day.  


After visiting the installations at Gaya, we moved on to meet José Luis Hernández Decuir, of Eco-Park Xanath near Papantla.  Sr. Hernández is a learned and really fascinating tour guide in all aspects of the traditional cultivation of vanilla.  In the photo, he's sitting in the doorway to the temazcal (ancestral and spiritual sweat lodge) on his property.    

One of the most interesting facts about vanilla is its pollination.  The early Spanish were fascinated with the plant, its flowers and pods, and its flavor.  Of course they wanted to cultivate vanilla in Europe; Hernán Cortés introduced the plants there in the 1520s.  The orchid plants grew and flowered, but produced no vanilla pods.  


Sr. Hernández explains pollination of the vanilla orchid by the melipona bee.  The clay pots in the photo are two tiers of bee hives balanced on bamboo shelves; the dark round spot on the top and bottom hives closest to Sr. Hernández are the tiny entryways to the hives.


Vanilla vines grow naturally in the jungles of Veracruz. Here, you can see two vanilla pods among the larger flat leaves of a tree-supported vine.

The Spaniards and other Europeans didn't know that in New Spain, the flower had a symbiotic relationship with the tiny, native melipona (stingless) bee.  Only that bee is small enough to creep into the tiny hermaphroditic sex organs of the vanilla orchid and carry the pollen from the male to the female part of the flower; the melipona bee did not exist in Europe, although growers made efforts to import it.  Outside Mexico, for three centuries no one could pollinate the orchid blooms and vanilla pods grew only in their country of origin.


The melipona stingless bee is tiny, measuring between approximately .07" and .5" in length.  Photo courtesy Backyardnature.net.

In 1841, a simple and efficient artificial hand-pollination method was developed on Réunion Island in the French Indian Ocean, by a 13-year-old slave named Edmond Albius.  His method is still used today. Using a beveled sliver of bamboo, an agricultural worker lifts the membrane separating the anther and the stigma inside the orchid flower; then, using his thumb, he transfers the pollen from the anther to the stigma. The flower will then produce a fruit. The vanilla flower lasts about one day, sometimes less, so growers have to inspect their plantations every day for open flowers, an extremely labor-intensive task.  Today, vanilla is almost entirely pollinated by hand, still using this nearly 200-year-old method.


Our last specifically vanilla-related stop in Papantla was at the offices of the Consejo Estatal de Productores de Vainilla Veracruzana (the Veracruz State Council of Vanilla Producers), where Council President don Crispín Pérez García toured us through the state vanilla cooperative.  Above, don Crispín talks with us about some of vanilla's characteristics.  The various people who educated us about many of the historic data about vanilla agreed on those points, but on other points there was tremendous disagreement.  Legend and myth mixed with statistics and theories to the point that it was difficult to sort out truth from fiction.  Everyone agreed, though, that vanilla is a marvelous pod with many, many uses. Don Crispín answered one of my questions by saying, "Ay señora, la vainilla es...pues, es...supernatural!" ("Vanilla is...is...supernatural!")


Every year, more than 1,500 Veracruz vanilla producers from the municipalities of Misantla, San Rafael, Tecolutla, Gutiérrez Zamora, Coatzintla, Coyutla, Zozocolco de Hidalgo, Tihuatlan and Papantla bring 450 to 500 tons (that's between 90,000 and 100,000 pounds per year) of freshly harvested, green vanilla pods to the Council offices to be cured by traditional heat and sun methods. All of the vanilla that will be produced each year in Veracruz is sold prior to its harvest, as buyers are willing to pay almost any price to ensure that they get what they need.  Don Crispín told us, "Now that we have the Denominación de Origen (similar to the Appellation d'Origine, the certification granted to certain French geographical indications for wines, cheeses, butters, and other agricultural products), it's very easy for us to export vanilla.  Mexican vanilla is the best, and not just because I say so.  Those who buy from us say that it is, and with the price we sell it for, no one is complaining." In years gone by, green vanilla sold for between 30 and 40 pesos the kilo (2.2 pounds).  The wholesale price for 2017 started at 200 pesos per kilo and is currently at 350 pesos per kilo.


Vanilla curing in the light and air of the afternoon. Consejo Estatal de Productores de Vainilla, Papantla, Veracruz.  Photo courtesy Pamela Gordon.


Another tiny section of the many, many racks of curing vanilla at the Vanilla Council offices.  Vanilla isn't dried; it's cured until it is fragrant and leathery.  If you find some pods to buy, make certain that they aren't brittle. They should be quite flexible.  Don Crispín told us that a ready-for-use vanilla pod can be used over and over again; he suggested using a whole pod to stir our morning coffee--and then he said, "Wipe it off and put it away to use again.  It won't go bad and it will last a long time." He also mentioned putting a vanilla pod into a canister of sugar; left in the sugar for just a short time, the vanilla will flavor the entire contents of the canister--and again, it's reusable.

A close-up of some of the vanilla pods at the Council offices.  These are nearly finished with the curing process.  You can see that the pods are shiny and wrinkled, exactly the state you want for your own home use.   Click on any photo for a larger view.

Next week, we'll do what we've been wanting to do for the last month of articles: EAT!  Come with Mexico Cooks! to try traditional, regional Totonaco dishes.  We had our socks knocked off, and so will you.

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here to see new information: Tours

De Vaga en Veracruz, Tierra Jarocha :: Vacation Wanderings in Veracruz, Part III

On the way from coastal Casitas to Papantla--a drive of about an hour--you know we got hungry!  And what better to have for brunch than roadside tacos, Veracruz style: on the left is milanesa de pollo (lightly breaded and sliced chicken breast with rice, black beans, and salsa) and on the right, pollo deshebrado (boned, simmered, and shredded chicken) with the same condiments.  The tacos were truly wonderful, we were delighted with our we-got-lucky-with-roadside-tacos de guisado, home-style tacos filled with stew-y deliciousness.

The pyramid El Tajín was our very first stop in Papantla, Veracruz.  We went straight to the pyramid site, even before checking into our hotel!  El Tajín is not just one pyramid; the archeological site is an entire city. The name, in the Totonaco indigenous language, is believed to mean "place where temples join and smoke is constant", the latter due, to the long ago burning of copal incense in the temples.  The photo shows the pirámide de los nichos (Pyramid of the Niches). The name of the pyramid refers to the 365 "windows" placed on all sides of the structure; because the number corresponds to the number of days in a year, this pyramid has received tremendous attention from those who study the calendars and the cosmic vision of the ancient Totonaco inhabitants who, sometime between 1700 and 800 years ago, built this city.


Los Voladores de Papantla (The Papantla Flyers) practice this impressive spiritual ritual on the El Tajín grounds. We made a point to arrive in time for their daily exhibition; the rite had its 450-year-old origins as a form of prayer for rain after a severe drought which left the Totonaco people without food.  The Totonacos believe that these prayers to the rain gods brought life-saving rains back to the region. The prayer ceremony initially began with the cutting of a tree tall and straight enough for the flyers; today, the flyers climb the 30 meter high metal pole that you see in the photograph above.  Five men participate in this prayer; one remains on a platform at the top of the pole to play ritual music meant to mimic birdsong; the other four launch themselves from the platform to fly upside down to the ground.  There is ceremony and prayer form in every part of the rite.  The pole is the connection point between earth, the underworld, and the sky; the flyers represent the four cardinal points and the four elements (earth, air, water, and fire); each rope is wrapped 13 times around its flyer, and the flyers circle the pole 52 times, representing the length in weeks of the Mesoamerican great year.  All photos and videos copyright Mexico Cooks! unless otherwise noted.

Los Voladores de Papantla in motion--with the musician playing his drum and flute on the platform!  Together, the five flyers form a living, moving pyramid.  Video copyright Mexico Cooks!.

In the Totonac region, the flyers are required to know and speak Totonaco.  Most boys and young men learn the rituals and the dances from their fathers and grandfathers. Mastering the ceremonies can take as long as 10 to 12 years and the flyers and dancers usually commit themselves for life. In this video, a boy no more than three years old carefully followed the steps and gestures of the dancers on the platform.  I asked; the boy is the son of one of the dancers, learning from his father and the rest of the group.  Video copyright Mexico Cooks!.


When we finished at El Tajín, we paid a visit to the well-known Totonaca cocinera tradicional (traditional cook) Martha Soledad Gómez Atzin at her cocina de humo (traditional kitchen where cooking is done over firewood), close to the pyramid site.  Her group, Las Mujeres de Humo, continues to give demonstrations and classes in Totonaco regional cooking.


The group of women (Las Mujeres de Humo) who work with Martha Gómez Atzin to preserve and protect the Totonaca kitchen.  

Beginning in 2000, the cocina de humo has formed a part of the international festival Cumbre Tajín, which promotes music, art, and traditional cuisine in northern Veracruz.  The Cumbre (summit) was founded under the impetus of the then-governor of Veracruz.  The realization of the event met with strong opposition from INAH (National Institute of Anthropology and History), from the custodians of the archeological site, from students at ENAH (the National School of Anthropology and History), and from the central organization of people and farm workers, all of whom believed that the festival was an illegal commercialization of archeological heritage.  Differences exist between those who believe that the festival is an exploitation rather than a preservation of tradition and who say that the festival itself damages the archeological site and the promoters, as opposed to those who applaud the festival as a tourist attraction and money-making proposition. The festival, despite its controversial nature, has persevered.

In 2001, Parque Takilhsukut, a theme park approximately one kilometer outside El Tajín archeological site, opened in answer to opposition to the Cumbre.  Most Cumbre events were moved to that park; only a nightly sound and light show continues at the pyramid site.  Although the government intended the theme park to be a center of indigenous life and tradition, the only activity the day we were there was at the cocina de humo. Sra. Atzin and her group of cocineras tradicionales were cooking comida (the main meal of the day in Mexico) for themselves, but no group of students or guests was in the kitchen.  Sra. Atzin talked extensively to me about the Veracruz government's failure to continue funding and support for their efforts.  Until fairly recently, the cocina de humo offered many buzzing classes to school children and older people alike, including transportation from their towns to the theme park.  Today, the bankrupt Veracruz government has no funds to offer. 


In the pot are tamales pintos, a Totonaco specialty that wraps a mixture of fresh, light masa (corn dough) with newly harvested, tender black and white beans known as pintos ('painted') in hoja de plátano (banana leaves).  Las mujeres de humo treated us to the first two delicious pintos to come out of the pot.


Preparing the rest of the midday meal.  

Next week, come with Mexico Cooks! on the last leg of this journey in Veracruz: vanilla production in Papantla! We learned more about the origin, harvest, and importance of vanilla than we thought possible, and so will you.  Plus, we ate regional Totonaca food that we're still dreaming about, and prolonged our trip till we really couldn't stay longer.  Such fun!

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here to see new information: Tours

Popcorn, The Original Mexican Corn. Maíz Palomero, El Máiz Original de México

This article originally published in Mexico Cooks! on January 21, 2017.  Due to world political events beyond our control, very few people initially read it. Welcome us back today, just as we welcome you back, with a second opportunity to learn about this urgently important movement in Mexico!

From the un-popped kernel to the fully popped microwave-able snack treat, popcorn's evolution is many millennia old.  Popcorn was the first corn in Mexico, domesticated at least 5000 years before the common era. In other words, the cultivation of popcorn is at least 7,000 years old--and probably closer to 11,000 years old!


The non-profit organization Tortilla de Maíz Mexicana, founded by my dear friend Rafael Mier, celebrated its first birthday on November 17, 2016.  In the single year of its existence, the group has gathered together more than 153,000 followers on Facebook.  Every one of these followers, people from all over Mexico, from Guatemala, and from other countries in Central and South America, is nervous about the decline of the tortilla, the possible loss of Mexico's native corns as well as those where they live, and the near-extinction of popcorn: Mexico's original corn. Here's the link to the group; please join! Tortilla de Maíz Mexicana

Update: just prior to publication of this article, membership in the Facebook group Tortilla de Maíz Mexicana jumped to over 200,000 members!  There is plenty of room for more, join up!


Two of the first beautiful ears of maíz palomero toluqueño (popcorn from Toluca, Mexico) that the preservation team harvested in late September, 2016. 


This basket is filled to overflowing with maíz palomero (Mexican popcorn), seed sourced and sown in the State of Mexico by my colleague maestro Rafael Mier and his team of assistants: harvested on September 25, 2016, a day to remember.  The thrill of being just a tiny part of this project makes my heart skip a beat! 


One ear of maíz palomero rests in the palm of my hand. The photo gives you a good idea of the size of these ears; compared to the size of USA-grown hybrid ears, these are tiny.  USA growers have hybridized popcorn to give a large ear that yields more popcorn in a smaller planting area. Popcorn, however, has been hybridized, not genetically modified. There is NO GMO popcorn.  Think otherwise? Google is your friend!

Obtaining the popcorn seed was the result of an exhaustive investigation in which he traveled to different small towns around Toluca (in years gone by, a tremendous source of Mexican popcorn) to obtain the grain. To Mier's great surprise, almost no one had kept any seed from former plantings.  Popcorn truly was on the verge of extinction.  Mier explained, "The United States is the leader in popcorn production, the popcorn business in that country has dedicated itself hugely to the grain’s development. Mexico could have the power. We are only lacking programs that push a viable cultivation of the varieties that are in Toluca, Chihuahua, and Jalisco. With those, we could satisfy the national demand.”


Here's Mexico Cooks! as part of the very first harvest of Mexican-grown popcorn in the grand project of saving this original Mexican corn from extinction.  I was so, so excited to peel back the green husks of this ear of popcorn, harvested just moments earlier, and see the tiny ears grown from 50-year-old seed.  Yes!  CIMMYT (International Maize and White Improvement), an international seed bank with research facilities near Mexico City, gave Maestro Rafael enough banked, refrigerated seed to plant several small parcelas (sections of land) with popcorn.

These tiny dehydrated olotes (corn cobs)--each measures two to three inches long--were discovered in 1965 in the cave near Coxcatlán, Puebla, and are on daily exhibit at the Tehuacán (Puebla) Museo del Maíz (Corn Museum). For more information about this cave and its agricultural and archeological importance, please see Mexico Cooks!' article dated October 1, 2016.  These corn cobs are carbon-dated to approximately 5,000 B.C.E. All photos copyright Mexico Cooks! unless otherwise noted.


One huge pot filled with popcorn, a direct descendent of Mexico's very first corn: maíz palomero (popcorn). Today, many thousands of years after Mexico's great-great-a thousand times-great-grandparents domesticated maíz palomero, 95% of all popcorn grows north of the Mexican border.  Popcorn has crossed the border into the United States of America and become one of the USA's most popular exports.  Photo courtesy Lori Lange.

Popcorn is a simple food that we associate with snacking and with moments of entertainment. Who doesn’t want some buttered, salted popcorn at the movies, or while enjoying a day at the fair? Long ago in what is now Mexico, popcorn was already a treat: they were called “corn flowers” and according to the 16th century chronicles of Fray Bernadino de Sahagún, popcorn was sold in what is now Mexico’s plazas and was used as necklaces and in rituals. People did eat it, of course, but its consumption was not recreation-based.  

In this beautiful and evocative video, Maestro Rafael explains what has happened to Mexico's maíz palomero and what he and others, including myself, are doing to save Mexican popcorn from extinction.  Even if you don't understand Spanish, you'll be able to watch the process of planting and harvest.  Video courtesy Rafael Mier.

Despite the fact that Mexico is the country of origin of all corns, including popcorn, less than 2% of the popcorn eaten in Mexico today is grown here. The enormous majority comes from the United States of America, with a much smaller amount imported from Argentina. “In Mexico, over time we’ve lost the planting of this corn,” comments Rafael Mier. “Sowing popcorn is difficult work now because our native seed is all but extinct,” he says. He and his team are working every day to reverse Mexican popcorn's slide into extinction. Photo: invitation to the November 17, 2016 public presentation of the popcorn project.  

The best way to get involved in this project is to join the Facebook group Tortilla de Maíz Mexicana.  If you'd rather not use Facebook, subscribe to Mexico Cooks!.  How? Look at the right-hand side of this page: you'll see a box titled, Share Mexico Cooks with Your Friends. In that box, there's a link called, "Subscribe to this blog's feed". Click on that, then follow the simple instructions. Mexico Cooks! will arrive in your email inbox every Saturday morning at about ten o'clock.

We look forward to having you as part of the Mexican popcorn and tortilla team!  During 2017, Mexico Cooks!' 11th consecutive year on line, you'll see a lot more about what we're doing in this initiative.

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here to see new information: Tours

Mexico Cooks! Takes a Short Break :: Mexico Cooks! Toma un Descansito

El Maizal (the corn field), 1955.  Painter: Gerardo Murillo, AKA Dr. Atl.

Dear readers, the time between November 8, 2016 and today has taken a toll on our world, no matter where each of us stands along the political spectrum.  Mexico Cooks! has decided to take a month away from writing about Mexican food in order to devote more time to some other important cross-border issues.

While I'm away, please look around for informative and fun articles both old and new in the Mexico Cooks! archives.  There are literally hundreds to read.

I'll be back here on March 4, 2017, and thank you for your understanding.  I look forward to seeing all of you then.

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here to see new information: Tours

Popcorn, The Original Mexican Corn. Maíz Palomero, El Máiz Original de México.

From the un-popped kernel to the fully popped microwave-able snack treat, popcorn's evolution is many millennia old.  Popcorn was the first corn in Mexico, domesticated at least 5000 years before the common era. In other words, the cultivation of popcorn is at least 7,000 years old--and probably closer to 11,000 years old!


The non-profit organization Tortilla de Maíz Mexicana, founded by my dear friend Rafael Mier, celebrated its first birthday on November 17, 2016.  In the single year of its existence, the group has gathered together more than 153,000 followers on Facebook.  Every one of these followers, people from all over Mexico, from Guatemala, and from other countries in Central and South America, is nervous about the decline of the tortilla, the possible loss of Mexico's native corns as well as those where they live, and the near-extinction of popcorn: Mexico's original corn. Here's the link to the group; please join! Tortilla de Maíz Mexicana

Update: just prior to publication of this article, membership in the Facebook group Tortilla de Maíz Mexicana jumped to over 200,000 members!  There is plenty of room for more, join up!


Two of the first beautiful ears of maíz palomero toluqueño (popcorn from Toluca, Mexico) that the preservation team harvested in late September, 2016. 


This basket is filled to overflowing with maíz palomero (Mexican popcorn), seed sourced and sown in the State of Mexico by my colleague maestro Rafael Mier and his team of assistants: harvested on September 25, 2016, a day to remember.  The thrill of being just a tiny part of this project makes my heart skip a beat! 


One ear of maíz palomero rests in the palm of my hand. The photo gives you a good idea of the size of these ears; compared to the size of USA-grown hybrid ears, these are tiny.  USA growers have hybridized popcorn to give a large ear that yields more popcorn in a smaller planting area. Popcorn, however, has been hybridized, not genetically modified. There is NO GMO popcorn.  Think otherwise? Google is your friend!

Obtaining the popcorn seed was the result of an exhaustive investigation in which he traveled to different small towns around Toluca (in years gone by, a tremendous source of Mexican popcorn) to obtain the grain. To Mier's great surprise, almost no one had kept any seed from former plantings.  Popcorn truly was on the verge of extinction.  Mier explained, "The United States is the leader in popcorn production, the popcorn business in that country has dedicated itself hugely to the grain’s development. Mexico could have the power. We are only lacking programs that push a viable cultivation of the varieties that are in Toluca, Chihuahua, and Jalisco. With those, we could satisfy the national demand.”

Here's Mexico Cooks! as part of the very first harvest of Mexican-grown popcorn in the grand project of saving this original Mexican corn from extinction.  I was so, so excited to peel back the green husks of this ear of popcorn, harvested just moments earlier, and see the tiny ears grown from 50-year-old seed.  Yes!  CIMMYT (International Maize and White Improvement), an international seed bank with research facilities near Mexico City, gave Maestro Rafael enough banked, refrigerated seed to plant several small parcelas (sections of land) with popcorn.

These tiny dehydrated olotes (corn cobs)--each measures two to three inches long--were discovered in 1965 in the cave near Coxcatlán, Puebla, and are on daily exhibit at the Tehuacán (Puebla) Museo del Maíz (Corn Museum). For more information about this cave and its agricultural and archeological importance, please see Mexico Cooks!' article dated October 1, 2016.  These corn cobs are carbon-dated to approximately 5,000 B.C.E. All photos copyright Mexico Cooks! unless otherwise noted.


One huge pot filled with popcorn, a direct descendent of Mexico's very first corn: maíz palomero (popcorn). Today, many thousands of years after Mexico's great-great-a thousand times-great-grandparents domesticated maíz palomero, 95% of all popcorn grows north of the Mexican border.  Popcorn has crossed the border into the United States of America and become one of the USA's most popular exports.  Photo courtesy Lori Lange.

Popcorn is a simple food that we associate with snacking and with moments of entertainment. Who doesn’t want some buttered, salted popcorn at the movies, or while enjoying a day at the fair? Long ago in what is now Mexico, popcorn was already a treat: they were called “corn flowers” and according to the 16th century chronicles of Fray Bernadino de Sahagún, popcorn was sold in what is now Mexico’s plazas and was used as necklaces and in rituals. People did eat it, of course, but its consumption was not recreation-based.  

In this beautiful and evocative video, Maestro Rafael explains what has happened to Mexico's maíz palomero and what he and others, including myself, are doing to save Mexican popcorn from extinction.  Even if you don't understand Spanish, you'll be able to watch the process of planting and harvest.  Video courtesy Rafael Mier.

Despite the fact that Mexico is the country of origin of all corns, including popcorn, less than 2% of the popcorn eaten in Mexico today is grown here. The enormous majority comes from the United States of America, with a much smaller amount imported from Argentina. “In Mexico, over time we’ve lost the planting of this corn,” comments Rafael Mier. “Sowing popcorn is difficult work now because our native seed is all but extinct,” he says. He and his team are working every day to reverse Mexican popcorn's slide into extinction. Photo: invitation to the November 17, 2016 public presentation of the popcorn project.  

The best way to get involved in this project is to join the Facebook group Tortilla de Maíz Mexicana.  If you'd rather not use Facebook, subscribe to Mexico Cooks!.  How? Look at the right-hand side of this page: you'll see a box titled, Share Mexico Cooks with Your Friends. In that box, there's a link called, "Subscribe to this blog's feed". Click on that, then follow the simple instructions. Mexico Cooks! will arrive in your email inbox every Saturday morning at about ten o'clock.

We look forward to having you as part of the Mexican popcorn and tortilla team!  During 2017, Mexico Cooks!' 11th consecutive year on line, you'll see a lot more about what we're doing in this initiative.

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here to see new information: Tours

Corn: An Ancient Gift from Mexico to Feed the World

At first glance, these appear to be flowers--but look closely: they're actually cross-sections of different varieties, sizes and colors of maíces nativos (native corn), grown continuously in Mexico for thousands of years, right up to the present time.  They're so beautiful--and delicious! Photo courtesy Tortilla de Maíz Mexicana.

A few weeks ago, CONACULTA (Mexico's ministry of culture) invited Maestro Rafael Mier and Mexico Cooks! to speak about the preservation of traditional tortillas and about the milpa (millennia-old sustainable agricultural method still used in Mexico) at the Second Annual Festival Universo de la Milpa, held this year in Santa María Coapan, Puebla. Santa María Coapan, a part of the municipality of Tehuacán, is at the epicenter of the documented-to-date 11,000 year history of corn.

Left to right in the photo: Maestra Teresa de la Luz Hilario, Regidora de Educación y Cultura de Santa María Coapan; Maestro Rafael Mier of Tortilla de Maíz Mexicana; Mexico Cooks!; (speaking) the humanitarian and life-long human rights abogada del pueblo (advocate for the people) Concepción Hernández Méndez; and at far right, Lic. Roberto G. Quintero Nava, Director General de Culturas Populares of Puebla, CONACULTA.  It was an honor to be part of this event and to meet its outstanding participants in this center of Mexican corn production. Photo courtesy Rafael Mier.

In tiny Coxcatlán, Puebla (just down the highway on the road south out of Tehuacán), a main attraction is the monument to corn.  The legend at the base of the recently refurbished monument reads, "Coxcatlán, Cuna del Maíz (Cradle of Corn)".  All photos copyright Mexico Cooks! unless otherwise noted.

From the small town of Coxcatlán, our driver took us about five kilometers further, south toward the Oaxaca border; there's a turnoff onto a dirt road at the Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Biosphere Reserve.  The September 24, 2016 Mexico Cooks! article offers some fascinating general information about the biosphere.


If you didn't know to turn onto that poorly marked, narrow, and winding dirt road, you'd just keep whizzing along the highway, saying, "Nothing to see here, just a lot of big cactus and scrub trees.  The Oaxaca border is only 30 kilometers away, let's hurry so we get there before dark."  But this humble dirt road twists through a portion of an internationally important site marking the origin and development of agriculture in Mesoamerica and the world. Archeological research here has provided key information regarding the domestication of various species such as corn (Zea mays sp.), chile (Capsicum annuum), amaranth (Amaranthus sp.), avocado (Persea americana), squash (Cucurbita sp.), bean (Phaseolus sp.), and numerous other plants that are with us still in the modern era. This biosphere is home to just under 3000 kinds of native flora plus the largest collection of columnar cacti in the world.  In addition, the biosphere contains approximately 600 species of vertebrate animals.  Let's not hurry--let's spend some time here.

Archeologist Richard S. MacNeish (April 29, 1918-January 16, 2001).  In 1965, Dr. MacNeish and a group of his colleagues first uncovered the agricultural treasures in the Tehuacán-Cuicatlán biosphere.  Their excavation resulted in some of the most significant agricultural finds in the world.  A statue in his memory is prominent today in Tehuacán.  Dr. MacNeish, one of the most outstanding archaeologists of the Americas, developed innovative field methods that allowed him and his teams of co-archaeologists, anthropologists, sociologists, agronomists, and others to use science rather than educated guesswork to locate potentially important sites for excavation.  Other than his discoveries in this biosphere, which are crucial to our understanding of Mesoamerican agriculture and settlement, his greatest legacy is probably his influence on and encouragement of students, other archaeologists, and the multitude of scientific professionals with whom he worked.  Photo of Dr. MacNeish courtesy LibraryThing.

My good friend and colleague Rafael Mier, founder of Tortilla de Maíz Mexicana (by all means join the Facebook group), had talked a good while with me about his desire to visit the site where, over 50 years ago, Dr. MacNeish documented the remains of ancient corn.  The more we talked about going to the cave, the more my heart raced: We were going to visit one of the places in Mexico where corn was born. Where corn was born.  I felt that the trip would be much more than a Sunday drive in the country: it felt like a pilgrimage, to the most basic food destination in Mexico. To the origin of everything.   


The extremely ancient peoples of what is now Mexico domesticated a native wild-growing plant called teocintle, which over the course of many years became what we know today as corn. Teocintle--the photo above is a seed head of the plant, harvested in 2015 in the State of Mexico and framed in sterling silver--is a grass similar to rice in that the grains grow and mature as a cluster of individuals, on a stalk. A mazorca (seed head) of teocintle has no center structure; no cob, if you will.  One of the primary features that distinguishes corn from teocintle is the cob. Scientists tracked the domestication of teocintle from the wild grain to its semi-domesticated state, and from semi-domestication to the incredible variety of native Mexican corns that we know today.  The actual teocintle seed head in the photo measures approximately three inches long.  What you see in my hand is the million-times-over great-grandfather, the ancient ancestor of corn.


The mouth of la Cuna del Maíz Mexicano (the cradle of Mexican corn).  I grew up in the southern United States, where I knew a few caves.  I had expected to see a cave along the lines of Wyandotte Caves in Indiana, or Mammoth Cave in Kentucky: huge, multi-room caverns in which a person can walk along seeing rivers, stalagmites, stalactites, and other underground cave formations.  Not here; this cave is simply what you see in the photograph, a sheltering karst-formation in the limestone, a pre-historic bubble.  Standing in this spot gave me chills, and simply thinking about it while looking at the photograph now makes a shiver run up my spine.  Out here in the vastness of this ancient natural world, in some ways so similar to the primitive world into which corn was born, one forgets about the crowded city, one forgets about modern problems, and one returns both mentally and spiritually to another time and to a connection with those Stone Age people who gave us the gift of corn, the true staff of life in much of today's world.

This shelter, according to years-long archeological research by Dr. MacNeish and others, was used as a camp, as a shelter during the rainy season for as many as 25 to 30 people, and as a post-harvest storage place for corn and other native vegetables (corn, beans, chiles, etc). Families, bands of families, and tribes living in or traveling through the Coxcatlán area used this type shelter for 10,000 years or more, primarily during the time in Mesoamerica that is analogous to the Archaic archeological period: approximately 5000 to 3400 BCE. Dr. MacNeish's extensive research showed more than 42 separate occupations, 28 habitation zones, and seven cultural phases in this cave.


At the Museo del Maíz (Corn Museum) in Tehuacán, there is a small display of the original dehydrated corn cobs and utensils found in the cave in the biosphere. This tiny cob measures less than one inch long.


These dehydrated cobs, also found in the cave, are quite a bit larger and probably somewhat younger than the tiny one in the photo above. They measure between 2 and 3 inches long.  Some ancient fingers plucked this corn from its stalk, some long-ago woman--she must have been a woman--removed the kernels from the cobs and prepared food.  How similar the growing methods, how similar what they ate, those people who created corn from a wild plant.  Corn, beans, chiles, squash, amaranth, avocado: all served up in some way for millennia-past meals, and all available in Mexico's markets today.  What foods do you eat that nourished your Stone Age forebears? How precious it is to know and taste the flavors of eleven thousand years worth of comidas (Mexico's main meal of the day)! 
 
In addition to the important finding of dehydrated corn cob specimens (nearly 25,000 samples) and other kinds of vegetables in the substrata of the Tehuacán cave, Dr. MacNeish and subsequent archeologists found a large number of ancient tools such as chipped-flint darts used for hunting, grinding stones, and coas (pointed sticks used for planting).  The investigators also found approximately 100 samples of human feces, which were examined to document the human diet of those long-ago days.  Thanks to carbon dating, a method of determining the age of organic objects which was developed in the 1940s, scientists were and continue to be able to assign dates to ancient artifacts.

Part of a mural found in ruins dating to 650-900 AD in Cacaxtla, Tlaxcala.  Click on the photograph to enlarge it; you'll see that what initially appear to be ears of corn are in fact a part of Mexico's creation myth: humankind is born of corn, and corn is born of humankind.  Corn, which humankind created in the domestication process, cannot in fact exist without a human helping hand to husk it, take the dried kernels from the cob, and plant those kernels for subsequent harvest.  Aside from wheat and rice, corn is the single-most planted grain in the world; there are countries and regions where humans could not exist without corn.


This tiny mazorca (dried ear of corn) is maíz palomero: (popcorn, scientific name Zaya mays everta), native to Mexico, the only kind of corn in the world that pops.  Maíz palomero is believed by many scientists to have been the first corn. Today, this original corn is tragically all but extinct in Mexico.  My colleague Maestro Rafael Mier, who lives in Mexico City, wanted to plant it; he contacted a number of possible sources without locating any seed at all. He ultimately called a seed bank in another Mexican state to see if they had some.  They did, and they took seeds out of their freezer bank so that he could sow them on his property. His goal is to begin the reversal of the extinction of this original Mexican corn. This wee ear of popcorn, the standard size for this variety, is just about four inches long. Look how beautiful it is, with its crystalline white and golden triangular kernels. 

Mexico still grows and cooks with 59 different varieties of native corns, corns that are essential to the regions in which they grow.  A type of native corn that grows well in the state of Tamaulipas, for example, will probably not produce as well in Oaxaca.  Nor will a native corn that is easily produced in the state of Guerrero grow well in the state of Coahuila.  Climates differ, altitudes differ, soils differ: all impact Mexico's native corns.  If you click on the poster to enlarge it, you'll see how very, very different Mexico's 59 corn varieties are from one another. Click on any photo to enlarge it for a better view.  Photo courtesy CIMMYT.


These multi-colored mazorcas are native to the Mexican state of Tlaxcala, the smallest state in the República.


These elotes (ears of freshly harvested young corn) are native to the state of Michoacán.


These large fresh ears are elotes from the State of México, for sale earlier this summer at Mexico City's Mercado de Jamaica.


And finally, these mazorcas are native to the far-southern state of Chiapas.



Mexico knows itself as 'the people of the corn'.  Mexico knows that sin maíz no hay país--without corn, there is no country.  Right now, Mexico is at a crisis point, the point of preserving its heritage of corn--or allowing that heritage to be lost to the transnational producers of uniform, high-yielding, genetically modified corn that is not Mexico's corn.  The Chinese characters in the photo mean crisis, defined as both danger and opportunity. Which word will Mexico choose to safeguard its heritage and frame its future?   I take my stand on the side of the 11,000 year history that defines us.

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The Astonishing Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Biosphere Reserve in Southeastern Mexico

This is a tiny part of the Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Biosphere near the town of Coxcatlán, Puebla.  Many huge columnar cardón cactus are visible through the trees and shrubs. An all but unmarked entrance to this section of the biosphere is approximately five kilometers from Coxcatlán. The dirt road into the biosphere is in relatively good shape during this part of the year when it rains very little.  The greenery and hills looked at first like any other part of rural Mexico, but what I saw and learned here excited me enormously.

As we wound slowly along the dirt road, we saw a roadrunner skitter across our path and into the undergrowth; even our old-hand guide to the reserve was excited!  He said it was really unusual to get to see this elusive bird.  I'd previously seen two or three of them near Albuquerque, but never in Mexico.  The roadrunner ran across the road so fast that his legs truly looked like they were spinning in circles, just like the famous cartoon.  He was far too quick for me to take his picture from the car; thank you Joe Schelling for the use of this wonderful image.

The bottlebrush-shaped flower of the senegalia greggii (uña de gato, or cat's claw acacia) bush.  The plant is said to be medicinal. While walking a short, sandy, uphill trail, I slipped, fell on my posterior, and an insect stung me there several times, and quite painfully.


Leaves, branches, and cat-claw shaped thorns of the uña de gato tree. One of the men in our party cut two thin, 3" long pieces of a green branch of uña de gato and told me to put one little stick behind each ear, the way you'd put a pencil behind your ear, to take away the pain of the stings. I followed instructions and little by little the pain diminished. Would it have lessened anyway?  Probably, but I've learned to say 'yes' to most possibilities in Mexico. I never want to miss anything!


Meet the cardón cactus (Pachycereus pringlei), which grows prolifically in the Tehuacán biosphere.  It is the tallest cactus species in the world and an enormous specimen such as this one can weigh as much as 25 tons. The cardón bears a delicious fruit. Woodpeckers drill into its columns to make their nests and small animals also invade them for shelter.  This particular columnar giant in its prime of life is approximately 20 meters (nearly 70 feet) tall. Its rate of growth?  Just a smidge over two centimeters per year. Its age?  You do the math. Clue: its lifespan is measured in hundreds of years.

This common ornamental--you might even have one growing in your garden--is lantana.  It's so widespread that most of us don't know that it is native to Mexico, particularly to semi-arid and tropical regions.  It grows wild in the biosphere.  Between its orange and yellow flowers, the varied greens of bushes and trees, and the white and pink flowers of the uña de gato, the underbrush glows like the colors on an artist's palette.


The tall pochote tree, native to Mexico and sacred to the Maya, looks as if it is wearing an exotic armor of fearsome thorns, but in reality they are merely protuberances similar in texture to cork.  I noticed that one of our companions, a guide to the biosphere, had hitched himself partway up the trunk and was breaking some of them off the tree; just before I asked him to take one or two for me, he slid down and put five of them into my hand.  How lovely that he read my mind!  

Another of our guide companions explained that the pochote is host to a kind of worm called cuetla, which is about ten centimeters (four inches) long and relatively thick through the body.  The cuetlas are harvested, roasted or fried, and eaten; they are allegedly quite tasty and are thought of as a delicacy.  The bulbous roots of the tree store substantial water; the roots can be dug up and chewed to quench thirst.


The five pochote spines, with some other tiliches (tchotchkes, stuff) on the top shelf of a miniature trastero (literally, dish cupboard) in my kitchen. The tallest one, far left, measures about two inches high.

The pods of the pochote, about six to eight inches long, are filled with a very light, cottony, fibrous material that can be used to stuff pillows.  The pochote fibers, known in English as kapok, were at one time used to stuff life vests.


Mica, a silicate mineral found everywhere in the world, is abundant in the biosphere.  Our small group noticed light glinting from what we thought were numerous but ordinary stones on the sandy paths.  Our guides immediately told us that the 'stones' were mica.  They seemed almost magical, reflecting the strong light of the summer sun.  Photo courtesy Google Images.

Readers, you know that Mexico Cooks! ordinarily follows a path that leads to something of culinary interest.  Going to the Tehuacán-Cuicatlán biosphere reserve was no exception.  Be sure to come back next week, when you'll read about why we were so intent upon this particular destination. Trust me when I tell you that this was one of the most exciting days I've ever spent in Mexico.  Don't miss it!

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Your Flaneur in Mexico City: Markets, Food, and Curiosities--Part 1, Summer 2015

Midsummer always gives us an abundance of flor de calabaza (squash flowers) to be used in the kitchen. Prepared as sopa de guias (squash vine soup), quesadillas, or stuffed with cheese, these flowers are delicious and are readily available in many Mexican markets.  Did you know that only the male flowers are harvested?  The female flowers are left to develop squash.  

You might like to try this Mexico Cooks! recipe in your own kitchen.

Flor de Calabaza Estilo Cristina 
Squash Flowers, Cristina's Style

Ingredients

1 or 2 large bunches flor de calabaza, washed and patted dry
1 medium white onion
4 chiles poblano
2 large russet or other large white potatoes
Flour
Sea salt to taste
Vegetable oil or half vegetable oil, half bacon grease for frying.

Procedure

Peel and dice potatoes.  Boil until fork-tender.  Drain, allow to dry, and reserve.

Roast chiles according to your preferred method until the skin is blistered and they are well-blackened.  Sweat for 10 minutes in a closed plastic bag.  Remove skin.  Slice each chile lengthwise to remove seeds.  Dice peppers in 1/2” squares. 

Rough-chop flor de calabaza into 1 1/2" pieces.

Dice onion.

In a large sauté pan, heat the vegetable oil until it shimmers.  While the oil is heating, shake the reserved potatoes in flour and salt in a plastic bag. 

Sauté onions in oil or oil/bacon grease mixture.  Add the potatoes and sauté until crisp and pale golden, adding oil if needed.  Add the diced chiles and continue to sauté for about 1 minute.

Add the flor de calabaza and sauté just until tender. 

Add sea salt to taste.

Serves 2-3 as a side dish.


Late in the spring, we were invited to attend the opening of El Rebozo: Made in Mexico at Mexico City's extraordinary Museo Franz Mayer.  The exhibition, which was originally mounted in London, featured both old and new rebozos (long rectangular shawls) as well as some other typical Mexican garments. One of the many rebozos in the exhibit was an exquisitely embroidered shawl from Oaxaca. This is a detail of that rebozo.


This photograph of Evita Perón, wife of Argentina's Juan Domingo Perón during his first term as president of that country, was part of an exhibit at Mexico City's Museum of Modern Art (MAM) during the spring and summer.  The photograph formed part of an exhibition of the works of Giselle Freund, a self-taught photographer who worked in Argentina and Mexico in the 1940s and 1950s.


This tiny ironwood mortar and pestle (the mortar is only about 2" high) comes from the state of Sonora, in northern Mexico.  It is made specifically for use at the table, for a diner to grind one or two chiles chiltepín, which are highly spicy and famously used to season certain dishes from the cuisine of that state.


Chile chiltepín from Sonora.  Each chile is tiny but extremely picante. Photo courtesy Hunter Angler Gardener Cook.

Beautiful ceremonial tortillas from the state of Guanajuato.  The tortillas are made in the usual way and are then stamped prior to baking with a wooden stamp dipped in vegetable dye.  Mexico Cooks! was privileged to see these twice this summer, first at an event at the Escuela de Gastronomía Mexicana in Mexico City and again at the Primer Encuentro Nacional de Cocineras Tradicionales (First National Meeting of Traditional Cooks) in Morelia, Michoacán.


This is the tamarillo or tomate del árbol (tree tomato), a native of the South American Andes.  Each fruit is approximately 2.5" long.  The flesh is fairly firm and deeply flavorful, both sweet and earthy.  You never know what you'll see when you take a Mexico Cooks! tour--our group found these delicious fruits at a downtown Mexico City market.

Come back next week for more summertime wanderings with Mexico Cooks!. Our summer was far too interesting for just one article!

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The Joy of the Purépecha Language in Michoacán, Part 2

Adolescent boys walk the length of Santa Fe de la Laguna's Purépecha vocabulary-teaching wall.  See the sombrero (hat) to their right?  In Purépecha, it's kájtsikua.  Just as in Spanish, a written accent over a letter in a word means that the stress of pronunciation falls on that letter.  KAJ-tsi-kua.

Last week, Mexico Cooks! taught you the Purépecha names of various animals and insects.  Today, we're going into the home and its garden to learn a few more words for common household items.  All photos by my travel companion, Pamela Gordon, unless otherwise noted.


Native Mexican comestibles from the milpa (family food-growing parcel of land) include the calabaza (squash).  In Purépecha, it's purhu.


Purépecha cooking includes the use of several varieties of yellow, red, white, or blue corn, all native to Michoacán and all grown in the milpa for family use. Each portion of the corn plant from tassel to stalk has a name; this elote (fresh ear of corn) is tíriapu. 


Many species of wild mushrooms appear during Michoacán's summer rainy season.  Here's an hongo silvestre (wild mushroom)--terekua--a common ingredient in soups and Purépecha guisados (stew-like dishes).


Handmade cucharas de madera (wooden spoons)--yurhesï--are some of the most-used utensils in a Purépecha cook's battery of equipment.  Remember that the umlaut over the letter 'i' changes the pronunciation of the letter 's' to 'sh'. Yurhe-shi.


Here's a hand-carved bastón (cane).  Now you know that in Purépecha, it's a t'óndasï.  This type cane is commonly used by people who need aid for their balance or gait, and by dancers who use canes as part of their costumes.


Michoacán's iconic dancers, complete with t'óndasï: la Danza de los Viejitos (the Dance of the Little Old Men). Photo courtesy Google Images.


A rendering of the Purépecha woman's typical rebozo (rectangular fringed shawl): in Purépecha, atache.  The atache has multiple uses: wrap yourself in it for warmth, fold it and put it on top of your head for shade, use it as a scarf, and wrap it around yourself in different ways to carry firewood, purchases from the market, large and bulky items, and most especially, a baby.  Babies are wrapped close to their mothers' bodies from the time they're born until they are mid-toddler age.  The legend of this rebozo tells us that the blue is the blue of the Spanish eye, the black is the black of the Spanish hair, and the white is the ray of the sun.


You know the old adage: a new escoba (broom) sweeps clean.  In Purépecha, it's a p'ankua.  This charming painting lets you believe that the brand-new broomstick still has a leaf attached!


Ah, kawikua (hard liquor)!  In Michoacán, we make and drink charanda (a very strong sugar cane liquor), mezcal (made from maguey cactus), and to a lesser degree, tequila. Here's an old Mexican toast to repeat as you raise and lower your glass, and before you sip your kawikua: Arriba! Abajo! Al centro! Adentro! (Up!  Down! In the middle!  And down the hatch!)  Today, we're toasting the Purépecha language.

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Mercado de Flores, Guadalajara--Guadalajara's Wholesale Flower Market

When I lived in Guadalajara, it was my great pleasure to wander the city's wholesale flower market, talking with the long-time vendors and taking more pictures of glorious blooms than will fit on these pages.

I confess that on the day I went on my investigative trip to the wholesale flower stalls, I was in a funk and would have preferred to stay at home. I scowled my way through traffic to the Mercado Mezquitán in downtown Guadalajara and barely managed a brief smile when I found a handy parking place near the flower stalls. And then I was on the street, the flower-filled street, and my bad mood vanished in a heartbeat. How could my funk hang on when the sight and fragrances of literally millions of blossoms were all around me?

It was hard to know where to look first. The narrow old market street, clogged with belching pickup trucks, beat-up flower-crammed cars, overloaded handcarts and people carrying enormous bundles of flowers, runs parallel to super-busy, super-modern Calzada Federalismo. I smiled as the blatant contrasts of Mexico once again showed me that I was definitely not north of the border.

A scruffy yellow dog sniffed the greenery in his path as he hunted for something more promising than flower trimmings for his almuerzo (late breakfast). What looked like a moving tower of bright red roses jostled me as I stood in the street. It was a workman, hurrying along with dozens and dozens of paper-wrapped bundles of beautiful blooms on his shoulder.

Mounds of multi-colored statice wait on a hand truck.

For two city blocks, tiny Calle Mezquitán is a sea of blooms. I've often driven along Federalismo and noticed the market building; it's just across from a municipal cemetery.  But the actual flower market, a small enclosed building of perhaps 30 stalls, is insignificant compared to what happens in the street. 

I walked along asking permission to take pictures and marveling at the variety of flowers. My eye was caught first by girasoles (sunflowers), then by leticia (statice), then pompones (pompom chrysanthemums).

The vendors greeted me as I strolled past. "Qué va a llevar, señora? Hay de todo." (What are you buying, lady? Everything's here.) Over and over again I asked permission to take photographs. The quantity of flowers was completely overwhelming, their fragrances perfuming the air.

This basket of at least four dozen roses, asters, and assorted greenery cost 250 pesos, less than $20.00 USD at today's exchange rate.

I stopped to ask one of the vendors about the cultivation of flowers in Mexico. Flowers, he told me, are grown commercially primarily in one area of the small State of Mexico, both for export and for use here in the República. Flower business is big business in that fertile valley not far from Mexico City. Flower-growing land sprawls over more than five thousand hectares. That's well over 12,000 acres.  In addition, the cultivation of flowers provides either direct or indirect employment to more than 225,000 people in that state.

Gerbera daisies and stargazer lilies.

In the State of Mexico, flower growing generates a yearly economic bounty of $2,700,000,000 pesos: two billion seven hundred million, folks. It's not a typo. The brief selling season just prior to the Day of the Dead in November generates $617,000,000 pesos—in only a few days. The profits from just those late-October flower sales represent nearly one-fourth of the economy produced in the State of Mexico's fields.

Here's just one small example of Mexico's Day of the Dead flower power. In 2003, growers planted ninety hectares of roses which were to be harvested in the last week of October. Those roses produced 11.3 million stems, which were bundled 25 to a package. Each package of 25 roses sold at wholesale for 37 pesos. Total earnings for the brief October rose harvest were 17 million pesos.

In addition to roses, the flower growers of the State of Mexico also cultivate huge numbers of chrysanthemums, vast quantities of gladiolas, millions upon millions of carnations, and most of the rest of the flowers that are available in wholesale markets all over this country and the world. Many, many of the flowers that you who live North of the Border will purchase or be given on Valentine's Day and Mother's Day come from the sunny lands South of the Border.

Claveles (carnations) are among the most popular flowers for sale at the market.

Everywhere I looked, I was tempted to buy. Huge bundles of pink, red, candy-striped or white carnations, each bundle containing 60 or more flowers, sell for 40 pesos--less than $3.00 US dollars. Gorgeous, enormous ready-to-sell flower arrangements, perfect for a banquet table centerpiece, sell for 250 pesos--less than $20.00 US dollars. Bundles of 25 roses sell for 70 pesos.

After walking along the market street for an hour and then investigating the market itself, I stopped to ask a young vendor how long the market had been operating on Calle Mezquitán. She admitted that she wasn't sure and encouraged me to ask Dr. Roberto Avila, the owner of the business where she worked. He was busy taking a large wholesale order on the telephone. "Dr. Avila knows everything about the market, from the time it began until today," she assured me. I waited and watched the action on the street as hundreds of thousands of flowers glowed in the morning sun.

Dr. Avila graciously took the time to answer my questions. "This flower market has been here for more than 50 years," he began. "I'm 57 years old and I was born two blocks from here. My grandmother and my father brought me here to work with them when I was seven. I've had this business for 25 or 26 years now.

Long-stemmed roses sell in bundles of 40 for 70 pesos, about $5.00 USD.

"Look across the street, right over there." He pointed to a small house on the corner. "That house is made of adobe--sun-dried bricks made of mud and straw. All the houses along here were made of adobe, that's how old this section of Guadalajara is. Over the years, they've fallen down because of the rains, but people build them right back up again.

"Some years ago, Calzada Federalismo was widened to accommodate all the traffic that comes this way. Before the street was widened, the market building was more than twice the size it is now. The market building back then wasn't just for flowers. There were meat markets, tortillerías, and plenty of stands where you could eat. The government took most of the market to build the street. Now there's no tortillería there at all, the meat markets have mostly moved out, and there are only a couple of food stands left." He shook his head. "There used to be a kindergarten here. And there were frontón (a ball game played with a kind of basket-shaped racquet) courts." He smiled. "There are many other frontón courts in the city, but the ones right here are gone."


Fronton paddles.  Photo courtesy Google Images.

"There are more flower markets in Guadalajara, you know. One is right in front of Parque Agua Azul, on Calzada Independencia near González Gallo. Another is at the corner of Manuel Acuña and Contreras Medellín, just about ten blocks from here. But none of those markets sells the amount of wholesale flowers that we sell here."

I thanked Dr. Avila and walked up and down the street once more. The flower market had lightened my mood and I knew I'd come back on other days just for the lift. Although I was determined to buy a bundle of carnations, my eye suddenly lit on a huge bucket of tight yellow Siberian iris buds. "Cuánto cuestan?" I asked the vendor. "How much do they cost?"  Thirty-five pesos for ten long stems! I bought two bunches and strolled happily to my car.

 

Back home, after I arranged the flowers in a tall vase, I checked my favorite online florist for the price of Siberian iris in the United States. Suffice it to say that I would never have been able to afford them. If you go to Guadalajara, be sure to make a field trip to the wholesale flower market, where you can afford to buy all the flowers you could possibly want.

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