Domesticated plants of Mesoamerica facts for kids

Domesticated plants of Mesoamerica are special plants that people in ancient Mesoamerica (which is parts of modern-day Mexico and Central America) learned to grow for food over thousands of years. These plants became very important for their daily lives and culture. Some of the most famous ones include corn (maize) and chili peppers. Many of the foods we eat today, like tomatoes and chocolate, first came from this region!

Maize (Corn)

Maize, or corn, was first grown in Western Mexico. As people learned to grow it, their cultures and villages grew too. It became very common during the Late Archaic Period and was grown wherever the land allowed.

Early on, people mostly ate young, unripe corn kernels. It took a lot of effort to grow wild corn, so it wasn't a main food source until people settled down and started farming.

A great thing about corn was that it could be dried and stored. This was super important for early Mesoamericans because they could eat it all year round. Dried corn could also be easily carried when people traveled. Often, corn was grown with common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris). These two plants together provided a very healthy diet. People also found a special way to prepare corn using limewater. This process made the corn even more nutritious and added calcium.

Corn was also a big part of festivals and special meals. Before it became a main food, corn was used to make beer. This beer was carried in fancy pots and used at social gatherings and important ceremonies.

Big events like ball games, feasts, and calendar celebrations often involved royal family members. They would perform special rituals to thank the gods for giving them corn that year.

Corn was so important that gods were often shown with it. For example, Quetzalcoatl was seen as a creator of humans in Mesoamerica. This god was also believed to have brought corn from the underworld to people in the present world.

Capsicum (Chili Pepper)

Capsicum is the scientific name for the chili pepper plant. It's another plant that was first grown in Mesoamerica. Chili peppers contain something called capsaicin. This helps stop bacteria from growing, which was useful for keeping food safe when there were no refrigerators. In Mesoamerica, capsaicin was also used as medicine to help with joint pain and digestion. So, chili peppers were known as a medicinal plant too! You could use the peppers fresh or dried. A dried chili pepper was usually stronger than a fresh one.

People think chili peppers started to be grown around the Middle Archaic Period, between 5700 and 3825 BC. By the Late Formative Period, most of Mesoamerica's food crops, including chili peppers, were being grown by farmers. When farming began, many people worked hard to grow crops like chili peppers. They were a very important food source. Chili peppers were often grown with corn, beans, and squash.

Chili peppers were also used for trade and as gifts. Important leaders would use foods and stews spiced with chili peppers at big feasts. Using very spicy foods was a way to show power and style to their guests.

Chili peppers were added to many dishes, like stews with vegetables, turkey, or dog meat, and in spicy tomato salsa with tortillas. Sometimes, they were even added to chocolate drinks! In Mesoamerica, chili peppers were used for special rituals. Because of this, chili crops didn't spread as widely into North and South America as corn, beans, and squash did. A unique type of food in Mesoamerica was based on corn and chili peppers.

Squash

Squash includes many types like pumpkins, zucchini, and acorn squash. These were also important foods grown in Mesoamerica.

Pinto Bean

The pinto bean, called "frijol pinto" in Spanish, means "painted" or "speckled" bean. These beans are special because they help make the soil healthier by adding nitrogen. They were often planted with corn and squash, which people called the "two sisters." The bean plants would grow up the corn stalks.

Tomato

The tomato is a fruit that comes from a plant in the nightshade family, which also includes potatoes. Both the plant and its fruit are called tomato.

Potato

The potato is another plant from the nightshade family. It's related to tomatoes and eggplants. The word "potato" refers to both the plant and its edible underground part, called a tuber.

Avocado

The avocado is related to plants like laurel, cinnamon, and camphor. It's also known as "aguacate" in Spanish.

Chicle

Chicle is a natural gum that comes from a tree. It's what chewing gum was originally made from!

Chocolate

Chocolate comes from the cacao tree. It was a very important plant in Mesoamerica, used to make special drinks and foods.

Vanilla

Vanilla is a popular flavor that comes from a type of orchid flower. These orchids are native to Mexico. The word "vanilla" comes from the Spanish word "vainilla," meaning "little pod." Ancient Mesoamerican people were the first to grow vanilla.

A Spanish explorer named Hernán Cortés is believed to have brought vanilla and chocolate to Europe in the 1520s. For a long time, people tried to grow vanilla outside of Mexico, but it didn't work. This was because a special type of bee, called the Melipona bee, was needed to pollinate the vanilla orchid.

In 1837, a Belgian scientist named Charles François Antoine Morren figured this out. He found a way to pollinate the plant by hand. However, this method was too expensive to use widely. Then, in 1841, a 12-year-old boy named Edmond Albius, who lived on an island called Réunion, discovered that the plant could be pollinated by hand easily! This discovery allowed vanilla to be grown all over the world.

Today, there are three main types of vanilla grown globally, all originally from Mesoamerica. The most common one is Vanilla planifolia, also known as "Madagascar-Bourbon" vanilla. It's grown in Madagascar and Indonesia.

Vanilla is the second most expensive spice in the world, after saffron. This is because it takes a lot of hard work to grow the vanilla pods. Even though it's expensive, vanilla is loved for its "pure, spicy, and delicate" flavor and its wonderful smell. It's used a lot in baking, perfumes, and aromatherapy.

Black Raspberry

Pineapple

Pineapples were also widely grown in Mesoamerica.

Nopales

Nopales are the flat, paddle-shaped parts of the prickly pear cactus. They are eaten as a vegetable.

Tunas

Tunas are the sweet fruits that grow on many different types of cultivated prickly pear cacti.

Jicama

Jícama (pronounced HEE-ka-ma) comes from the Nahuatl word xicamatl. It's the name of a vine plant from Mexico, but usually, when people say "jícama," they mean the plant's edible root. Jícama is a type of "yam bean." Other types of yam beans are also native to the Americas.

Papaya

The papaya plant originally came from southern Mexico, especially the areas of Chiapas and Veracruz, and also from Central and northern South America. Now, it's grown in most tropical countries around the world. It grows very quickly and starts producing fruit within three years. However, it doesn't do well in cold weather.

Guayaba (Guava)

Guayaba is the fruit of the guava tree.

Huautli

Huautli is another name for Amaranth grain. Other types of amaranth are found on different continents.

Cherimoya

Cherimoya is a delicious fruit.

Mamey

Mamey is a fruit, and other parts of the mamey plant have also been used for different purposes.

Sunflower seeds

Sunflower seeds were grown in Mexico and Peru for thousands of years. They are also a source of important oils.

Cassava

Cassava is a starchy root that can be eaten. It's also known as manioc and is used to make tapioca.

Chaya

Chaya is also known as tree spinach.

Tepary Bean

The tepary bean was grown from Arizona all the way down to Costa Rica. It was also gathered from the wild in hot, dry, and semi-dry places.

Tobacco

The tobacco plant was grown throughout Central America, the Caribbean, and North America.