Olmecs civilization and cocoa

There is much evidence for much earlier use, but most historical accounts of Theobroma cacao begin with the Olmecs, a civilization that predominated in present day Mexico, on the Gulf coast, and whose influence extended as far south as Honduras or Nicaragua, from around 1400 to 400 BC.

The Olmec were the first major civilization in Mexico. They built large stone heads. The Olmec broke down ripe cacao pods to make a drink from the sweet pulp inside.

The staple of the Olmec diet was maize, which sat overnight in tall urns filled with water and wood ash, or sometimes lime and then pulverized shells of snails. They’d beat the grain into a doughy mass, then serve it to the masters often fortified by the dark, magical substance they; extracted from the bean, cocoa.

The Olmec women serve it as thick, bitter-tasting drink, stimulating, nourishing and they believed to healing as well.

The word cacao is derived from the Olmec and the subsequent Mayan languages (Kakaw) and the chocolate-related term cacahuatl is Nahuatl derived from Olmec/Mayan etymology.
Olmecs civilization and cocoa

History of Aztec and vanilla flavor

Vanilla is indigenous to Central America from southeastern Mexico through Guatemala to Panama. The Aztec people, who lived in present-day Mexico, were among the first to use vanilla. They traded for vanilla with other peoples, such as the Totonac, who also lived in Mexico.

In Nahuatl, the Aztec language, vanilla is called tlilxochitl and its seeds collected from wild plants were considered among the most important tributes paid to the Aztec leader.

Vanilla became a favorite of the Aztec nobility. In the royal court it was considered an aphrodisiac. A Franciscan friar, Benrhardino de Saghun, write about Mexican vanilla in the early 16th is quoted as saying that the Aztecs used vanilla seeds in cocoa drinks and as a medicine and sold them in their markets. Meanwhile,

Hernando Cortes, the Spanish conqueror of the Aztecs, became the first European to tats vanilla when he drank chocotatl in Montezuma’s banquet hall.

Although the Spaniards imported vanilla beans to Europe, where they were used to flavor chocolate, which the Spaniards also borrowed from the Aztec, vanilla processing factories were not established in Europe until the late 1700s.
History of Aztec and vanilla flavor

History of pumpkin seeds

The pumpkin is thought to have originated in Central America. Archeological remains, dated about 8750 BC, have been found in Mexico. Pumpkins appear in the Southwest in precermamic levels at Bat Cave and Tularosa Cave at about 1000-500 BC; by that time they were probably widespread in Mesoamerica and were present in the Midwestern United States.

Pumpkins are considered to have been the first food to travel from the New World to be cultivated in Europe. The English name pumpkin dates back to sometimes before the 1600s, but the fruit has its true roots in American soil.

Pumpkins were a staple in the Native American diet and a part of their healing medicines long before the pilgrims showed up and claimed it for their Thanksgiving day meal. The Iroquois used an infusion of pumpkin seeds to treat children with reduced urination.

The Menomini used the seeds of pumpkin to facilitate the passage of urine. The seeds were pulverized in a mortar and the powder mixed with water. Catawba Indians chewed pumpkin seeds fresh or dried and swallowed them as a kidney medicine.

As an early introduction to Europe, the sixteen-century German herbalist Fuchs recommended pumpkin seeds, which he lumps together with cucumbers, melons and cantaloupe – an ambiguity perhaps reflecting its recent arrival from America - ‘when the bladder is being difficult,’ as prescription that coincided with the modern use of extract of pumpkin seeds for urinary and prostate problems.

Pumpkins were easy to cultivate and became a common food at meals, particularly in New England. They were baked, fried, mashed, roasted and stewed and eaten as an accompaniment to meat. Pumpkin seeds were eaten like nuts, raw or roasted, or fried in deep fat and salted to give ‘pepitos’.

In some parts of Central America the roasted kernels are combined with a sticky syrup to form ‘pepitorio’, a sweet confection. They are common in Mexican and Native American cuisines. Today, pumpkin seeds are produced commercially by the United States, China, India and Mexico.
History of pumpkin seeds