When time and funding permit, each flower (each plant species) will have its own page, and its own PDF, and eventually its own PPT so that professors and students have plenty of material on Guatemala (and Honduras, etc) to study.
Heliconia adflexa, Coban, Guatemala, Hotel Monja Blanca, FLAAR, by Nicholas Hellmuth
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Images of chile chocolate, Capsicum annuum var accuminatum, from Mayan regions of Guatemala |
Why is Capsicum annuum var accuminatum commonly known as chile chocolate?Most Mayanists have heard or read that the Aztecs and other pre-Columbian peoples flavored their cacao drink with chili, achiote, and other spices. But so far I have not found any references to which kind of chili was used. ![]() During Semana Santa this year I was photographing fruits, vegetables, and flowers from the native market of Antigua Guatemala. One of the chilies that we found in the market was called chili chocolate by everyone. Hence my questions, is this the chili that was used to flavor chocolate? Since the chili is not chocolate color, how else would it get the name chili chocolate? So the primary purpose of this web page is to openly ask the question, what is the origin of the term “chili chocolate” for Capsicum annuum var accuminatum. It would be a good first step to look at the Nahuatl names for this or comparable chiles. Then find all the Mayan words. If any of them refer to cacao: there is your answer. Unfortunately we at FLAAR do not have a linguist on staff, and my library has been loaned to the Museo Popol Vuh for over a decade, so (due to traffic and parking and all that) we don’t have our own library easily available. How to spell the word chili?![]() I have seen even botanical monographs spell the word chili, and with two l’s, chilli (in the same sentence ! (Berke and Shieh 2001:112; in “Handbook of Herbs and Spices” edited by K. V. Peter). Elsewhere in the same book it is spelled chillie (p. 31). I am aware that us Americans are pretty sloppy with spelling in recent years, but I would expect better editing in a major monograph on spices. Appearance of chile chocolateChile chocolate is long and not as plump as a jalapeño. Chile chocolate comes in red color and green color. Color may be based on whether mature (red) or immature (green). When I bought chiles at the market in Sacatapequez, there were both green and red mixed in the bag that the local Maya person gave me. Species and varieties of chile chocolateI had to search the Internet two days until I found C. annuum var accuminatum listed by several authors (both cited by Ayala). Don’t confuse the chile chocolate of Guatemala
The latter are sweet; the former are picante. The sweet ones are maroon-brown color (not “chocolate” color, but closer than green!) Both are called “chocolate,” one because it is close to chocolate color. If you want to get help figuring out all the varieties of Capsicum annuum, just Google plate names sorting Capsicum annuum Where can you see chile chocolate![]() Ayala lists Pacífico, Nueva Concepción, Escuintla, y La Máquina, Suchitepequez, así como en los departamento se Santa Rosa, Jutiapa y Baja Verapaz as locations you can see chile chocolate (no pagination, fotos 5-8 and 5-9). Guzman et al. list Samayac, Suchitepequez, and Cubulco, Baja Verapaz, Guatemala (p. 365). Improvements to Mayanist research on chilesThe monograph on Ethnology of the Mayas of British Honduras is a wonderful example of how Mayanists have wasted the opportunity to learn about the plants used by the Maya. J. Eric S. Thompson simply uses the word “chili”. He never seems to make the slightest attempt to understand which of many potential chili plants he is talking about: or even if it was sweet or hot. Summary:What I learned during my research on chile chocolateFirst I learned that the word “chocolate” was used in several different ways with respect to chilies. Several chilies are named “…chocolate…” because of their vaguely chocolate color. This is not at all the case with Capsicum annuum var accuminatum. Chile chocolate is bright green (when immature) or bright red (when mature). ![]() Second thing that I (as a layperson; I am not a botanist; I learn about plants by sheer initiative and hours reading and years in the rain forests) have learned is that chilies are kind of like squash: there are a few basic species but may be dozens of variations under the same species binomial. And any two varieties can be absolutely as different looking as night is from day. So trying to learn, and distinguish, one chile from another is comparable to learning about squash. Both were major items in the Mayan diet of a thousand years ago, and still today. It is amazing, that with dozens, scores, or probably hundreds of varieties of chiles of Mesoamerica, that it is possible to identify the primary chile used for flavoring cacao a thousand years ago. It is very easy actually: go to any local market where cacao beans are sold and where the local people drink Maya style cacao beverages. Simply ask the local women who are selling products in this market, “which chile do you use with cacao?” They will tend to point to a single chile: chile chocolate. So doing research in the markets in many ways makes more sense than being stuck back at a university or in a library or floating around the Internet. The best people to write about cacao flavoring are the Maya people, especially the Kekchi, since cacao grows in their homeland areas, such as Cajabon. But there are also the major cacao growing areas of the Costa Sur which were neither Kekchi nor necessarily fully “Mayan” in pre-Columbian times. Remember, there were several other cultures in Mesoamerica besides the Maya, especially on the active trade routes between Mexico, through Guatemala down through Honduras or El Salvador to Costa Rica. I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to find the one chile used to flavor cacao. I wish it were that easy to find the several other flavorings such as Smilax and Itsimte. Bibliography and resources on chilieswww.ethno-botanik.org/Capsicum/Fotoindex_Chili_Paprika_Capsicum.html One of the most helpful web sites; albeit auf Deutsch. Fortunately I can read it, but woiuld be nice to find a comparable web site in English; or Spanish (though Ayala’s book is pretty close). The first batch of references are thouse listed by Ayala.
then some books (none of which I have), but frankly I bet the Guatemalan publications, and the occasional Mexican one (listed above) should be enough. Keep in mind the above list is only what was available when Ayala wrote his book on chile. First posted March 26, 2013. |