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The Mesoamericans began making fermented drinks using chocolate in 450 BC using the cocoa tree. [20] Once sugar was used to sweeten it rather than spices, it gained popularity [21] and was used in feasts. Toasted cacao beans were ground (sometimes with parched corn) and then the powder was mixed with water.
The seeds of this plant held monetary value to the Aztecs, and were also common in ceramics. The chocolate that comes from it gave rise to a variety of beverages. [ 3 ] Due to the specificity of the environments in which they can succeed, cacao bean cultivation was highly regionalized, grown in plantation-like monocultures.
Chiles were also added at times to cacao, when it was in a beverage form. In Mesoamerica, chiles were used for ritual purposes and therefore, the chile crops did not extend into North and South America like maize, beans, and squash. A cuisine distinct to Mesoamerica was a maize-and-chile pepper based food.
Pages in category "Mesoamerican diet and subsistence" The following 7 pages are in this category, out of 7 total. This list may not reflect recent changes. .
Another important squash that was domesticated in the early Archaic period was the bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria). [1] The bottle gourd provided storage space for collecting seeds for grinding or planting as well as a means of carrying water. Squashes provided an excellent source of protein to the ancient Mesoamericans, as well as to people ...
Mesoamerica and its cultural areas. Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area that begins in the southern part of North America and extends to the Pacific coast of Central America, thus comprising the lands of central and southern Mexico, all of Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, and parts of Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
A map of the pre-historic cultures of the American Southwest ca 1200 CE. Several Hohokam settlements are shown. The agricultural practices of the Native Americans inhabiting the American Southwest, which includes the states of Arizona and New Mexico plus portions of surrounding states and neighboring Mexico, are influenced by the low levels of precipitation in the region.
Chinampa (Nahuatl languages: chināmitl [tʃiˈnaːmitɬ]) is a technique used in Mesoamerican agriculture which relies on small, rectangular areas of fertile arable land to grow crops on the shallow lake beds in the Valley of Mexico. The word chinampa has Nahuatl origins, chinampa meaning “in the fence of reeds”.