Flowers and Fruit in Early Modern Mesoamerica: Chocolate as a Case Study

This paper will take chocolate as a case study to show the potential of a wider consideration of fruits and flowers in Mesoamerican culinary practices spanning the sixteenth to eighteenth century. The seeds of the fruit of the cacao tree are a key ingredient in chocolate, but was often enhanced with flowers, creating an array of taste profiles. The single scholarly focus on the seed has directed attention away from cacao fruit. In addition to considering the sensory and culinary qualities of cacao fruit, this study evaluates the culinary uses and habitats of seven tree, shrub and plant flowers. Some early modern sources define some of these flowers by referring to their use in chocolate. Examples include both familiar (Tagetes lucida, marigold; Vanilla planifolia, vanilla) and perhaps the less well known, such as Bourreria huanita, Popcorn flower, esquinsuchil; Chirantodendron pentadactylon, flor de manitas, teonacaztli; Cymbopetalum penduliflorum, guanacaste; Magnolia mexicana, yolloxochitl; and Quararibea funebris, rosita de cacao, cacahuaxochitl. All of the examples are important for their pairings with cacao, showing that flavourings went beyond sugar or spicy chile. This focus on chocolate-related flowers and fruit raises questions not just of culinary diversity, but biodiversity and sustainability as well. This study demonstrates that Mesoamerican pluriculture was multi-sited, and that complex agroforestry enables a diverse palate. Important sources of information for this study include early colonial vocabularies in Indigenous languages. While the presentation’s focus will be on ethnographic, archaeological, and historical evidence from Mexico and Central America, the paper will also consider the uneven global adoption of the fruit and flower examples.