SC - Almond Paste

[DianaFiona@aol.com]

On Tue, 14 Sep 1999, [iso-8859-1] Nanna Rögnvaldardóttir wrote:
> Were there really wild boars in America before Columbus? And how about
> garlic, pepper, oregano, cumin and bay leaves? These are Old World spices -
> are there native American species also? And bananas (platains) and oranges
> aren´t New World, either. Most or all of these things were brought there
> fairly early, though.

Greetings

Yes, there were/are wild pigs called javelina in Spanish and peccary in
English.  I used to see them now and then I lived in Tucson.  They are
native to the Sonoran Desert in Northern Mexico.  I don't know how far
south they were found in Mayan and Aztec times.

garlic - yes, a wild species.  There is an old Navajo dish that mixes wild
spinach (Cleome serrulata), wild onion/garlic (not distinguished) and wild
celery (Apiastrum sp). It's considered "starvation" food. It's called
"waa'" because of the spinach.  (I have not discovered if the Navajo waa'
is the same as the Spanish colonial "quelites", that was cooked
with purslane).  According to the Navajo people working at this office, my
greens recipes are considered traditional.  

pepper - black pepper, no.  chile pepper yes.  

oregano - no.  "Epazote" is the native bean herb of choice.  10 yrs ago it
was imported from Mexico.  Currently, 2 Santa Fe herb companies sell it
packaged in stores in ABQ.  Allegedly, it was used by the Aztec and
Tlaxcalans for flavoring bean dishes.   I have made anasazi beans w/
epazote in a crock pot.  The result is quite savoury, like mixing oregano
and tarragon.  Since archaeologists have found those beans and that herb
matter in digs at Chaco canyon, it is possible they were cooked together.
Actually, we will never know.

cumin - not sure.  Cuminos is found in every mexican/hispanic
store/mercado that I have shopped.

bay - not sure

bananas - no

oranges - no

hope this helps,

Ariann

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