Chiles and Squash Seeds Become a Spoonable Sauce
ANCIENT MEALS · 089 / 100 Teotihuacan plant-food reconstruction · Central Mexico, with wider American crop context · c. 100–650 CE Evidence: archaeological reconstruction. The historical evidence and modern cooking choices are distinguished below. Jump to recipe Heat was an American food history Chile peppers belong to the Americas. Their later global journeys should not obscure a much earlier local history. Smithsonian-linked research on chile starch fossils traces archaeological evidence at sites across the Americas, including early Ecuadorian finds. That broad history establishes antiquity without proving that one modern pepper variety was used everywhere. For the particular setting of our recipe, Teotihuacan's Plaza of the Columns plant-food study includes chile and squash among recovered resources. Pumpkin seeds and chile can therefore anchor a reconstruction in a documented food landscape. The assembled sauce below is not a translated ancient pipián recipe, nor a later dis...