Which root crops of the ancient Mayan
are still a food crop for Mayans today?
Posted September 04, 2017
In 1966, Bennet Bronson wrote about 4 principal root crops camote, jicama, yautia (malanga in Guatemala), and yuca (taro, manioc) and 1 additional root crop (Canna edulis, achira). He suggested that these root crops were a mainstay of the Classic Maya foods (along with maize, beans, and squash).
Unfortunately Bronson totally missed a major root crop which is widespread throughout Guatemala: ichintal, the root of Sechium edule, chayote, wiskil, güisquil (spelled many ways). So we have worked to gather together the four main root crops and the one we add to the list (ichintal). We were not able to find Canna species in any market (neither in Alta Verapaz nor Guatemala City). We have interviewed lots of Mayan people who use Canna plants for their leaves, but our conclusion so far is that Canna indica (the modern botanical name) is not consumed by the Maya (or if it is, then not widely documented).
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Yuca at the left; camote is the reddish root; malanga are the two giant roots and two small adjacent roots (different varieties); ichintal is harvested in Alta Verapaz areas primarily November-December so the still dirt-covered roots here (in August) are prematurely small. Yautia is the roundish light-colored root between the dark pink camote. |
Although we show five roots in this photograph, we have found more than 20 additional roots which are native to Mesoamerica and which surely over a dozen were food used in the diet of the Classic Mayan people.
