Chef Lydia Gonzales of the Latino Culinary Institute in Dallas demonstrates ancient Latin ingredients like pumpkin, achiote and more.
How the Dallas-based Latino Culinary Institute is helping preserve indigenous cuisines
Get to know seven ancient ingredients from Latin America, from achiote to pumpkin.
Latin and many other cuisines today use condiments and ingredients used by indigenous people long before Christopher Columbus came to America more than 500 years ago.
These foods, native to Mexico and other parts of the Americas, have touched other parts of the world, and many dishes today would not be understood without their presence.
“I’m snacking on the pepitas [pumpkin seeds] that my ancestors snacked on 7,000 years ago,” says chef Lydia Gonzalez, founder and executive director of the Latino Culinary Institute & Association in Dallas. “We think we’re inventing something new, but we’re not, and it’s great to see all the cooking traditions that have survived for thousands of years that we’re still using today.”
The nonprofit Latino Culinary Institute & Association was founded in 2020 by Gonzalez in an effort to help Hispanic businesses and culinary workers in North Texas find professional development.
The institute works hand in hand with Dallas College, the city of Dallas, the Irving Hispanic Chamber and The Concilio, among others, to provide training and certifications to its affiliates and entrepreneurs interested in launching culinary businesses.
Part of Gonzalez’s job is to educate as well, and she recently held a demonstration on ingredients that originated in Mexico that are still used today in traditional and modern cooking.
Gonzalez uses these ancient ingredients to prepare traditional dishes such as meat marinated with achiote or for mole, which includes pumpkin seeds, chocolate and chili peppers, among many other elements.
She also uses these condiments and ingredients in more modern forms of cooking, adapted to American culture, such as pumpkin, which she uses to prepare cupcakes inspired by her grandmother.
“In my pumpkin spice muffin, I actually put chunks of pumpkin in them. I use the chocolate to marinate my pork ... and our amazing ingredient that has changed the world, which is the tomato,” Gonzalez says. “To me, tomato is so underrated. What would the culinary world be without our amazing tomatoes?”
Achiote
This ingredient is native to the south of Mexico and other nearby areas like the Caribbean and Brazil. The Spaniards brought the achiote tree to Europe and Asia in the 1600s, and it’s now widely used in Southeast Asian dishes, according to The Spruce Eats.
It has a peppery flavor and enhances the qualities of meat and vegetables in certain dishes. In Mexico it is a common ingredient in cuisines of the southeastern region, in dishes such as cochinita or pollo pibil in the Yucatan or arroz con sofrito in the Caribbean.
Cacao
This ingredient, the base of chocolate, originated in Mexico, where the Olmecs consumed it in 1500 B.C., grinding the cocoa beans and mixing them with water and other spices. The Mayans consumed it in 600 B.C., and in 1400 A.D. the Aztecs consumed it as a drink called “xocolatl,” according to Cacao Mexico.
After the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, the Spaniards added sugar to the drink and took cocoa to Europe, where it became very popular. In 1659, the first chocolate factory opened in France, and from there it spread to other parts of the world.
In addition to being consumed as a snack, chocolate is used as an ingredient in the preparation of some foods, such as traditional mole.
Cactus
Known as “nopal,” the cactus has its origins in Mexico, but now it is cultivated in the U.S. and the Mediterranean, Angola, Australia, Kenya and South Africa, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.
This plant was domesticated 8,000 years ago, and since then it has been an important part of Mexican cuisine.
You can prepare dishes such as nopalitos salad, with tomato, cilantro and onion, or mix it with pork or chicken to prepare various dishes.
Chili pepper
Who can deny that chili peppers belong in traditional Mexican food? The oldest evidence of chili peppers are seeds found in the state of Puebla, dating back to 6900 B.C. Since then several types of chili peppers have been cultivated, and now there are more than 200 varieties consumed in Mexico, according to Mexican government data.
Other sources say that chili peppers originated in countries such as Ecuador, Bolivia or Brazil, then spread throughout the world after the discovery of America.
Corn
Corn is native to central Mexico, and scientists think it was domesticated and developed by people living in that area at least 7,000 years ago.
In the next thousands of years, people who migrated north and south of America brought corn with them, so when Columbus arrived to the “new world,” it was widely known by the indigenous people. He took corn to Europe, and from there it spread all over the world.
Today corn is a staple food in countries such as Mexico, where it is widely used in tortillas or hominy, but it’s also an important part of American cuisine as a snack or a side dish at barbecues.
Pumpkin
Scientists believe that pumpkins originated in North America 9,000 years ago, according to the University of California. The oldest pumpkin seeds have been found in Mexico and date back to between 7000 and 5550 B.C.
In the centuries that followed, people grew and created a wide variety of pumpkins, from the ones we use on Halloween to other types of squash.
The tradition of carved pumpkins was brought to America by Irish immigrants, who used to make jack-o’-lanterns out of potatoes or turnips. The origin of this tradition goes back to the Irish myth about Stingy Jack, who tricked the devil for financial gain, according to the Britannica.
Tomato
The tomato is an ingredient present in many cuisines across the world. There are more than 10,000 varieties.
There are divided opinions about the true origin of the tomato, because although some scientists place it in the Andes region of Chile, where it grew wild, it is said that the true domestication of the tomato was in Mexico, according to the University of Vermont.
After the discovery of America, its use spread throughout Europe, and in the 1700s it began to be used in the preparation of pizzas and other dishes in Italy.
