42 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 7 
Squash foods.—Both common squash and chila- 
cayote are cut into pieces and boiled with the rind. 
Squash is often candied with piloncillo in mestizo 
towns nearby, but rarely in Indian communities. 
Squash blossoms (kuktimu, pust-¢a¢aki) are boiled 
and eaten with salt and chile, and immature fruits 
are often stewed. Chilacayote, which has a 
watery, stringy flesh, is especially liked throughout 
the Tarascan area, and in the Sierra during the 
spring (when other vegetables are unavailable) it 
is eaten with an atole flavored with the nuriteni 
herb. In many pueblos the flesh is soaked in 
water and permitted to ferment, forming a re- 
freshing drink called tepache.”® Finally, an até- 
pakua, or stew of chilacayote, is often made by the 
Sierra Tarascans; the flesh is boiled with onion, 
silantro, and chile. 
Other native crops.—Apart from the maize- 
bean-squash complex, a few other indigenous 
cultigens are found in modern Tarascan field agri- 
culture. From the point of view of culture 
history, one of the most significant of these is 
amaranth (Amaranthus cruentus), which in most 
parts of Mexico is called alegria or bledo and 
in Tarascan, pau. The tiny (1 mm. diameter), 
round seeds, which occur in spikes at the head of 
the plant (1}-2% meters tall), are rich in starch 
and oil. Sauer (1936) has suggested amaranth as 
one of the pre-maize cultigens of southern North 
America. Today it is cultivated in small amounts 
in many parts of central Mexico, usually in isolated 
Indian pueblos. 
Among the modern Tarascans, especially those 
of the Sierra, three varieties of amaranth are 
grown: white, red, and black. Cultivation is 
usually limited to t'wpiri soils of the highlands 
and to the house-lot gardens. It is planted both 
in plowland and in desmontes, but only in small 
patches within or at the edge of maize fields.” 
In the plowland the small grain is planted in 
quemazones. The log (usually oak) is burned in 
January and the seed planted in late May, im- 
mediately before the rains. The seed is also sown 
in freshly burned desmontes, but inthe house lots 
ash fertilizer is rarely used. All three varieties 
78 Tepache is a general name for a number of drinks common to western 
Mexico, e. g. tepache de pina, de silacayote, etc. To make tepache de silacayote, 
the flesh of the squash is placed in an olla; water, piloncillo, and often soda 
water (carbonato) are added. Fermentation sets in immediately, and after 
3 days the beverage is ready for consumption. After the first olla of tepache 
is consumed, more water, etc. is added to the flesh and the process repeated. 
The meat of one chilacayote is said to last 1 year of repeated fermentation. 
1% Fields of alegria, similar to those around Tulyehualco at the southern 
edge of the Valley of Mexico, are never seen in the present Tarascan area. 
are planted together, the seeds being separated 
according to color after the harvest. The plant is 
cut with a sickle in November or December, the 
grain threshed in an open space in the fields and 
stored in small ollas in the troje. 
The cultivation of amaranth is disappearing 
among the Tarascans; it would probably die out 
rapidly if women did not constantly remind men 
to plant it every year. In some Sierra pueblos it 
is no longer grown, but grain is brought in from 
other towns, particularly from Pamatdcuaro and 
its surrounding ranches and from Capacuaro.” 
Little is grown in the Lake towns or in La Cafiada, 
the grain being imported from the Sierra. In a 
few pueblos it was claimed that alegria was neither 
cultivated nor eaten: Paracho, HuAdnsito, San 
Jerénimo, Pudcuaro, Napizaro.” 
In terms of quantity consumed, amaranth has 
little importance in present Tarascan diet. Its 
significance lies in its relict position in Indian 
culture. Today the most widespread amaranth 
food among the Tarascans is a tamal called 
“eandta,’’ made from a mixture of ground maize 
and alegria. Blue or black ekudéau maize is dry- 
ground on the metate; red or black alegria is then 
ground into the maize flour; a sweetening (pilon- 
cillo) and water are stirred into the mixed flour, 
and the resultant dough is wrapped in maize 
husks and boiled in an olla. In some pueblos of 
La Cafiada ground alegria is mixed with wheat 
flour and piloncillo, of which tamales called 
éapdtas de trigo are made. Moreover, bolitas, 
confections made of white amaranth, are made, 
but are more common in adjacent mestizo towns. 
The grain is toasted on the comal, then mixed 
with honey or a paste of piloncillo to make small 
cakes. These are commonly sold at fairs or on 
fiesta days.” Few ceremonial or religious uses 
of amaranth were found in the Tarascan pueblos.® 
7 Curiously, the Sierra pueblos which no longer cultivate alegria, but 
import grain for home use, are some of the more isolated, such as Urapicho, 
Cocucho, Nurfo, and Pomacuarén. In these towns no reason was given for 
not growing alegria. Possibly the inhabitants found it less bothersome to 
buy the grain than go to the trouble of raising it. 
78 Modern amaranth cultivation extends beyond the present limits of 
Tarascan speech in Michoacin. It is still grown and used in the former 
indigenous towns of Apo, Tancftaro, Sirahuén, Opopeo, and in some mestizo 
ranchos north of Uruapan. 
7 In PamatAcuaro an atole is made of amaranth and black maize. Such 
atole is widespread in the highlands of northern Guerrero (Hendrichs 1945-46, 
vol. 1, p. 35), and is probably encountered in other indigenous areas of Mexico. 
In Atapan a pakésa (ground grain boiled in water to a solid mass) is made 
of red alegria. 
80 In PamatdAcuaro atole of black alegria and black maize is taken especially 
at the maize planting celebrations. In Sicuicho é’apatas are eaten at both 
the maize planting and harvesting fiestas. In other pueblos special uses of 
amaranth were denied. 
