

THE TAJIN TOTONAC — PART 1 — KELLY AND PALERM 



131 



of maize gruel, the cooking is terminated. At 

 this point, some sprinkle a pinch of bicarbonate 

 of soda over the surface of the sirup, but we are 

 not certain whether this is to improve the color 

 or the texture. A long pole is passed through the 

 large loop handle at each side of the rim, and two 

 men lift the cauldron from the fire. For about 

 half an hour thereafter, as the sirup cools, it is 

 stirred with a slender stick (fig. 15, i) of hard 





/ 





s* 



Figure 15. — Sugar-making equipment. Specimens do 

 not appear in the sequence in which they are used. 

 a, b, Wooden paddles used to scrape sugar which ad- 

 heres to walls and floor of the cauldron in which the 

 cane juice is boiled, c, Wooden mallet, with which 

 joints of cane are cracked before it is fed into the mill. 

 d-f, Wooden molds for brown sugar, g, h, Colanders, 

 with forked stick handles, used to skim boiling cane 

 juice; g, metal bowl; h, gourd, i, Pole used to stir 

 boiled sirup as it cools. Not to scale. 



wood, such as laurel. When the liquid which 

 drops from the rod forms a more or less solid mass, 

 the next step is to pour the sirup into the mold 

 (fig. 15, d-f). 



The latter is a squared block or beam, some- 

 times of mahogany, but usually of cedar, since 

 the latter resists cracking when subjected to heat. 

 In this block have been made two rows of subcorn- 

 eal cavities in which the cakes of sugar are to be 



formed. Generally, each man makes his own mold, 

 but if he is busy, he may hire someone to do the 

 work. If the carpenter supplies the wood and the 

 labor, he charges $3.00 pesos; if he is given the 

 wood, the price is $0.10 for each cavity. The latter 

 may be one of two sizes. Some prefer molds so 

 made that the resulting cake of sugar weighs a bit 

 less than half a kilogram; others prefer a larger 

 cavity which produces a cake of about three-quar- 

 ters of a kilogram. 



If one has no mold, he can borrow from a neigh- 

 bor, with the understanding that the loan is "for 

 days and not for months." Or he prepares a make- 

 shift by cutting a large stalk of bamboo in lengths 

 of about 15 cm. These are stood in line on a plank, 

 and the heavy sirup poured into them. There is 

 no Totonac name for mold. 



So that the sugar will not stick, the form is 

 moistened with cold water, and with a large 

 spoon-shaped gourd, the sirup is dipped from 

 the vat into the cavities. The sides of the cauldron 

 are scraped with a wooden paddle (liswik ? en) 

 (fig. 15, a, b) of zapote wood. Most of the sugar 

 goes into the mold, but the small fry of the family 

 congregate hopefully, to nibble the scrapings 

 which are too hard to be added to the cakes. 



After half an hour in the shade, the sugar is 

 set, and the mold is inverted in a bed of dry, 

 crushed cane. The latter, incidentally, is of no 

 other use and generally is burned or thrown to 

 one side to rot. A small amount of water is poured 

 into the now empty cavities of the form, and the 

 latter is left in the shade until the next batch of 

 sirup is ready. 



The squat, subcorneal cakes of brown sugar 

 (panel a) dry a short while before they are 

 wrapped. Two are placed, butt to butt, in a corn 

 husk, and the wrapping tied with cordage made 

 of the leaf of the palma redonda (No. 259) 

 (p. 220). 



A parcel containing two cakes of brown sugar 

 is known as a mancuerna; this is the standard unit 

 used locally. Size ond weight vary according to 

 the mold ; some mancuernas weigh less than a kilo- 

 gram, others, about 1.5 kg. Price ranges from 

 $0.30 to $1.00 peso a manmieima, according to 

 size, color, and quality — also, according to supply 

 and demand. In Tajin, the price usually is be- 

 tween $0.40 and $0.50; in Papantla, it is slightly 

 higher. 



