Guatemala

by William Tufts Brigham

The common potato I have already mentioned in a former chapter (p. 136). The sweet potato (Batatas edulis) will grow in all its varieties, from the huge purple-fleshed tuber to the delicate little yellow form; but it is very little cultivated. The yam (Dioscorea) is much more common, but dry and tasteless. The cocos or kalo (Colocasium esculentum) grows well in the wetter lands, but is more common in Belize than in Guatemala, and in neither place attains the prominence as a vegetable that it enjoys in the Pacific Islands or in China and the East Indies. The cassava (Manihot utilissima), so important a food in South America, is here mostly confined to Carib use, and I have never seen it inland or on the south coast; as a dietary its importance merits attention, and it should be exported. In a dry climate it keeps well, and I have specimens four years old still perfectly good. Frijoles, or beans, black, white, and red, are very abundant and good. The Mexicans are the greatest consumers of beans in the world, and their neighbors southward probably rank next.

The breadfruit (Artocarpus incisa) grows remarkably well in Livingston and Belize, although I think the fruit is smaller than in the Pacific islands. Carefully baked when full grown, but not ripe, it is a fine vegetable, and the baked fruit sliced and fried is a delicacy. The odor of the uncooked fruit is very unpleasant. Squashes, cucumbers (including a small spiny wild one which is very good), melons, grow well, and pumpkins are planted among the corn, as in New England. Indeed, the variety of squashes is very great, and one may see a dozen or fifteen kinds in a single heap. They are fed to cattle as pumpkins are with us. Some are so hard that they keep a long time. The chiote (Sechium edule) is a rapid growing runner, often covering the houses, and bearing a fruit about the shape of a pear and three inches thick, covered with soft prickles. This was abundant all through the villages, and in the plazas it was sold parboiled, fried, or preserved in sugar. It tastes much like a vegetable marrow.

Tomatoes grow everywhere, and are of great importance in the kitchen, next to the universal chile (Capsicum annuum). Peppers of other kinds are used, especially a large green one which is stuffed with minced meat coated with egg and crumbs and served as Chile relleno. Pawpaws (Carica papaya) are common (a small wild species is abundant on the Pacific coast); and the fruit, as large as a cantaloupe, and filled with pungent seeds like those of the tropæolum, is eaten raw, or cooked in tarts. Its juice is of the greatest use in making tough meat tender. The akee (Blighia sapida) is much like a custard when cooked.

The avocado (Persea gratissima) is one of the fruits that have many names. In Peru it is called palta, and the Mexican ahuacatl was twisted by the Spaniards into aguacate and avocado, and the English corrupted this last into alligator-pear. Intermediate, like the carica, between vegetable and fruit, few strangers like the aguacate at first. There are many varieties; but the best is pear-shaped, weighing about a pound, with a shiny purple, leathery skin. Between the skin and the rather large kernel is a greenish pulp nearly an inch thick, which is the edible part of this delicious fruit. It is of a buttery consistency, and may serve as substitute for butter, and be eaten alone, or with salt and pepper. The sapote (Lucuma mammosa) somewhat resembles the aguacate in the size and position of the edible pulp; but the outside is rough and brown, and the salmon-colored interior is insipid and inferior.

Among the first rank of fruits may be placed the mango (Mangifera indica), although the West Indian is far inferior to the East Indian representative. As a mere shade-tree the mango is beautiful; but the rich juicy, golden-meated fruit, slightly tinged with a flavor of turpentine in the poorer sorts, is a never-to-be-forgotten delight. The unripe fruit is good baked or made into a sauce, when it much resembles apples in taste. The slippery, juicy meat, and the strong fibres which attach this to the large flat stone, make it anything but an easy task for the novice to eat this fruit; he should have plenty of water and napkins within reach. When the tree does not bear well, root-pruning may be resorted to, although the natives usually hack the stem. I have planted seeds of the sour mango sent from Hawaii, and they have grown rapidly and promise well. The mango may be grafted as easily, it is said, as the cherry or apple.

The icaco (Chrysobalanus icaco), or coco-plum, grows near the shore, and makes an excellent preserve; so does the manzanilla, a small crab-apple.

In the interior, a tree very commonly used for fences is the jocote (Spondias purpurea?). This bears a plum-like fruit all over the smaller branches, which is either yellow or red when ripe, and very juicy. The stone closely resembles a medium-sized peanut. The juice when fermented makes a very popular drink (Chicha). To propagate the tree it is only necessary to plant a branch or cutting, which may be several inches in diameter, and it takes root and bears the next season. I am not sure of the species of spondias, but it is much smaller than the S. dulcis of the Pacific Islands, and more like the hog-plum of Jamaica. Peaches grow in the highlands, but of the poorest quality, and the trees are in blossom and fruit at the same time. Figs grow very well; yet the Guatemaltecans import canned figs from New Orleans. The star-apple (Chrysophyllum cainito), so popular in the West Indies, the mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana), the most delicious fruit of the East Indies, the loquat (Eriobotrya japonica), the durian (Durio zibethinus), that foul-smelling but pleasant-tasting fruit, the bhêl (Ægle marmelos), the Marquesan plum (Spondias dulcis), and a host of others might grow here, but do not.

Guavas or goyavas grow wild, but are of very poor quality; I have not found the very fine strawberry guavas, but have planted seeds of the black guava, the best of its kind. Cherimoyers (Anona cherimolia) are very common in the uplands, extending even into the region of occasional frosts. A red-pulped variety is much prized. The sour-sop (Anona muricata) is cultivated all along the coast, and is seldom absent from a Carib village. Grapes grow finely on the Pacific slope, and would probably do equally well on the north. That most pleasing fruit of the passion-flower (Passiflora sp.), the granadilla, or water-lemon, may be found, in the season, for sale in every plaza in the highlands. The more common kind is of the size of a large hen’s egg, and the tough shell contains an aromatic jelly of which one can eat almost without limit; this fruit is sold at ten for a cuartil (3 cents). The larger species has a fine purple blossom as large as a saucer, while the fruit is more than a foot long. These vines are easily propagated by cuttings. The tamarind (Tamarindus officinalis) is found all over the country, and its pulpy pods make a wholesome and cooling drink. There are many other fruits which I have not tasted and cannot describe; but they are generally those that a stranger does not especially like, nor are they abundant. While our common garden vegetables can be easily raised, if kept from ants, especially from the ravages of the zompopos, there are few gardens that contain any of them.

With food for man, it is important to provide well for his faithful servants, horses, mules, and cattle. On the uplands the pasturage is good, and the sheep and neat cattle thrive. On the lowlands and in the river valleys grass must be planted, and the Guinea grass (Panicum jumentorum) and Bahama grass (Cynodon dactylon) are usually chosen. On the ridges Paspalum distichum grows naturally, and in the interior the grass is the same, I am told, as that of the famous plains of Yoro, Olancho, and Comayagua in Honduras, where one acre will pasture two animals, while in Texas four acres will barely feed one.