Maya Recipes

The diet of the ancient Maya was based on maize, beans, chile peppers and squash – foods still eaten in the modern Maya area.  The Maya also harvested other plants such as manioc, avocado, papaya, guava,  tomatoes, sweet potatoes, hogplums, palms, cactus fruits, mint, persimmon, jicama, custard apple and cacao fruits and seeds.  This diet was supplemented by fishing, hunting,  and domestication of food animals such as turkeys, peccaries, and dogs.  The Maya also raised bees in hollowed-out logs for honey, and harvested eggs from turkeys and iguanas. Deer, wild turkey, duck, armadillo, peccary, quail, tapir, monkeys, and iguana were some types of animals hunted by the Ancient Maya, using bows and arrows, spears, blowguns, darts, and snares.  To fish, the Maya used nets and hook and line. Since there were few rivers in much of the Maya area, fishing was generally in salt water, and many varieties of fish were caught. Oysters, turtles, and sea birds were also eaten.

Honey-Vanilla Fruit Compote

Recipe by Shanti Morell-Hart

Vanilla, called t'isil in Mayan, was cultivated throughout Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, and El Salvador by the Prehispanic Maya people.  Bees were also kept for their honey, which was the type of sweetener most commonly used in the Maya area. The fruits in this recipe are also native to the area and can still be found growing wild in forests, although they may look different from the cultivated varieties we find in supermarkets today.

1 ½ cups honey
3 ½ cups water
1 vanilla bean, split or 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 ripe medium pineapple, peeled, cored, and diced
10-12 small, ripe, but firm, fresh guavas
½ pound fresh cherries
grapes, halved

In a three-quart saucepan, combine the honey and water.  Place pan over medium heat and bring to a simmer.  Stir until the honey is dissolved, making a thin syrup.  Place the vanilla bean in the syrup and reduce heat to low.
Bring another large saucepan of water to a boil.  Plunge the guavas into boiling water for a few seconds, then remove and peel.  Add the guavas and cherries to the simmering syrup and poach for 15 minutes, stirring gently from time to time.  Add the pineapple and continue to poach for another 5 minutes.  Turn off heat, and allow the fruit to cool in the syrup.
Remove the vanilla bean, rinse, dry and store.  Serve the compote chilled, or at room temperature.  Garnish with sliced grapes.
 

Hot Chocolate

Recipe by Shanti Morell-Hart

When Cortez and his army arrived in the land of the Aztecs, they were unimpressed by the little dark brown beans many of the Aztecs were carrying, until they learned they were used like money! These beans were cacao beans, a popular trade item before getting ground, roasted, and made into hot chocolate (without milk-- no cows!)  As popular as it was for the Aztecs, chocolate, or xocatl, was originally developed as a food by the Maya.  Sometimes it was made without honey, as a bitter drink, and occasionally even contained chiles, to make it spicy. 

2 ounces (squares) bitter, unsweetened bakers' chocolate
1 cup hot water
3 tablespoons honey
dash salt
3 cups hot water

Chop the chocolate and heat it in 1 cup of water until melted. Add honey and salt.  Beat the hot chocolate with a balloon wire whip as you add 3 cups of hot water.  Serve the foamy hot chocolate with pinch of cayenne pepper.
 

New Corn-Stuffed Tamales

Recipe adapted from one in the Diario Yucatan, the Merida Yucatan Newspaper, October 1996

Tamales in ancient Maya times were made with fresh corn or corn hominy, ground into thick dough called masa. The masa in this recipe is made from a combination of fresh corn and masa harina.  Masa harina is a dry cornmeal that has been prepared with lime or wood-ash lye water to balance the corn's amino acids, which makes a more available and usable form of protein. Properly treated and cooked, corn is very nutritious.  The fresh corn found in today's supermarkets is much higher in sugar -- 2 - 4 times higher ö than traditional corn.

 1 1/2 cups roasted corn kernels (from 2-4 ears of corn)
 1/2 cup water
 1 cup masa harina
 ¼ cup palm oil or turkey fat
 1/2 tsp salt
 Corn leaves

Roast the fresh corn ears in their husks at 400 degrees for 5 minutes. Husks and silk will peel off easily. Scrape off the kernels, standing the cob in a large frying pan to catch them. Depending on the ears, it will take 2-4 ears to make 1 1/2 cups of kernels.
Simmer water and corn for about 10 minutes. Strain the corn and reserve the water.  Puree 1/2 cup of the kernels with this water, reserving the rest for putting in the tamale dough. Add the puree to the masa harina, and mix vigorously.  In a separate large bowl, whip the salt together with the oil or fat. Start adding the masa mixture to the oil mixture, about 1/4 cup at a time, whisking and beating vigorously after each dough addition. Continue to beat the mix for 15 minutes.  Stir in the remaining corn kernels, to form a dough.
Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces (about 3 Tbsp each.) Pat each piece into a rectangle on a trimmed corn husk to form a square or rectangle, leaving a border at the edges of the tamale at least 1 inch. Now fold up the rectangle along the length of the corn husk and pinch it into a roll, loosely. Roll the husk completely around the dough, and tie the ends with strips of corn husk. The wrapping should be slightly loose, to allow steam to get in. Place the wrapped tamales seam-side down on the rack of any kind of steamer. Tamales shouldn't touch the boiling water. Steam for 30 minutes. Let cool slightly and serve with tomato sauce or turkey broth.
 

Pumpkin Soup

Recipe by Shanti Morell-Hart

In early pumpkin soup recipes, the pumpkin would have been baked whole in hot ashes. Peeled and chopped pumpkin would then have been thinned with broth from wildfowl or game.

1 small pumpkin, about 12"
2 tbs palm oil
3 tbs honey
1/2 tsp ground allspice
4 c turkey broth
Salt to taste
Thinly sliced onions
Roasted pumpkin seeds, for garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place pumpkin in a baking dish and roast until easily pierced with a knife, about 1 hour. Allow pumpkin to cool, slice off top and scoop out seeds. Clean pumpkin fibers from seeds and discard. Toss seeds with oil and salt to taste. Spread out on a baking sheet and return to oven 15-20 minutes, until crisp and golden. Reserve for garnish.
Scrape the pumpkin flesh from shell and mash, or puree if a smoother mixture is desired.  Place the pumpkin in a large saucepan and season with salt, honey and allspice. Gradually stir in enough broth to make soup with thin or thick consistency, as desired. Simmer over medium heat about 5 minutes, until hot. If desired, serve soup in small pumpkin or squash shells. Garnish with onions and pumpkin seeds.

Keh Chuuc
(Pit roasted venison)

Recipe adapted from one by Claudio Cupul Chi, resident of the Yucatan

Although turkeys, peccaries, and even dogs were raised for food by the ancient Maya, wild animals such as deer, duck, armadillo, quail, tapir, monkeys, and iguanas were hunted with bow and arrows, spears, darts, and snares.  This recipe calls for venison to be roasted in a large pit, although any one of these types of wild game can be used instead.

Fresh venison
Salt

Early in the morning, dig a deep pit, put rocks in the bottom and build a roaring fire on top. When the fire burns down, put down green branches.  Season the venison with salt, then wrap in leaves to keep it clean. Cover with more green branches and cover with earth. Let it cook for an entire day. Dig up and serve.
 

Xni Pec
(Tomato and chile salsa)

Recipe adapted from one in the Diario Yucatan, the Merida Yucatan newspaper, October 1996

This simple salsa is made with ingredients all native to the Maya area, although the sour oranges (naranjas agrias) may be hard to find.  A mixture of orange and lime juices, though not native, works just as well.

8-10 tomatoes, chopped
2 onions, chopped
2 habanero chiles, chopped
Salt, to taste

Mix all ingredients together.  Serve with tortillas or tamales.
 

Pibikutz
(Turkey tamale)

Recipe adapted from one in the Diario Yucatan, the Merida Yucatan newspaper, October 1996

These tamales are traditionally prepared during the festival of Hanal Pixan, which has since become Day of the Dead in the Maya area.  The symbolism of "burying" the tamale in a pit and then "resurrecting" it corresponds with the ancient Maya idea of burying the dead before their transition into the afterlife.

4 C turkey broth
6 2/3 C corn masa harina
1/3 C solid turkey fat
6 2/3 C shredded cooked turkey
1 tsp. achiote
Salt, to taste
1 cup tomato
1 large onion
2 sprigs of epazote (parsley is a close substitute)
(optional) habanero chile, to taste
corn husks

Boil the broth with ½ tsp achiote, a dash of salt, and a little bit of the masa harina for thickening. This will be part of the "kol" that bathes the interior of the tamales.
Mix the corn masa with the turkey fat, salt, and achiote to make a dough. This forms the filling that will cover the shredded turkey meat.  Put some of this corn dough on top of a corn husk.  Make a hollow in the dough.  Layer this hollow with the turkey and bathe with the broth, alternating with onion, tomato, chile, and epazote.  Finally, put a covering of corn dough on top.
Wrap everything with corn husks, and then bake for an hour and a half at 375 degrees.  Or, for the traditional method, bury the pibikutz in a firewood and rock pit, and let cook for 8 hours.