LITMIR.BIZ

      Kit Anderson’s harvest from her Vemont Mexican garden.

      “Encouraged by the warm weather, I set my pepper plants outside, let the young plants harden off (acclimatize outside) for a few days, and then put them out in the garden on about May 7, with individual wax-paper hot caps (little individual shelters) to protect them. The poor things needed all the help they could get because the weather turned cool and rainy for several weeks. Finally it warmed up again and I uncovered the peppers, as they were pushing up the hot caps. That night a ferocious storm blew in. My children watched in amazement as I screamed at the hail that was pounding the kitchen. But even that storm didn’t faze those peppers. Except for a few ragged leaves, they looked just fine the next day.

      “The little cilantro plants and the tomatillos went in next, along with a few cilantro seeds, a row of bunching onion seeds, and a few rows of pinto beans. By May 31, everything was planted, with the corn god occupying a place of honor in the center of the garden.

      “To keep down weeds, I mulched with grass clippings around everything. The paths were covered first with newspapers, at least sixteen pages thick, then with shredded bark. Finally, I set up a combination sprinkler and drip system. This last step proved unnecessary, though, for we headed into the coolest, wettest summer I’ve ever experienced in Vermont. Eggplants everywhere languished. Tomatoes ripened late. Squash, even zucchini, produced poorly. We had great lettuce for tacos but not much else to go with it. It seemed impossible that the Mexican garden would make it, but it plugged right along. The peppers started bearing fruit by late July and kept up through September. The corn grew (slowly) and matured beautiful ears. The cilantro, especially the batch started early, made a lot of greens before going to seed. I cut it all back once, froze the leaves, and then let the plants go. The plants allowed to mature produced seeds and from these I got another harvest of leaves later in the season. The beans were fine until September; then I had to take them into the barn to dry because they started to sprout during a few late rains. The tomatillos grew like mad, overwhelming everything near them, getting much larger than I’d planned. The tomatillo is a low-growing, hulking sort of plant that needs its own space. The amaranth I’d carefully planned as a backdrop—with the supposedly smaller yellow strain in front and the red in back—did not cooperate; the yellow turned out to be much more vigorous, dwarfing the dramatic red plants, which just peeked through from behind.

      “The garden was at its best in late July, although the marigolds had been slow to begin flowering, so things weren’t as colorful as I’d hoped they’d be. Tithonia, the Mexican sunflower, was a disappointment, too; it had lots of green foliage but flowered only late in the season.

      “When corn harvest time came, my son and I had a wonderful time picking the ears and pulling off husks to reveal the richly colored kernels, everything from blue to red and yellow. I displayed some of the ears for months in a basket in our kitchen.

      “Unfortunately, I never had time to develop great gourmet recipes with all these crops. We did feast on lots of tacos with chopped fresh tomatoes and cilantro and had salsas made of tomatillos, chiles, and green onions. I discovered I liked cilantro and have also used the frozen leaves for soups and in esquite, a corn dish sold on street corners that I had learned to love in Mexico.”

      Despite the problems, Kit’s enthusiasm for her Mexican garden was constant and infectious. When I visited in July, the garden was beautiful and I was reassured to see everything doing so well. Even though I’d heard garden experts talk about growing chile peppers, cilantro, and tomatillos in northern climates, I found it much more convincing to see and touch the thriving plants myself.

      Except for the watermelon, all the plants shown here—including grinding corns, summer and winter squash, and many types of peppers—have all evolved from plants native to Mexico and Central America. Though native to Africa, watermelons are very popular in Mexico.

      encyclopedia of mexican vegetables

      This encyclopedia covers, in detail, growing and preparing Mexican vegetables and herbs. Each vegetable is listed under its most common English name (which is often derived from its Spanish name), followed by the Spanish name, any alternate common names, and the Latin name. For major information on soil preparation, mulching, composting, and pests and diseases, see Appendices A and B in the back of the book. For further information on saving seeds, see page 4.

      A number of seed companies carry Mexican or equivalent varieties of vegetables and herbs, as you will notice in the Resources section (page 102). As a side note: According to Craig Dremann of the Redwood City Seed Company, to locate some of the old Mexican vegetable varieties we need to look overseas. Many vegetables that were taken from Mexico generations ago show up in other countries still close to their ancient form. Two such examples are ‘Ronde de Nice,’ the round zucchinis common in France; and Costoluco-type fluted tomatoes from Italy. Therefore, you will find a number of varieties listed here that don’t sound the slightest bit Mexican. For hard-to-find plants, I include source information under “Varieties.” In addition, if you are searching for any edible plant, hard-to-find or otherwise, I highly recommend the ultimate source book, Cornucopia II: A Source Book of Edible Plants, by Steve Facciola.

      AMARANTH

      Amaranthus hypochondriacus, A. tricolor, A. cruentus, A. gangeticus

      AMARANTH, A VALUABLE STAPLE of the Aztecs, was discouraged by the Spanish because it was associated with their sacrificial ceremonies. Nevertheless, these easily grown and nutritious plants are still enjoyed by modern-day Mexicans. Some types are grown for their leaves; other are grown for their edible and nutritious seeds, or grain. Leaf amaranths grow to about 18 inches. Grain amaranths are dramatic plants

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