Curated playlist
Crops originating from Mexico
- TomatoIn 1893, the US Supreme Court ruled the tomato a vegetable. Botanically, it is a fruit, a berry.
- MaizeMaize cannot reproduce without people. Its kernels stay locked to the cob instead of scattering.
- PapayaPapaya's white sap can tenderize meat, but it also stops jelly from setting. The enzyme papain is the reason.
- Chili pepperBirds can eat the hottest chili peppers without distress. They lack the pain receptor that responds to capsaicin.
- PumpkinThe carved Halloween pumpkin began as a carved turnip. Irish and Scottish lanterns used turnips before pumpkins.
- AvocadoEvery Hass avocado tree alive descends from one mother tree. A California mail carrier raised it from a single seedling.
- Cocoa beanThe cocoa bean, the dried and fermented seed of the cacao tree, once paid for rabbit dinners in Mesoamerica. Before the Spanish conquest, it served as common money across the region. Beans bought small items such as tamales and rabbit…
- Gossypium hirsutumRoughly 90% of the world's cotton comes from one plant, upland cotton. Its scientific name is Gossypium hirsutum.
- VanillaVanilla, the flavor behind countless cakes, ice creams and perfumes, owes its place in the world to a 12-year-old boy on the island of Réunion. His name was Edmond Albius, and he was enslaved. In 1841 he worked out how to pollinate the…
- ChayoteChayote is an edible fruiting vine of the gourd family, and in Brazil its local name doubles as a pet name. Chuchu is the Brazilian word for the fruit, and it is also a term of endearment, much like calling someone "Honey" in English. The…