1
00:00:00,840 --> 00:00:05,279
Speaker 1: From my Lady ass Mexico's most ancient candy, to elegant,

2
00:00:05,320 --> 00:00:09,400
Speaker 1: sweet and creamy vice Regal flavors and the candy Cheetless

3
00:00:09,480 --> 00:00:12,280
Speaker 1: that burn your mouth. Let's talk about the evolution of

4
00:00:12,400 --> 00:00:19,280
Speaker 1: Mexican candy and Halloween. My name is Evil Longoria and

5
00:00:19,480 --> 00:00:25,680
Speaker 1: I am and welcome to Hungry for History, a podcast

6
00:00:25,720 --> 00:00:29,040
Speaker 1: that explores our past and present through food. On every episode,

7
00:00:29,040 --> 00:00:32,520
Speaker 1: we'll talk about the history of some of our favorite dishes, ingredients,

8
00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:41,960
Speaker 1: and beverages. So make yourself at home. Even wait, what

9
00:00:42,240 --> 00:00:45,239
Speaker 1: is vice regal confection? What is I've never heard that

10
00:00:45,240 --> 00:00:49,360
Speaker 1: word of my life. Regal Spanish? It is, okay, absolutely

11
00:00:49,840 --> 00:00:52,720
Speaker 1: meaning from Spain, not Spanish. Is in the language Spanish

12
00:00:52,800 --> 00:00:58,000
Speaker 1: is and from Spanish in Spain the colonized vocabulary. It

13
00:00:58,160 --> 00:01:03,520
Speaker 1: is the colonized vocabulary. So candies in Mexico start in

14
00:01:03,560 --> 00:01:06,360
Speaker 1: the colonial period, which is also referred to this vice

15
00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:09,560
Speaker 1: regal period. They didn't exist before that. Well, there were sweets, right,

16
00:01:09,560 --> 00:01:11,840
Speaker 1: there was honey, and there was you know, a God day, right.

17
00:01:11,880 --> 00:01:14,679
Speaker 1: But this whole idea of like a candy is something

18
00:01:14,680 --> 00:01:18,440
Speaker 1: that's very European, really like this, but but this concept

19
00:01:18,560 --> 00:01:23,320
Speaker 1: of making candies dates to the colonial period. Then it's

20
00:01:23,319 --> 00:01:28,679
Speaker 1: specifically can be attributed to nuns in convents. Right, So

21
00:01:28,720 --> 00:01:34,039
Speaker 1: we have all of these ingredients coming in um post conquest,

22
00:01:34,080 --> 00:01:37,080
Speaker 1: sugar being one of them. Sugar is a big episode.

23
00:01:37,080 --> 00:01:39,160
Speaker 1: We're going to talk about sugar in a in a

24
00:01:39,319 --> 00:01:43,160
Speaker 1: separate episode. That's the whole thing. That's the whole thing. Yeah,

25
00:01:43,240 --> 00:01:45,960
Speaker 1: let's talk about festive Halloween and then get into the serious,

26
00:01:46,080 --> 00:01:48,800
Speaker 1: you know, business of sugar. But sugar was coming into

27
00:01:48,840 --> 00:01:51,720
Speaker 1: the country, and also all sorts of nuts and dairy

28
00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:56,640
Speaker 1: and and fruits like tamarind and apricots and just lots

29
00:01:56,640 --> 00:02:00,560
Speaker 1: of different flavors. So really Mexican cuisine is invented in

30
00:02:00,720 --> 00:02:05,560
Speaker 1: colonial comments, but candy sweets can also be attributed to

31
00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:10,279
Speaker 1: nuns in colonial It's definitely colonization because candy in itself

32
00:02:10,520 --> 00:02:15,080
Speaker 1: was invented by the Egyptians, Egyptians, Arabs, and Chinese. They

33
00:02:15,080 --> 00:02:18,120
Speaker 1: were the first to mix nuts and honey. Yeah, I

34
00:02:18,160 --> 00:02:20,440
Speaker 1: didn't know about the Egyptians. Definitely, the Middle East. The

35
00:02:20,440 --> 00:02:25,880
Speaker 1: Egyptians were and the word candy derives from an Arabic

36
00:02:25,919 --> 00:02:31,800
Speaker 1: word condy meaning made of sugar que a and d

37
00:02:31,919 --> 00:02:35,480
Speaker 1: i condy. The Middle East, they were the masters of

38
00:02:35,760 --> 00:02:38,640
Speaker 1: candy making, candy making. And it's interesting because I've been

39
00:02:38,680 --> 00:02:41,880
Speaker 1: in the Middle East several times and it's like dates, like,

40
00:02:42,040 --> 00:02:43,440
Speaker 1: hand's not a lot. I don't see a lot of

41
00:02:43,480 --> 00:02:46,200
Speaker 1: candy over there, like Mexico. When you go to Mexico,

42
00:02:46,280 --> 00:02:49,079
Speaker 1: you can't walk on the street without saying the stand

43
00:02:49,240 --> 00:02:52,760
Speaker 1: of Mexican candies. Yeah, there are, They're everywhere. With this

44
00:02:52,840 --> 00:02:57,160
Speaker 1: whole concept of mixing sweet and savory and making fruit

45
00:02:57,240 --> 00:02:59,680
Speaker 1: the conserves and things that you know of dates and

46
00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:02,720
Speaker 1: arry and that was brought over. It's definitely a Middle

47
00:03:02,720 --> 00:03:05,919
Speaker 1: Eastern thing and all of the Islamic countries and then

48
00:03:05,919 --> 00:03:09,000
Speaker 1: the Moors from North Africa brought that concept over to Spain,

49
00:03:09,360 --> 00:03:12,720
Speaker 1: and then that came over to Mexico, right, So that's

50
00:03:12,800 --> 00:03:16,320
Speaker 1: when we start seeing in these colonial comments all of

51
00:03:16,360 --> 00:03:21,519
Speaker 1: these sort of nutty creamy like Marsa bands and all

52
00:03:21,520 --> 00:03:26,040
Speaker 1: sorts of different flavors that were right, sort of milk

53
00:03:26,160 --> 00:03:30,480
Speaker 1: based sweets with with nuts or candied fruit. And that's

54
00:03:30,480 --> 00:03:35,080
Speaker 1: definitely a Moorish influenced guys. And we're talking about talking

55
00:03:35,080 --> 00:03:38,080
Speaker 1: about chocolate as a candy. This is a little bit separate,

56
00:03:38,120 --> 00:03:41,560
Speaker 1: but like chocolate and the cocawbean was already in meso

57
00:03:41,560 --> 00:03:44,720
Speaker 1: America for a while. The milk wasn't integrated until the

58
00:03:44,760 --> 00:03:47,920
Speaker 1: Spaniards brought the cow, and so that milk, chocolate and

59
00:03:47,960 --> 00:03:52,000
Speaker 1: the sugar was added with the Spaniard with the colonization. Yeah,

60
00:03:52,560 --> 00:03:55,280
Speaker 1: even though chocolate was around, it wasn't the sweet. It

61
00:03:55,320 --> 00:04:03,400
Speaker 1: was bitter. So we're I mean more than talking about chocolate.

62
00:04:03,400 --> 00:04:06,600
Speaker 1: We're talking about these these these candies. You brought some today,

63
00:04:06,880 --> 00:04:12,880
Speaker 1: did you I grew up with this one? Different? Those

64
00:04:12,920 --> 00:04:15,320
Speaker 1: are much later. Yeah. Yeah, this is like where we

65
00:04:15,360 --> 00:04:16,800
Speaker 1: grew up. This is where we go. Did you grow

66
00:04:16,839 --> 00:04:18,640
Speaker 1: up with these candies? I feel like candy? You know

67
00:04:18,680 --> 00:04:20,280
Speaker 1: what I grew up with was that is what I'm

68
00:04:20,279 --> 00:04:22,480
Speaker 1: talking about. What is that? This is called This is

69
00:04:22,520 --> 00:04:25,880
Speaker 1: a milk candy and pecan roll. This is from Monterre.

70
00:04:28,279 --> 00:04:34,400
Speaker 1: So it's tamarndo with chili and sugar and salt. Yeah,

71
00:04:34,440 --> 00:04:36,880
Speaker 1: definitely salt. That's that. Those are modern candies. Those are

72
00:04:36,920 --> 00:04:39,440
Speaker 1: the candys that we grew up with. This like what

73
00:04:39,560 --> 00:04:42,240
Speaker 1: I have here, I had this little roll. It's a

74
00:04:42,320 --> 00:04:45,960
Speaker 1: milk candy with pecan. This is what I'm talking about.

75
00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:49,480
Speaker 1: This These these are the vice regal flavors. Where did

76
00:04:49,520 --> 00:04:51,920
Speaker 1: you get this? You know, I have all sorts of

77
00:04:51,960 --> 00:04:54,919
Speaker 1: weird stuff in my pantry. Is how long has this

78
00:04:54,920 --> 00:04:57,440
Speaker 1: been in your pantry? Not long? Not long at all,

79
00:04:57,480 --> 00:05:00,000
Speaker 1: because my mom, not not long. My mom was always

80
00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:02,200
Speaker 1: sending the stuff. She's always going to places and she's

81
00:05:02,240 --> 00:05:05,360
Speaker 1: sending of all sorts of so that probably has only

82
00:05:05,400 --> 00:05:07,679
Speaker 1: been in my pantry maybe a couple of weeks. Okay,

83
00:05:07,680 --> 00:05:11,800
Speaker 1: it's a promise. It says milk candy with pecan roll.

84
00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:16,359
Speaker 1: All right, what's what's in the center of it? Just

85
00:05:16,400 --> 00:05:20,960
Speaker 1: like hit that basically, m hmm. How is it? It's

86
00:05:20,960 --> 00:05:28,520
Speaker 1: like like a pecan pie or a pecan pie. It's

87
00:05:28,520 --> 00:05:30,960
Speaker 1: a pecan pie and a roll. We can't really taste

88
00:05:30,960 --> 00:05:35,240
Speaker 1: the insect. I just taste pecans. But it's bound together

89
00:05:35,279 --> 00:05:38,400
Speaker 1: by sugar for sure. For sure. But what does vice

90
00:05:38,600 --> 00:05:42,719
Speaker 1: regal mean? The viceroy is a representative of the king

91
00:05:42,880 --> 00:05:45,800
Speaker 1: of Spain. So when this is during the colon Pierce,

92
00:05:45,920 --> 00:05:49,839
Speaker 1: this is a vice regal period called vice regal confection. Yeah,

93
00:05:49,960 --> 00:05:52,479
Speaker 1: you can call the vice regal confections. And there was these,

94
00:05:52,680 --> 00:05:57,040
Speaker 1: you know, conserve these candies and they were making It's

95
00:05:57,080 --> 00:06:01,600
Speaker 1: so good, right, it's delicious. Every region, right, every convent

96
00:06:01,760 --> 00:06:04,840
Speaker 1: had a different specialty. And it's like the nuns from Pilao,

97
00:06:04,920 --> 00:06:07,320
Speaker 1: the nuns from Morelia or get it that they have

98
00:06:07,360 --> 00:06:11,279
Speaker 1: the different specialties. But they made custards and candied fruits

99
00:06:11,360 --> 00:06:16,080
Speaker 1: and you know sweet potato Masapan. Right, and then they

100
00:06:16,080 --> 00:06:21,080
Speaker 1: had these interesting names like suspiros then like nuns size

101
00:06:21,600 --> 00:06:24,680
Speaker 1: like lambs for these bishops tears. I remember these La

102
00:06:24,880 --> 00:06:28,600
Speaker 1: bishops bishop tears and they were these little you can

103
00:06:28,640 --> 00:06:33,120
Speaker 1: still buy them. There were these little sugar pellets that

104
00:06:33,240 --> 00:06:36,000
Speaker 1: you bite into them. I remember my mom bring the

105
00:06:36,040 --> 00:06:37,840
Speaker 1: back when we were kids. You bite into them and

106
00:06:37,880 --> 00:06:40,800
Speaker 1: it's like this this water like sort of popped out

107
00:06:40,880 --> 00:06:43,560
Speaker 1: and they tasted like anus. I don't I have a

108
00:06:43,600 --> 00:06:45,920
Speaker 1: love hate relationship with a niece. I love this one.

109
00:06:45,960 --> 00:06:50,920
Speaker 1: Where was the speed to a less spiritual eggs? Hallelujah's um.

110
00:06:51,040 --> 00:06:55,240
Speaker 1: So each convent had their their specialty. So this was

111
00:06:55,320 --> 00:06:57,760
Speaker 1: the kind of flavors that that were being made. And

112
00:06:57,800 --> 00:07:01,479
Speaker 1: they're different candy stores in Mexico that really keep these

113
00:07:01,720 --> 00:07:04,280
Speaker 1: flavors alive. And wherever they sell these cheese like candies,

114
00:07:04,320 --> 00:07:08,279
Speaker 1: you also see these other candies, the glorias and the gloria,

115
00:07:08,520 --> 00:07:15,400
Speaker 1: which is not what's the word for caramel. It's made

116
00:07:15,440 --> 00:07:20,160
Speaker 1: with goat's milk. Really, it's knew that, Yeah, it's I've

117
00:07:20,160 --> 00:07:23,000
Speaker 1: made it before. Oh my gosh. It's it's basically goat's

118
00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:24,880
Speaker 1: milk and sugar and you just cook it until it

119
00:07:24,920 --> 00:07:27,800
Speaker 1: because why is it brown? Because it's just it's a caramel.

120
00:07:29,200 --> 00:07:30,720
Speaker 1: Can't you just cook it and cook it and coot

121
00:07:30,720 --> 00:07:33,680
Speaker 1: it until it just becomes this? I love. What's the

122
00:07:33,760 --> 00:07:37,360
Speaker 1: thing with the two white wafers? Oh, those are the os.

123
00:07:37,680 --> 00:07:39,840
Speaker 1: It's the one that dissolves in your mouth like a

124
00:07:39,880 --> 00:07:43,240
Speaker 1: communion waver. It is a communion wafer. So definitely made

125
00:07:43,240 --> 00:07:45,200
Speaker 1: by the nuns. Definitely. I have a bunch of that.

126
00:07:45,880 --> 00:07:47,000
Speaker 1: You didn't think to be. I have a bunch of

127
00:07:47,040 --> 00:07:49,280
Speaker 1: the communion waivers in my pantry. What how do you

128
00:07:49,280 --> 00:07:53,440
Speaker 1: have communion waivers? You have communion waivers. That's like they're

129
00:07:53,480 --> 00:07:56,400
Speaker 1: locked up in the thing. And then then the altar thing.

130
00:07:56,560 --> 00:07:59,880
Speaker 1: I bought them at a candy store in Mexico. I

131
00:08:00,080 --> 00:08:03,120
Speaker 1: I just have that. Yeah, it's so weird. And sometimes

132
00:08:03,120 --> 00:08:05,560
Speaker 1: it's like, oh, like a little weight. I don't know it,

133
00:08:05,680 --> 00:08:09,960
Speaker 1: So I'm just weird. That is so funny. So it

134
00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:14,360
Speaker 1: has so so Mexican candy has a huge religious background. Huge.

135
00:08:14,960 --> 00:08:20,080
Speaker 1: Absolutely don't go anywhere when we come back. I visit

136
00:08:20,160 --> 00:08:23,840
Speaker 1: a candy museum in Meetuck in Mexico. That's after the break,

137
00:08:35,920 --> 00:08:38,599
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Hungry for History. I was recently in

138
00:08:38,679 --> 00:08:42,640
Speaker 1: Meetuck in Mexico, or I visited a candy museum, and

139
00:08:42,760 --> 00:08:47,240
Speaker 1: here's a taste of my experience witnessing the colonial candy

140
00:08:47,280 --> 00:08:57,839
Speaker 1: making process. I'm at the candy museum is making a

141
00:08:59,200 --> 00:09:03,760
Speaker 1: Quinn's paste and you can fear the quints and sugar

142
00:09:05,200 --> 00:09:16,080
Speaker 1: simmering and old copper pot and it smells amazing. MHD regarda.

143
00:09:15,080 --> 00:09:21,520
Speaker 1: H Okay, now I'm about to taste this incredible candy

144
00:09:21,559 --> 00:09:24,600
Speaker 1: at the embody Yo, which is a quint paste that

145
00:09:24,679 --> 00:09:27,959
Speaker 1: we just made in Its sweet and a little bit

146
00:09:28,000 --> 00:09:35,120
Speaker 1: sour and it's this beautiful creamy texture. I'm done right now,

147
00:09:37,720 --> 00:09:49,240
Speaker 1: so amazing mhm. I s oh, what is that one?

148
00:09:49,280 --> 00:09:52,240
Speaker 1: Did you eat? I had them? I had them, but

149
00:09:52,280 --> 00:09:56,720
Speaker 1: what is it? I didn't eat them? What's Yeah? So

150
00:09:56,800 --> 00:09:59,600
Speaker 1: that's super interesting. So all of these ingredients are coming

151
00:09:59,640 --> 00:10:02,160
Speaker 1: in right, the sugars coming in, and everything is being

152
00:10:02,200 --> 00:10:06,280
Speaker 1: sort of rude in these copper pots and the convents um.

153
00:10:06,280 --> 00:10:09,760
Speaker 1: But it's the Manilla Galians, right. These are these routes,

154
00:10:09,840 --> 00:10:13,199
Speaker 1: these ships that are coming from Manila in the Philippines,

155
00:10:13,240 --> 00:10:16,559
Speaker 1: which was also a Spanish colony, to tak in Mexico,

156
00:10:16,800 --> 00:10:20,040
Speaker 1: and they're coming back and forth for hundreds of years.

157
00:10:20,480 --> 00:10:24,760
Speaker 1: So they traveled between Manilla from fifteen sixty five to

158
00:10:24,920 --> 00:10:28,839
Speaker 1: eighteen fifteen, right, so for over three hundred years, these

159
00:10:28,960 --> 00:10:31,760
Speaker 1: ingredients were coming back and forth, and so Mexico was

160
00:10:31,840 --> 00:10:37,040
Speaker 1: linked to Asia, which was linked to Europe and basically global, global,

161
00:10:37,080 --> 00:10:42,120
Speaker 1: global trade. So this is when we start seeing ingredients

162
00:10:42,160 --> 00:10:46,040
Speaker 1: like apricots, and we start seeing tamarinds, and we start

163
00:10:46,040 --> 00:10:49,000
Speaker 1: seeing mango, and we start seeing you know, different culinary

164
00:10:49,040 --> 00:10:54,000
Speaker 1: traditions and different techniques. So the chammy. So just in

165
00:10:54,040 --> 00:10:56,800
Speaker 1: case people that are listening don't know what a chimp,

166
00:10:56,840 --> 00:10:59,240
Speaker 1: I don't even know what. I've seen it in like

167
00:10:59,400 --> 00:11:03,920
Speaker 1: ice cream, like mango and chamoy and I love it

168
00:11:03,960 --> 00:11:06,559
Speaker 1: and I get it, But what is joining it? Yeah,

169
00:11:06,600 --> 00:11:09,520
Speaker 1: that's a good question. It's basically it's red, it's sweet,

170
00:11:09,840 --> 00:11:14,120
Speaker 1: it's spicy, it's salty. It's made with dried plums or

171
00:11:14,200 --> 00:11:18,040
Speaker 1: apricots Tamaran. Sometimes it has mango, which is native to India,

172
00:11:18,160 --> 00:11:21,600
Speaker 1: mangoes native to India. Mangoes native to India. What, yeah,

173
00:11:22,240 --> 00:11:26,760
Speaker 1: mangoes India. Apricots are native to China. They've been cultivated

174
00:11:26,760 --> 00:11:29,360
Speaker 1: as earlier until my thousand BC. That marian though, is

175
00:11:29,400 --> 00:11:32,600
Speaker 1: from Africa. Oh my god. But the word that marian

176
00:11:32,920 --> 00:11:36,640
Speaker 1: comes from the Arabic tamar meaning date, and the Hindi

177
00:11:36,760 --> 00:11:39,800
Speaker 1: Hind meaning India, so it's name to Africa, but they've

178
00:11:39,800 --> 00:11:44,800
Speaker 1: been cultivated from India forever. Often the name literally means

179
00:11:44,800 --> 00:11:48,880
Speaker 1: Indian tree, even though it's name to Africa. So so

180
00:11:49,240 --> 00:11:52,360
Speaker 1: we have you know, apricots in China. There's this long

181
00:11:52,440 --> 00:11:56,120
Speaker 1: history of drying apricots and salting apricots, like the tamoi

182
00:11:56,320 --> 00:12:00,400
Speaker 1: rights in Japan as well. The it's sort of alted

183
00:12:01,040 --> 00:12:04,960
Speaker 1: plums or apricots and brine. So there's this tradition of

184
00:12:05,000 --> 00:12:07,960
Speaker 1: salting these fruits and then the madin though in India

185
00:12:07,960 --> 00:12:10,640
Speaker 1: and Thailand they have you know, like they make candies

186
00:12:10,679 --> 00:12:13,840
Speaker 1: with sugar but with the but this whole idea of

187
00:12:13,840 --> 00:12:15,880
Speaker 1: the like the chammy, like what is this sort of

188
00:12:15,920 --> 00:12:19,320
Speaker 1: cham because it's so popular. Different theories and It's hard

189
00:12:19,360 --> 00:12:23,400
Speaker 1: to pinpoint who when you know where, but it definitely

190
00:12:23,480 --> 00:12:26,880
Speaker 1: comes from this sort of you know, trade trade route,

191
00:12:27,160 --> 00:12:30,480
Speaker 1: and those trade routes existed even before the Manilla Galleons

192
00:12:30,520 --> 00:12:34,160
Speaker 1: with the Silk Road, like bringing these ingredients from China

193
00:12:34,760 --> 00:12:38,160
Speaker 1: to the Middle East and then further west, you know,

194
00:12:38,240 --> 00:12:40,600
Speaker 1: from China, you know, all the way west to Europe.

195
00:12:40,960 --> 00:12:46,400
Speaker 1: But some credit these Chinese snacks called lee king Mui

196
00:12:46,440 --> 00:12:49,360
Speaker 1: and I'm probably miss pronouncing this, so I'm sorry. But

197
00:12:49,559 --> 00:12:54,640
Speaker 1: also in the Philippines they made these pickled apricots called

198
00:12:54,720 --> 00:13:00,040
Speaker 1: chump boy. So so, but it's baby. That's where the

199
00:13:00,040 --> 00:13:02,760
Speaker 1: world comes maybe that's basically where the word comes from. Well,

200
00:13:02,800 --> 00:13:07,760
Speaker 1: it's become a symbol of Latin every If you are Mexican,

201
00:13:07,840 --> 00:13:09,839
Speaker 1: you know what chamoy is, and if you're from Texas,

202
00:13:09,880 --> 00:13:12,199
Speaker 1: you know what cham is. So you also like this

203
00:13:12,280 --> 00:13:14,000
Speaker 1: kind of candy. I grew up with that, but I

204
00:13:14,040 --> 00:13:16,880
Speaker 1: didn't eat it. We weren't allowed. I like the sugar thing.

205
00:13:23,640 --> 00:13:25,720
Speaker 1: My friends always make fun of me because I put

206
00:13:25,760 --> 00:13:30,040
Speaker 1: chili on everything, sweet mungo sandilla, all my fruit. I

207
00:13:30,080 --> 00:13:33,200
Speaker 1: have to put chiliain bain, which we have I do.

208
00:13:33,320 --> 00:13:40,720
Speaker 1: Mexicans love pain that gives pleasure, Like kid kids, I

209
00:13:40,720 --> 00:13:43,240
Speaker 1: grew up with this, these candies and I'm like I'm

210
00:13:43,320 --> 00:13:45,160
Speaker 1: dying and it's like I want you want more and more.

211
00:13:46,040 --> 00:13:48,080
Speaker 1: I don't know, but it's it's one of those things.

212
00:13:48,120 --> 00:13:51,640
Speaker 1: It's definitely not a vice regal laver, but you have

213
00:13:51,800 --> 00:13:54,480
Speaker 1: these different ingredients, you're just combining it with the chili.

214
00:13:54,600 --> 00:13:57,240
Speaker 1: It's what people love. Yeah. You know what I'm amazed

215
00:13:57,280 --> 00:14:02,600
Speaker 1: about is the Japanese influence in Mexican cuisine. Those peanuts,

216
00:14:03,640 --> 00:14:07,680
Speaker 1: they're like super Mexican. Japanese puts the Japanese Japanese peanuts. Yeah,

217
00:14:07,920 --> 00:14:12,200
Speaker 1: they're covered with mochi and the label is sort of

218
00:14:12,240 --> 00:14:16,920
Speaker 1: this fode Japanese. Yes. So there was this this Japanese

219
00:14:16,960 --> 00:14:20,600
Speaker 1: immigrant who moved to Mexico in nineteen fifty. His name

220
00:14:20,680 --> 00:14:24,840
Speaker 1: was Schiavae and he was the first person to introduce

221
00:14:24,880 --> 00:14:27,480
Speaker 1: soy products into the Mexican market. He had a company

222
00:14:27,520 --> 00:14:33,600
Speaker 1: called Yeah, and he also started producing these umeboshi snacks

223
00:14:33,920 --> 00:14:37,160
Speaker 1: that would basically Chile and you know, he was Japanese.

224
00:14:37,200 --> 00:14:39,480
Speaker 1: So he was making these zuos sort of drying them.

225
00:14:39,720 --> 00:14:44,560
Speaker 1: It was basically you know, Chile with apricots, and sometimes

226
00:14:44,560 --> 00:14:47,520
Speaker 1: he would use mango and salt and sugar, and he

227
00:14:47,640 --> 00:14:50,240
Speaker 1: created this and he called it Chili and it became

228
00:14:50,280 --> 00:14:54,560
Speaker 1: a hit with kids, with Chileans, with everybody. Yeah, who

229
00:14:54,600 --> 00:15:01,880
Speaker 1: is everybody? Now? I feel like, like I said, Mexican

230
00:15:01,960 --> 00:15:07,880
Speaker 1: candy is not for Halloween like American candy. It's for Halloween.

231
00:15:07,880 --> 00:15:10,120
Speaker 1: There's American there's a lot of candy that I only

232
00:15:10,160 --> 00:15:12,400
Speaker 1: eat on Halloween and I don't eat the rest of

233
00:15:12,400 --> 00:15:14,600
Speaker 1: the year. The Mexican candies year round. But did you

234
00:15:14,600 --> 00:15:17,080
Speaker 1: eat Mexican candy and Halloween? Were you like, it's not

235
00:15:17,120 --> 00:15:20,120
Speaker 1: really special. I eat this all the time. Yeah, yeah,

236
00:15:20,200 --> 00:15:22,080
Speaker 1: that's a good question. I didn't really think of that.

237
00:15:22,440 --> 00:15:25,480
Speaker 1: We didn't really We weren't allowed to trick or treat.

238
00:15:25,880 --> 00:15:29,240
Speaker 1: You weren't allowed to trick or treat? Wow? Why? Because

239
00:15:29,280 --> 00:15:31,280
Speaker 1: of my parents were paranoid that we were going to

240
00:15:31,360 --> 00:15:35,160
Speaker 1: get poisoned razor blades and the apples. Yeah, Halloween celebrated

241
00:15:35,160 --> 00:15:37,600
Speaker 1: around the world. I don't think they celebrated that much

242
00:15:37,640 --> 00:15:41,880
Speaker 1: in Mexico. It's celebrated somewhat. It's not like trick or treat,

243
00:15:41,960 --> 00:15:45,200
Speaker 1: but it's get almost Halloween, and and they have both

244
00:15:45,840 --> 00:15:50,040
Speaker 1: these types of the chile candies and glorias and just

245
00:15:50,200 --> 00:15:54,760
Speaker 1: different candies. But it's definitely celebrated. It is. It's being

246
00:15:54,880 --> 00:16:02,440
Speaker 1: celebrated around basically the pagan New Year's holiday of the Samhim,

247
00:16:02,760 --> 00:16:08,160
Speaker 1: celebrated by the ancient Irish Celtic tribes. In the tenth century,

248
00:16:08,200 --> 00:16:13,280
Speaker 1: All Soul's Day was a day to celebrate, which was

249
00:16:13,280 --> 00:16:16,120
Speaker 1: on November three. Was at it was like it's this

250
00:16:16,200 --> 00:16:18,920
Speaker 1: day has changed, but it was like All Hollow's Eve,

251
00:16:19,120 --> 00:16:24,720
Speaker 1: which was a Catholic celebration that was moved to November one, Yeah,

252
00:16:25,760 --> 00:16:28,120
Speaker 1: in the eighth century. So they're like, we're just moving

253
00:16:28,120 --> 00:16:30,040
Speaker 1: this hall. We're just moving it. Yeah, where Christmas is

254
00:16:30,040 --> 00:16:33,760
Speaker 1: going to be in July Exactly. It's all arbitrary, you

255
00:16:33,760 --> 00:16:35,480
Speaker 1: know what. We don't like this, but it kind of

256
00:16:35,520 --> 00:16:37,960
Speaker 1: looks like this, so let's put these dates together. Okay,

257
00:16:38,000 --> 00:16:41,600
Speaker 1: So that's what happened. That's what happened exactly. Then, Um

258
00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:45,640
Speaker 1: the nineteenth century was the Irish immigrants that brought this

259
00:16:45,840 --> 00:16:49,040
Speaker 1: festival to the United States or the America's to the

260
00:16:49,120 --> 00:16:54,800
Speaker 1: United States, and that was oct and they would give

261
00:16:55,560 --> 00:16:59,120
Speaker 1: Soul cakes through these little cakes, these like flat they're

262
00:16:59,120 --> 00:17:03,640
Speaker 1: almost like cookies. Okay, these like little cakes. Yeah, to say,

263
00:17:03,720 --> 00:17:06,160
Speaker 1: you're giving me this cake, and by receiving this cake,

264
00:17:06,200 --> 00:17:11,440
Speaker 1: I will pray for your people. Okay, So when did

265
00:17:11,720 --> 00:17:18,240
Speaker 1: um candy become a part of these Catholic celebrations. Well,

266
00:17:18,359 --> 00:17:21,000
Speaker 1: people would make these cakes, right, and then during the

267
00:17:21,240 --> 00:17:25,960
Speaker 1: Second World War there were these sugar rations, so it

268
00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:28,400
Speaker 1: was just it was difficult for people to make these

269
00:17:28,440 --> 00:17:30,720
Speaker 1: cakes to give out. And then at a certain point

270
00:17:31,040 --> 00:17:34,680
Speaker 1: it became about a holiday with kids, so they decided

271
00:17:34,760 --> 00:17:39,440
Speaker 1: to start this whole thing with dressing up and having

272
00:17:39,520 --> 00:17:43,879
Speaker 1: contest and trigger treating. And then it became commercial like

273
00:17:43,960 --> 00:17:46,840
Speaker 1: companies like Hershey's and Brocks and all of these companies

274
00:17:46,880 --> 00:17:49,280
Speaker 1: started making candies and it was like the candy corns,

275
00:17:49,400 --> 00:17:51,880
Speaker 1: the candy corns, the corndy corn States to the eighties.

276
00:17:52,840 --> 00:17:56,280
Speaker 1: They've been around for a while and that was first

277
00:17:56,280 --> 00:18:02,440
Speaker 1: graded by George Renninger and American and he just did

278
00:18:02,440 --> 00:18:05,200
Speaker 1: these small sugar pillets and that kind of morphed into

279
00:18:05,200 --> 00:18:07,919
Speaker 1: that candy corn. Yeah. Yeah, they basically morphed into that.

280
00:18:08,119 --> 00:18:10,600
Speaker 1: And they were only popular because they were fall colors. Yeah,

281
00:18:10,800 --> 00:18:12,840
Speaker 1: they look like corn and they look at fall colors.

282
00:18:12,840 --> 00:18:15,160
Speaker 1: And now we have so many different things. But then

283
00:18:15,160 --> 00:18:17,320
Speaker 1: it's like, oh wow, this is such a novelty, and

284
00:18:17,359 --> 00:18:20,240
Speaker 1: they became really popular, but then they became overshadowed with

285
00:18:20,600 --> 00:18:22,760
Speaker 1: tutsi rolls and all of these other things. No, it

286
00:18:22,840 --> 00:18:28,320
Speaker 1: became overshadowed with like the the Snickers, the commercialization that

287
00:18:28,440 --> 00:18:33,520
Speaker 1: Hershey's in, Bronx and Nestlee capitalized. It's like the engagement

288
00:18:33,560 --> 00:18:39,480
Speaker 1: rings exactly, there's something happening here, let's make money on it, exactly.

289
00:18:39,520 --> 00:18:41,800
Speaker 1: And then the homeowners found it so much easier to

290
00:18:41,840 --> 00:18:46,240
Speaker 1: just buy candy than make stuff at home. Yeah. Yeah,

291
00:18:46,280 --> 00:18:48,680
Speaker 1: and then the individually wrapped thing, when did that come

292
00:18:48,720 --> 00:18:51,080
Speaker 1: into play? That's also that's Bronx and Hershey and all

293
00:18:51,119 --> 00:18:53,680
Speaker 1: of those. So it was a nineteen fifties, so it's

294
00:18:53,800 --> 00:18:56,840
Speaker 1: really new. Remember when you could go to a candy

295
00:18:57,080 --> 00:19:01,480
Speaker 1: store and scoop up a bag of bombas are a

296
00:19:01,680 --> 00:19:07,159
Speaker 1: bag of this or that, and the individually wrap thing. Yeah,

297
00:19:07,400 --> 00:19:10,800
Speaker 1: I remember individually wrapped candies like going. I remember that

298
00:19:10,840 --> 00:19:13,520
Speaker 1: in Laredo there was this place called Mr. Candy and

299
00:19:13,560 --> 00:19:16,040
Speaker 1: we used to go and buy candies for Halloween because

300
00:19:16,720 --> 00:19:19,400
Speaker 1: my brothers and I weren't allowed to go trick or treating,

301
00:19:19,440 --> 00:19:21,679
Speaker 1: but we would sit outside and give away candy. So

302
00:19:21,720 --> 00:19:26,080
Speaker 1: I remember going to Mr. Candy and buying like the

303
00:19:26,080 --> 00:19:29,880
Speaker 1: sweet Tarts and you know titsy Rolls and Snickers, all

304
00:19:29,880 --> 00:19:33,520
Speaker 1: of those little bite sized pieces and giving them away.

305
00:19:33,680 --> 00:19:35,960
Speaker 1: We would dress up and we would give candy. Yeah,

306
00:19:36,160 --> 00:19:38,159
Speaker 1: when I was young, Um, we would go to the

307
00:19:38,240 --> 00:19:41,560
Speaker 1: rich neighborhood because they would give you full candy bars. Oh,

308
00:19:41,760 --> 00:19:45,800
Speaker 1: like a proper Snickers. We would drive all the way

309
00:19:46,240 --> 00:19:53,439
Speaker 1: to Drive Ocean Drive and they would give out the

310
00:19:53,440 --> 00:19:56,240
Speaker 1: big candy bars. And I was like, Yeah, that's where

311
00:19:56,240 --> 00:20:02,480
Speaker 1: we need to go. Ye when we come back. My

312
00:20:02,600 --> 00:20:06,600
Speaker 1: friend Dr Elizabeth Moran, professor of Art history at William

313
00:20:06,600 --> 00:20:10,680
Speaker 1: and Mary, shares her thoughts on the ancient candy allegas

314
00:20:24,720 --> 00:20:28,920
Speaker 1: Welcome Back and pre Hispanic Mexico, amaranth was a sacred

315
00:20:28,960 --> 00:20:33,840
Speaker 1: grain associated with immortality and festivals to honor the gods.

316
00:20:34,200 --> 00:20:38,399
Speaker 1: Toasted amaranth grain was mixed with maize, honey, and sometimes

317
00:20:38,440 --> 00:20:42,960
Speaker 1: blood and shaped into idols before being paraded through the streets,

318
00:20:43,359 --> 00:20:47,680
Speaker 1: sacrificed into pieces, and distributed among the crowd to be eaten.

319
00:20:48,200 --> 00:20:51,679
Speaker 1: The conquistadors regarded this practice as a blasphemous parody of

320
00:20:51,760 --> 00:20:57,080
Speaker 1: the Christian communion and outlawed its cultivation. Today, these honeyed

321
00:20:57,119 --> 00:21:01,160
Speaker 1: sweets called swally and now while are known as alas,

322
00:21:01,480 --> 00:21:05,720
Speaker 1: the Spanish word for happiness. Here's my friend, Dr Elizabeth Moran,

323
00:21:06,200 --> 00:21:09,280
Speaker 1: Professor of Art history at William and mary An, author

324
00:21:09,320 --> 00:21:13,920
Speaker 1: of Sacred Consumption, Food and Ritual and Aztec art and culture.

325
00:21:14,320 --> 00:21:17,719
Speaker 1: She will share insights on this revered Mexican candy with

326
00:21:17,800 --> 00:21:22,080
Speaker 1: indigenous roots. My name is Elizabeth Moran. I am an

327
00:21:22,200 --> 00:21:28,520
Speaker 1: art historian and I focus on sixteenth century painted manuscripts

328
00:21:29,040 --> 00:21:39,160
Speaker 1: and food rituals. Alegria is a sweet. It's amaranth mixed

329
00:21:39,200 --> 00:21:44,320
Speaker 1: with either sugar or honey. Amaranth itself is a little sweet,

330
00:21:44,359 --> 00:21:47,840
Speaker 1: but if you put honey or they probably used something

331
00:21:47,880 --> 00:21:51,479
Speaker 1: from them gay plant, it would have been really yummy

332
00:21:51,520 --> 00:21:56,560
Speaker 1: and really tasteful. It's actually much much older than even

333
00:21:56,600 --> 00:21:59,960
Speaker 1: the Aztecs. We know that indigenous people were using amaranth

334
00:22:00,520 --> 00:22:05,560
Speaker 1: in many different ways. Everybody always thinks about human sacrifices,

335
00:22:05,800 --> 00:22:09,199
Speaker 1: but in fact what most people did in Mesoamerica was

336
00:22:09,680 --> 00:22:14,439
Speaker 1: auto sacrifice offering of blood. But the aspects also offered

337
00:22:14,480 --> 00:22:17,760
Speaker 1: a lot of foods, not just as an offering, but

338
00:22:17,840 --> 00:22:22,720
Speaker 1: actually making objects, sculptural works, out of food, and one

339
00:22:22,720 --> 00:22:26,520
Speaker 1: of those foods was amaranth. And so it appears in

340
00:22:26,720 --> 00:22:33,160
Speaker 1: really significant agricultural festivals associated with Chico miko Ato, which

341
00:22:33,240 --> 00:22:37,960
Speaker 1: is one of the Aztec Manze deities. Um. It appears

342
00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:43,040
Speaker 1: also with u Bochli, who is specifically an Aztec deity.

343
00:22:43,160 --> 00:22:46,600
Speaker 1: He's their patron god and the god related to war,

344
00:22:46,720 --> 00:22:51,160
Speaker 1: but also the sun, and it appears also with an

345
00:22:51,160 --> 00:22:57,280
Speaker 1: old fire god called Shot. It has mythological significance. So,

346
00:22:57,359 --> 00:23:01,240
Speaker 1: for example, the Aztecs, a lot of their origin accounts

347
00:23:01,280 --> 00:23:05,440
Speaker 1: talk about them bringing in certain foods, and there's four

348
00:23:05,800 --> 00:23:09,320
Speaker 1: what they call first foods. Of course one is maze,

349
00:23:09,520 --> 00:23:13,240
Speaker 1: but the other one is amaranth, and that is significant.

350
00:23:13,520 --> 00:23:16,359
Speaker 1: So what that tells us is that the Aztecs obviously

351
00:23:16,400 --> 00:23:20,240
Speaker 1: weren't the ones that originated these rituals, that these rituals

352
00:23:20,400 --> 00:23:27,800
Speaker 1: predated the Aztecs. If you look at sixteenth century manuscripts,

353
00:23:27,840 --> 00:23:32,879
Speaker 1: both pictorial and kind of more ethno historical, you realize

354
00:23:32,920 --> 00:23:36,920
Speaker 1: that they are using amaranth for all kinds of things.

355
00:23:36,960 --> 00:23:40,640
Speaker 1: So it's an everyday food. They use it to make dothella's,

356
00:23:40,760 --> 00:23:44,200
Speaker 1: to make the malays, but it's also an elite food.

357
00:23:44,440 --> 00:23:49,159
Speaker 1: So we know that the Aztec Elite, a particular type

358
00:23:49,280 --> 00:23:54,440
Speaker 1: of the Malay made or prepared with amaranth a certain way. Ironically,

359
00:23:54,560 --> 00:23:58,920
Speaker 1: the Spanish Friars tried to ban it in the sixteenth century,

360
00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:02,840
Speaker 1: but obviously didn't work out. The Fryars were very good

361
00:24:02,840 --> 00:24:07,840
Speaker 1: at recording everything, and so they they really understood that

362
00:24:07,920 --> 00:24:11,840
Speaker 1: it was one of those foods that held special importance

363
00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:15,879
Speaker 1: to them, and so they knew that it was associated

364
00:24:15,960 --> 00:24:20,280
Speaker 1: with very sacred ideas and they didn't want those to

365
00:24:20,440 --> 00:24:23,600
Speaker 1: kind of continue. It's really interesting because there are other

366
00:24:23,640 --> 00:24:26,240
Speaker 1: things that they could have focused on, but there must

367
00:24:26,240 --> 00:24:30,320
Speaker 1: have been something really special about amarynth to get them

368
00:24:30,400 --> 00:24:33,000
Speaker 1: so motivated to try and ban it, and the fact

369
00:24:33,080 --> 00:24:38,960
Speaker 1: that it didn't work out is also significant. Well, I

370
00:24:39,040 --> 00:24:42,200
Speaker 1: have to say that when I started my work, this

371
00:24:42,600 --> 00:24:45,480
Speaker 1: was part of my dissertation, and then I was fortunate

372
00:24:45,720 --> 00:24:48,159
Speaker 1: enough to publish it. It was not a subject to

373
00:24:48,240 --> 00:24:50,720
Speaker 1: an art historian. And I think part of that is

374
00:24:50,760 --> 00:24:55,119
Speaker 1: because people don't take food as a serious thing, but

375
00:24:55,240 --> 00:24:58,240
Speaker 1: it is. And part of it is because food is

376
00:24:58,280 --> 00:25:02,560
Speaker 1: so pleasure r ble, but we forget that food is

377
00:25:02,840 --> 00:25:07,280
Speaker 1: part of not just our day today existence, but it

378
00:25:07,320 --> 00:25:10,399
Speaker 1: relates to our spirit It relates to our mind, it

379
00:25:10,480 --> 00:25:14,199
Speaker 1: relates to our identity. It is something that is just

380
00:25:14,880 --> 00:25:22,040
Speaker 1: beyond pleasure. It's really significant. What is this? Because might

381
00:25:22,080 --> 00:25:28,200
Speaker 1: they brought this candy that looks like Quena? Yeah, it's

382
00:25:28,200 --> 00:25:33,080
Speaker 1: a cousin of Keena, isn't it? Bess are related? They must?

383
00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:37,920
Speaker 1: It's an alleged idea? What's an allege idea? Is one

384
00:25:37,960 --> 00:25:41,359
Speaker 1: of my favorite candies And this little thing, what's the

385
00:25:41,440 --> 00:25:45,119
Speaker 1: Basically it's amaranth grains, which are if you could imagine

386
00:25:45,640 --> 00:25:48,160
Speaker 1: you describe this as like yeah, like like teeny teeny

387
00:25:48,200 --> 00:25:52,880
Speaker 1: teeny tiny popcorn, but it's amaranth. But this candy has

388
00:25:53,840 --> 00:25:56,600
Speaker 1: this This is a pre colonial can do they do?

389
00:25:56,680 --> 00:26:01,040
Speaker 1: They do this one? Like um like bars flat, like yeah,

390
00:26:01,240 --> 00:26:02,960
Speaker 1: there was something that went with that stuff and it

391
00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:05,760
Speaker 1: was fantastic. You hear, Yeah, maybe that's what you get

392
00:26:05,800 --> 00:26:08,680
Speaker 1: around or flat. Sometimes it has pumpkin seeds and get

393
00:26:08,720 --> 00:26:11,199
Speaker 1: it with different things. It's amazing when you buy the

394
00:26:11,240 --> 00:26:16,360
Speaker 1: amoranth grains, they're these little brown dots and you put

395
00:26:16,400 --> 00:26:20,320
Speaker 1: them on a dry pan and they pop like popcorn.

396
00:26:20,680 --> 00:26:23,919
Speaker 1: It's like the cutest thing ever. There's like the miniature popcorn.

397
00:26:24,080 --> 00:26:27,359
Speaker 1: So that's why you're saying that popcorn, you put them

398
00:26:27,359 --> 00:26:29,160
Speaker 1: in a pan. You put them in a pan, they pop,

399
00:26:29,240 --> 00:26:31,520
Speaker 1: and then you put them with honey and you make them.

400
00:26:31,560 --> 00:26:35,400
Speaker 1: But they have Aztec roots and they used to during

401
00:26:35,640 --> 00:26:39,600
Speaker 1: different festivals. So they would basically take this, add honey,

402
00:26:39,800 --> 00:26:43,880
Speaker 1: add blood, and then mold it into the an image

403
00:26:43,920 --> 00:26:46,600
Speaker 1: of you know, a god and then they would worship it,

404
00:26:46,880 --> 00:26:51,840
Speaker 1: break it and eat it. Um. So this was considered blasphemous,

405
00:26:51,840 --> 00:26:54,480
Speaker 1: you know, post conquest. They saw this and what is this?

406
00:26:54,480 --> 00:26:59,760
Speaker 1: This is blasphemous, and amaranth was was banned. They tried

407
00:26:59,800 --> 00:27:02,360
Speaker 1: to story. It's not common to me, like, I don't

408
00:27:02,400 --> 00:27:04,159
Speaker 1: see it a lot, but now it's considered sort of

409
00:27:04,160 --> 00:27:09,879
Speaker 1: a healthy It's called lad yes because when the little

410
00:27:09,920 --> 00:27:13,280
Speaker 1: grains or pop, they seem like they look like they're dancing.

411
00:27:13,359 --> 00:27:15,720
Speaker 1: I love this story. It's all about this story for me,

412
00:27:16,119 --> 00:27:19,280
Speaker 1: all about the story. Thanks everyone for listening. We hope

413
00:27:19,320 --> 00:27:27,679
Speaker 1: you enjoyed the history of Mexican candy. Happy Halloween. Hungry

414
00:27:27,720 --> 00:27:31,359
Speaker 1: for History is an unbelievable entertainment production in partnership with

415
00:27:31,480 --> 00:27:35,480
Speaker 1: I Hearts Michael podcast Network. For more of your favorite shows,

416
00:27:35,560 --> 00:27:38,720
Speaker 1: visit the I Heart Radio app Apple Podcast or wherever

417
00:27:38,840 --> 00:27:40,000
Speaker 1: you get your podcasts