Hi Arri:

Bernardino de Sahagún was a Franciscan, who came from Spain to Mexico in 1529.
He learned Nahuatl, and under his direction, Aztec priests compiled materials
in their native language. By today's standards, these comments are just notes.
Needless to say, his manuscript was not published for centuries after his
death, so editors didn't have the opportunity to help him make his meanings
clear. Alas, we have little idea what many of the things he noted in his
manuscript mean.

Below is anothor of his comments re tamales. Both quotes are from the book
dealing with "what kings and lords ate." The translators, Arthur Anderson and
Charles E. Dibble, do have a few notes on some items noted in the text, so you
might want to look at Book VIII.

"Tamales made of maize flowers with ground amaranth seed and cherries added;
tortillas of green maize or of tender maize; tamales stuffed with amaranth
greens; tortillas made with honey, or with tuna cactus fruit; tamales made
with honey; tortillas shaped like hip guards; tamales made of amaranth seed
dough; [cakes made of] amaranth seed dough; rabbit with toasted maize; squash
cut in pieces; olchicalli; green maize cooked in a pot and dried; amaranth
greens cooked with dry land chili; sauce of purslane with dry land chili; green
amaranth seeds with dry land chili..."

Andy Smith
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>Does he go on to explain what 'hard white tamales' are?
>The tamales made of maize softened in lime or wood ashes correspond to
>modern tamales; are the others similar to what is cooked now?
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>But they all sound fantastic! *sigh* Didn't take the time to make
>tamales this past Christmas/New Year.
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