Pan de Pulque de Tlaxcala
Pulque bread was already produced before the Spanish Conquest, with corn meal and honey from melipona bees. In the following centuries, corn meal was replaced by wheat flour, the honey replaced by cane sugar, and eggs have been added. The most important and representative ingredient, pulque, has stayed the same throughout the years. This product is a beverage obtained by fermenting agave sap (from either the salmiana or maguey varieties of agave) which is widespread throughout all of Central America. The history of this drink is closely tied to the culture and religion of the Aztecs, where it was even used during religious ceremonies. In Pulque bread made in Tlaxcala, the addition of the drink serves to make the dough rise.
This bread is traditionally prepared in two ways: either a braid (which is the traditional hairstyle of Mexican women) that is covered in sesame seeds, or in a sphere, covered with sugar. In the past, the flour was cultivated locally and came from a grain known as “hard seed”, which was highly sought after as it absorbs more liquid. Even the name Tlaxcala comes from Nahuatl and means “tortilla, corn bread”, or “country bread”.
With the arrival of Francescan friars to Tlaxcala, the grain began to be cultivated in small plots next to their convents. At the mid-point of the 16th century, the consumption of bread made in wood-burning stoves was already widespread. Even the indigenous people began to eat this bread, instead of cornbread, but they made it using other regional ingredients, like pulque, for example. The grain and agave became to the two principle cultivations of the Tlaxcala region and Pulque bread was eaten every day with goat cheese, beans and a spicy sauce called mole.
Still today each phase of the production of this bread is artisanal, but the product risks extinction. Only a single family still produces the bread in all of Tlaxcala, as it requires time, patience, experience and dexterity, but also because the cultivation of agave has decreased and the understanding of the plant’s properties is being forgotten (it is very nutritious and also energizing). The final reason for this product’s gradual disappearance is the poor quality of the pulque that is currently on the market.
Back to the archive >Se trata de una bebida obtenida por la fermentación de la linfa de agave (el agave salmiana o maguey) muy difundida en todo el Mesoamérica y la cual historia esta atada a la cultura y religión azteca, donde se utilizaba también para rituales.
En el pan de pulque de Tlaxcala la adición de pulque sirve como levadura. Según la tradición hay dos formas de preparar el pan: una trenza (que representa el peinado tradicional de las mujer mexicanas), sembrada por semillas de sésamo, y una forma esférica, sembrada por migas de azúcar moreno. Anteriormente la harina se cultivaba localmente y se obtenía desde un trigo conocido como “semilla dura”, buscada para este pan porque absorbe más líquido. De hecho, el nombre de Tlaxcala proviene del náhuatl y significa “tortilla/pan de maíz” o bien “país del pan”.
Con la llegada de los franciscanos a Tlaxcala se impulsó la producción de trigo en pequeñas parcelas aledañas a los conventos, y por la medad del siglo XVI, el consumo del pan de trigo cocido en hornos de leña estaba ya difundido. También los nativos lo insertaron en su dieta, en lugar del pan de maíz, pero lo trataban con otros ingredientes de la región, como el pulque. El trigo y el agave por el pulque devinieron las dos cultivaciones principales de la región de Tlaxcala. El pan de pulque se comía todos los días con queso de cabra, frijoles y mole.
Aún hoy, cada fase de la producción del pan de pulque es artesanal, pero arriesga de desaparecer – esta producido por una sola familia en Tlaxcala – porque necesita tiempo, paciencia, experiencia y manualidad, porque disminuyen las cultivaciones de agave, de cuyas propiedades se va perdiendo conocimiento (tiene un elevado valor nutricional y energizante) y también por la mala calidad del pulque en circulación.
