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Aztec advances (17): chía

21st Nov 2021

Chía illustrated in the Florentine Codex

This is the seventeenth in a series of entries based on information in the Encyclopedia of American Indian Contributions to the World by Emory Dean Keoke and Kay Marie Porterfield (2002).
Hailed as a new super-food* and now widely available - and consumed - worldwide, chía seeds and oil are credited with lowering blood pressure, weight loss, reduced joint pain, increased endurance, antioxidant effects, and healthier skin. Chía is native to Mexico... (Compiled by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore)

‘Chía is a generic name for several species of related plants, including Salvia hispanica... and S. columbariae, that are native to the deserts of Mexico and the U.S. Southwest... For the Aztec, chía served as a source of nutrition in the form of drinks and gruels that were sweetened or flavoured with chiles... Chía seeds are [one of ] the most highly concentrated sources of linolenic [naturally occurring fatty] acid known. They are also high in other omega 3 fatty acids and naturally occurring antioxidants as well as calcium. The seeds contain a great deal of fibre, so much so that ingesting too many can have a laxative effect. The small grey seeds are higher in protein than other grains and seeds. Because they contain all of the essential amino acids, the protein they provide is nutritionally complete.

‘The effects of chía’s nutritional potency were legendary. Aztec warriors and hunters lived on chía seeds in the field. The Tarahumara Indians of what is now northern Mexico are said to have credited chía seed for their ability to hunt by outrunning their prey. American Indian runners who carried messages and traded throughout the Southwest also relied on it... Modern researchers believe chía’s power to sustain comes from the fact that each seed can absorb more than 12 times its weight in water... Drinking chía causes the body to conserve water and retain electrolytes even during exercise. Chía gel may also slow the conversion of carbohydrates into sugar, providing added stamina.’

Chía, a species of flowering plant in the mint family, Lamiaceae, native to central and southern Mexico and Guatemala, is an annual herb growing up to 1.75 metres tall. Salvia hispanica is one of two plants known as ‘chía’, the other being Salvia columbariae. Of Mesoamerican origin, the word chía comes directly from the Nahuatl chien or chian, meaning ‘oily’.
The plant is ‘mucilaginous’ - when soaked it produces a thick, gluey substance that helps it store water and food by keeping the seeds moist.
The Florentine Codex mentions two main varieties - the smaller ‘black’ ayauhchien seed used as a lacquer, and the thicker, ‘white’ - and ‘wrinkled’ - chientzotzol seed commonly used in preparing a refreshing drink. The plant’s foliage, incidentally, was described bluntly (in Book XI) as ‘useless’.

Scholars agree that chía, alongside maize, beans and amaranth, constituted one of the essentials in the Aztec diet. These four staple foods, brought with them on their legendary migration to their new homeland (Morán, 2016: 70), ‘are an adequate basis for diets that meet or exceed the recommended daily allowance for calories, proteins and other nutrients’ (de Montellano, 1990: 86). Rich in calcium, phosphorous and iron (Smith, 2003: 64), chía is listed third - after maize and beans - in Book XI of the Florentine Codex in the 13th. chapter on ‘Sustenance’, and storage bins can regularly be seen in the Codex Mendoza in the lists of tributary products that supplied the Mexica capital (pic 4). Though mentioned as a ‘food that the lords ate’ in merchants’ banquets and the feasts of nobles (the Florentine Codex, for instance, refers to chía ‘fried in honey’, and in a dish served with locusts...) in Books VIII, IX and X, it was as a ‘maize gruel with wrinkled chía’ that the seed was consumed by the masses.

According to the degree of liquidisation, chía could be taken as a thick, nutritious every-day gruel, and as a watery but highly refreshing and energising drink, mixed with honey in festivals, called chianpinolli - known today as pinole. Its reported medicinal qualities were widely recognised by the Mexica: it was used as part of a remedy to treat urinary obstruction (Heinrich, 1992: 483), to clear the chest, to treat a dry cough or the coughing up of blood, to help women in labour to give birth, and for easing dysentery and diarrhea: ‘Grown people are to drink an atole [maize-based beverage] of wrinkled chía, [with] toasted chía tortillas, [and] with chilli added on top. But the child is to drink [the atole] without [chilli] on top...’ (Florentine Codex, Book X).

Passionate believers in the principle of reciprocity (fair exchange), the Aztecs constantly made offerings to their deities in the form of foods and drinks in gratitude for receiving the essentials of life in consumable form. In the Florentine Codex (Book VII) rain god Tlaloc is referenced as the giver of ‘all we eat and drink’ - specifically including chía - and Book II describes the fourth month festival Huey Tozoztli dedicated to goddess of mature maize Chicomecóatl in the same terms: ‘And before her [ie at her temple-pyramid] they offered all kinds of maize, and all kinds of beans, and all kinds of chía... it was said, it was indeed this Chicomecóatl who made all our food...’, maize, beans, amaranth... ‘and also chía - white chía, black chía, wrinkled chía’.

Given its importance to the Aztec way of life, it’s little wonder that chía is listed in the Codex Mendoza for some 18 tributary provinces, with one or two (Chalco and Toluca) supplying double the amount of bins on an annual basis to Tenochtitlan. It was also sent in ground form in baskets for the preparation of chianpinolli. In the case of two localities - Chiyametlan (‘Near the chía oil’) and Chiapan (‘On the chía river’) - the toponyms contain glyphic elements depicting chía as plant and seed (pic 7).

What of its other uses? In the Florentine Codex (Book X) its use as a sealant is first mentioned. First pulverised xicaltetl stone and a blue colourant are combined... ‘then it is mixed with chía oil. With it one glues. With it the earthen vessel or gourd is made matte.’ This is spelt out in more detail in Book XI: ‘With this chía the painters apply chía oil. With it they varnish things, make them glossy. With it paintings are beautified. And this chía, when ground, is moistened with hot water. Then it is wrapped in a rag; with this the beautiful thing is washed. When still wet, it consequently glistens much, appears beautiful, becomes just like crystal; there we can see ourselves.’ The Codex describes chía as ‘a seed which is like flaxseed, from which comes an oil like [and reportedly superior to] linseed oil’.

This tradition carries on today: ‘Deep in the heart of the mountains of Guerrero lies the picturesque village of Olinalá, famous throughout Mexico for the splendour of its lacquers. Layers of finely ground local earth and coloured powder are alternated with chía oil to produce a lacquered finish. Linseed oil is added to commercial pigments and birds, animals, leaves, ferns and flowers are painted onto the smooth and even surfaces...’ (Sayer, 1977: 71) (pic 9).
Yet other uses have been reported. ‘Oil expressed from one kind of chía was supposed to be excellent... [at] protecting the legs and feet of those hunters and fishermen who had to wade in the lake to make their living...’ (Coe, 1994: 90)

What’s more, most Mexicans will wax lyrical on the refreshing powers of agua de chía or the sorbet equivalent (nieve de chía), following a tradition established centuries ago. Several Mexican writers have indulged in lengthy descriptions of their favourite versions, usually mixed with lemon juice and cinnamon, and drunk typically during Holy Week (see, for example, Santamaría, 1978, and Cruces Carvajal, 1986).

* Chia - The New Golden Seed for the 21st Century (see Orona-Tamayo et al, below)
Special thanks to Professor Michael Heinrich of UCL for his guidance and expertise in preparing this article.

Sources:-
• Berdan, Frances F. and Anawalt, Patricia Rieff (1992): The Codex Mendoza, vol. II (Description, Bibliography, Index), University of California Press, Oxford
• Coe, Sophie D. (1994): America’s First Cuisines, University of Texas Press
• Cruces Carvajal, Ramón (1986): Lo que México aportó al Mundo, Editorial Panorama, Mexico DF
• Florentine Codex (Sahagún), translated by Charles E. Dibble and Arthur J. O. Anderson, 12 vols.,, School of American Research and University of Utah, Santa Fe, New Mexico
• Heinrich, Michael (1992): ‘Economic Botany in American Labiatae’, in R. M. Harley & T. Reynolds (Eds.) Advances in Labiatae Science, pp. 475-488, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
• Macazaga Ordoño, Cesar (1979) Nombres Geográficos de México, Edit. Innovación SA, Mexico DF
• Montellano, Bernard Ortiz de (1990): Aztec Medicine, Health and Nutrition, Rutgers University Press
• Morán, Elizabeth (2016): Sacred Consumption: Food and Ritual in Aztec Art and Culture, University of Texas Press
• Orona-Tamayo D., Valverde M.E. & Paredes-López O. (2017): ‘Chia - The New Golden Seed for the 21st Century: Nutraceutical Properties and Technological Uses’, Chapter 17 in Sustainable Protein Sources (Eds. Sudarshan R. Nadathur, Janitha P.D. Wanasundara & Laurie Scanlin)
• Santamaría, Francisco J. (1978): Diccionario de Mejicanismos 3rd. ed., Editorial Porrua, Mexico
• Sayer, Chloë (1977): Crafts of Mexico, Aldus Books Ltd., London
• Smith, Michael E. (2003): The Aztecs, 2nd. edition, Blackwell Publishing, Oxford.

Picture sources:-
• Main, and pix 5, 6 & 8: images from the Florentine Codex (original in the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Florence) scanned from our own copy of the Club Internacional del Libro 3-volume facsimile edition, Madrid, 1994
• Pic 1: photo by Keegan Fields, Wikipedia (chia seed)
• Pic 2: illustration by Steve Radzi (mayavision.com), commissioned by Mexicolore
• Pic 3: photo from Wikipedia (Salvia hispanica)
• Pix 4 & 7: images from the Codex Mendoza (original in the Bodleian Library, Oxford) scanned from our own copy of the James Cooper Clark facsimile edition, London, 1938
• Pic 7 (R): image scanned from our own copy of ‘Lienzo de Tlaxcala’ (Alfredo Chavero edition, 1892), Artes de México no. 51/52, Vol XI, 1964
• Pic 9: photo by, courtesy of and thanks to Chloë Sayer
• Pic 10: photo by ProtoplasmaKid, from Wikipedia (Chia seed).

Aztec limerick no. 32 - Ode to chía:-
Ancient seeds that we now buy called chía
Was a Mexica staple, it’s clear.
With maize, squash and beans
And amaranth, it means
Their diet was complete – or damn near.