Question

What are some crops grown by the Aztecs?

Answer 1

The Aztecs grew a wide variety of crops. Key examples:

- Maize (corn) — the staple food; many varieties used for tortillas, tamales, etc.
- Beans — protein source; often grown with maize (companion planting).
- Squash (including pumpkins) — flesh and seeds used; part of the “Three Sisters” polyculture.
- Chiles (hot peppers) — flavoring and preservation.
- Tomatoes — used fresh and cooked in sauces.
- Amaranth — grain and leaf vegetable; also used in ritual foods.
- Cacao — beans used to make chocolate drink and as a form of currency.
- Cotton — fiber for textiles.
- Maguey/Agave — fiber, food, and pulque (fermented beverage).
- Nopal (prickly pear cactus) — pads and fruit eaten.
- Chia — oilseed used for food and as an energy food.
- Vanilla — flavoring crop native to Mesoamerica.
- Gourds — containers and some edible varieties.

They used intensive techniques like chinampas (raised wetlands gardens), terraces, canals and irrigation to support high yields.