Indigenous women sort Maya nuts for processing.³
The Maya rainforest remains one of the most biodiverse places on Earth, second only to the Amazon rainforest. We tend to think of ancient rainforests as virgin forests, untouched by human hands. It might be more appropriate to think of the Central American rainforest as The Garden of the Maya, because the Mayans found numerous ways to utilize its incredible diversity. Studies have shown that 90% of the plants found in the rainforest are useful to humans, and there is evidence to suggest the Maya nut was an important food source for the Mayans.
The Maya nut tree can grow over 100 feet tall at maturity.⁴
You may have never heard of the Maya nut. This nut grows on a tree (Brosimum alicastrum) indigenous to central and southern Mexico and Central America. Commonly called ramón or breadnut, the Maya nut is believed to have been a food staple of the Maya civilization dating back thousands of years. Now it is part of a revival effort helping to feed the hungry throughout this region.
Indigenous people in Mexico and Central America roast the nuts and then grind them to varying degrees of coarseness. They mix it with cinnamon to make a healthy tea drink, and children love it for its chocolaty flavor. The tea contains traces of tryptophan, which is great in the evening for helping children relax and get a good night’s sleep.
The Maya nut is a superfood, high in antioxidants, fiber, calcium, potassium, folic acid and vitamins A and B. It is also a good source of complete protein with a chemical structure similar to that of red meat. With additional minerals like iron, it is a healthy nutrient for pregnant women and helps lactating women produce more milk.
Maya nuts are easily harvested from the ground when mature.⁴
Many indigenous people in Mexico and Central America have barely enough food to avoid chronic hunger. The Maya nut is now being cultivated as a food source that is nutritious and sustainable. There is the temptation to sell Maya nuts to industrialized countries where many people seek its nutritional benefits. However, the profits from sales of the nuts alone are insufficient to replace the food needed to maintain a healthy diet. Efforts are underway to provide refined products like tea and flour for sale to industrialized countries because sales of these items provide significantly higher profits.
Fine foods are prepared from Maya nut flour.³
Cecilia Sanchez Garduño, PhD, the featured speaker at a recent meeting of the Newcomers Club of Cuernavaca, is a doctor of botany. At this meeting I was able to taste a sample of a snack cake she shared with us, and it was delicious! It reminded me of gingerbread. Her years of work both with the Maya Nut Institute¹and on her own have benefitted hundreds of rural and indigenous women and helped them form numerous businesses to produce and market Maya nut products and to teach workshops to other women.² Anyone interested in learning more of her work and how to help can contact her via email at sanchez_garduno@yahoo.com.
Children get a healthy Maya nut-based snack during their school day.³
References
¹ http://mayanutinstitute.org/
² http://mayaforestgardeners.org/forestgardening.php
³ Photo credit: Maya Nut Institute
⁴ Photo credit: Wikipedia Commons
Applecore 
I have a personal question here. Do you, as a former USA resident, see their diet as not well rounded or do they? Simply: Is it your judgment of what you are used to or theirs?
My knowledge of the diet of the indigenous people is based solely on over a decade of results provided by the Maya Nut Institute and Dr. Sanchez. She reports that chronic hunger is occasionally a problem, and the need for a balanced diet is common, especially for young children and especially in Guatemala. Thus, their work continues to be important to the long term well-being of the indigenous people. Would these people be self-sufficient without the Maya nut program? Perhaps. Are they better off economically and medically with the aid of this program? Absolutely.
thanks. Interesting.
Any snack cake that’s similar to gingerbread can’t be all bad! I hadn’t heard of the maya nut before!
Nor had I heard of this program or the work of the Maya Nut Institute until last week. I found it to be an amazing story.
How interesting! I have never heard of the maya nut before but it sounds like a great local food source as well as source of empowerment for these women. This is wonderful story of helping people to help themselves. Good job Maya Nut Institute!
The Maya nut is one of those superfoods that may eventually gain wide recognition like goji, acai, and noni for its nutritive and regenerative powers. The program to cultivate the Maya nut is well under way, which is good economic news for the indigenous people of Central America and Mexico. Thank you for your comments.
I guess it is difficult to remain local and sustainable when it involves such a nutritional powerhouse like the maya nut. It is a secret just waiting to get out. Hopefully it can benefit the indigenous people in future at least economically like you said.
What an absolutely fascinating post. Reminds me of (on a much smaller, personal scale) my discovery of quinoa when some vegan friends of mine served it with a stir-fry a few years back. Thanks for sharing.
Your comments are greatly appreciated, and I look forward to more of your writings as well.
Mike,
Your usual well-written and obviously well-researched piece. Keep them coming!!
Daniel