Huauzontles in tomato sauce (Huauzontles con salsa de jitomate)

(waw-zontlay) Another interesting vegetable; indeed in Mexico many dishes are prepared with this plant, which can be eaten in salads, with a pasilla chile sauce, or beef fillets, the supreme huauzontle, and many other authentic mexican recipes. It is said that, during the reign of the Aztec Emperor Moctezuma, just before the spanish conquest, the huauzontle was, along with the amaranth the fourth most important cultivated crop... Several people paid tribute to the Aztec empire in huauzontle. But after the arrival of the Spanish, its cultivation and consumption was outlawed, continuing only in remote areas.

This is another example of the long list of edible plants that Mexico has contributed to the collective worldwide knowledge, along with corn, beans, chiles, peanuts, avocados, red tomatoes, pumpkin, vanilla and cocoa. Almost the whole plant from the huauzontle can be eaten; its leaves, its branches, flowers and seeds. Although as a dish it is eaten all over Mexico, it is more common in the Midwest, especially in the states of Tlaxcala, State of Mexico and southern Mexico City.