Banana / Plátano

Number of times mentioned: 4
Latin name: Musa spp.
Region of origin: New Guinea

Quotations:

"Después ese amalá se envolvía en hojas de plátano en forma de bolas." (60)

"Then the amala was wrapped in a [sic] banana leaves in little balls." (77)

***

"Si uno se pone a pensar mucho en una mata de plátano, y la mira, mañana o pasado sueña con ella." (64)

"If you begin to think a lot about a particular banana grove, and you look at it, tomorrow or the day after you will dream about it." (82)

***

"Los candeleras se hacían de cepas de plátano ahuecadas, donde se metían las velas." (73)

"The candle holders were made of hollowed-out banana shoots." (93)

***

"Sembraban, bien sembradita, una mata de plátanos en el centro del círculo." (104)

"They carefully planted a bunch of banana trees in the center of a circle drawn on the ground." (130)







Botanical reference: Tim Denham, “Early Agriculture and Plant Domestication in New Guinea and Island Southeast Asia,” Current Anthropology 52, no. S4 (October 1, 2011): S379–95, https://doi.org/10.1086/658682.

Canteloupe / Melón de castilla

Number of times mentioned: 1
Latin name: Cucumis melo
Region of origin: Africa, Asia, Malesia, Australia, and Pacific

Quotations:

"Tenían la cabeza que parecía un melón de castilla." (23)

"Their heads would look like Castilian melons." (32)





Botanical reference: Pedro Acevedo and Mark Strong, “Catalogue of Seed Plants of the West Indies,” Smithsonian Contributions to Botany 98 (January 1, 2012): 252, https://doi.org/10.5479/si.0081024X.98.1.

Coconut / Coco

Number of times mentioned: 7
Latin name: Cocos nucifera
Region of origin: Malesia and Pacific Region coastal regions


Hermann Adolph Köhler, Cocos Nucifera, 1887, Coloured plate, Medizinal-Pflanzen, Vol. 3., http://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:666160-1.




Quotations:

"Eso creo que lo hacían con cocos, obi, que eran sagrados." (26)

"I think they did that with coconuts, obi, which were sacred." (35)

***

"Son iguales a los cocos de ahora que siguen siendo sagrados y no se pueden tocar." (26)

"They are the same as the coconuts today, which are still sacred and can't be touched." (35)

***

"Si uno ensuciaba el coco le venía un castigo grande." (26)

"If someone dirtied the coconut, he would get a severe punishment." (35)

***

"Yo sabía cuándo las cosas iban bien porque el coco lo decía." (26)

"I always knew when things were going good because the coconut said so." (35)

***

"Por los cocos hablaban todos los santos, ahora el dueño de ellos era Obatalá." (26)

"All the saints spoke through the coconuts." (35)

***

"Las calles se llenaban de vendedores de frituras de maíz, de empanadas de dulces, de toronjas, de coco y de refrescos naturales." (56)

"The streets were full of vendors selling corn fritters, sweet popovers, grapefruits, coconuts, and natural juices." (72)

***

"Me meto allí y empiezo a darme banquete de plátanos indios, panetelitas dulces de almíbar y cocos." (102)

"I go in there, and I begin to have myself a banquet on the bananas, sweets, and coconut." (127)






Botanical reference: Pedro Acevedo and Mark Strong, “Catalogue of Seed Plants of the West Indies,” Smithsonian Contributions to Botany 98 (January 1, 2012): 75, https://doi.org/10.5479/si.0081024X.98.1.

Sugar / Azúcar

Number of times mentioned: 84
Latin name: Saccharum officinarum
Region of origin: Malaysia, New Guinea, Polynesia


Hermann Adolph Köhler, Saccharum officinarum, 1887,
Coloured plate, 1887, Medizinal-Pflanzen, Vol. 2,
http://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:419977-1.


Quotations:

"Se paseaba en la volanta con sus amigotes y su señora por todos los campos de caña." (12)

"He drove around through the cane fields in the carriage with his buddies and his wife." (20)




"En Flor de Sagua empecé a trabajar en los carretones de bagazo." (13)

"At Flor de Sagua I first began work with the wagons carrying bagazo." (20)




"Siempre se desear gabán en el batey y había que regar el bagazo para que se secara." (13)

"They were always unloaded in the batey, and you had to spread out the bagazo to dry. " (20)




"Con un gancho se tiraba el bagazo." (13)

"You pulled the bagazo down with a hook." (20)




"En esos cachimbos se mascaba el azúcar." (13)

"In those cachimbos, cane sugar was made into muscovado." (21)




"Había algunos que no hacían azúcar, sino miel y raspadura." (13)

"There were some mills that didn't make sugar, just molasses and raspadura." (21)




"En uno se cocinaba el guarapo, en el otro se batía la cachaza y en el tercero la meladura cogía su punto." (13)

"In one, the raw cane juice was cooked, in another the cachaza was beaten, and in the third the cane syrup reached the graining point." (21)




"Nosotros le llamábamos cachaza a lo que quedaba del guarapo." (13)

"We called cachaza what was left of the cane juice." (21)




"Después que la meladura estaba en su punto, se cogía una canoa y con un cucharón grande, ensartado en un madero, se volcaba en la canoa y de la canoa para la gaveta que estaba asentada a una distancia corta de los tachos." (13)

"After the cane syrup was ready, you took a trough, and with a big ladle attached to a stick, you poured the syrup into the trough, and from there to the crystallizing pan which was standing a short ways from the boiler." (21)




"Ahí cuajaba el moscabado que era el azúcar que no purgaba; le quedaba lo mejorcito de la miel." (13)

"There the muscovado set up, which was the unrefined sugar. The best part of the molasses remained in it." (21)




"La parihuela esa era para llevar los bocoyes al tinglado: un depósito largo con dos maderos donde se afincaban los bocoyes para que allí purgara el azúcar." (14)

"That hand barrow was to carry the hogsheads to the draining room, a large depository with two boards where the barrels were placed so that the sugar would drain." (21)




"Para hacer azúcar turbinado había unos embudos grandes adonde se echaba el moscabado para que purgara fino." (14)

"To make refined sugar there were some big funnels where the muscovado was put to be refined." (21)




"Ese azúcar se parecía a la de hoy, el azúcar blanca." (14)

"That sugar was like sugar nowadays, like white sugar." (21-22)

"Yo me sé esa parte del azúcar mejor que mucha gente que nada más que conoció la caña afuera, en el campo." (14) "I know this part of making sugar better than most folks, who only knew about the cane out in the fields." (22)

"Pero eso vino después que yo había tenido experimentación en el bagazo." (14) "But that's after I was experienced with the bagazo."(22)

"A mi entender, hasta era mejor el corte de caña." (14) "To my mind, even cutting cane was better." (22)

"Estos chinos eran contratados viejos que ya no podían mover el brazo para la caña y se ponían a vender." (20) "Those Chinese peddlers were old indentured workers who couldn't lift up their arms to cut cane any longer, so they started selling things." (29)

"Cuando los mandaban al campo a chapear caña o a cuidar cochinos, hacían el paripé de que estaban enfermos y no trabajaban." (27) "When they were sent to the fields to cut cane or take care of the pigs, they pretended to be sick and didn't work." (36)

"A los lucumises no les gustaba el trabajo de la caña y muchos se huían." (27) "The Lucumis didn't like to work with cane, and many ran away." (37)

"Cuando me decidí a cortar caña, ya había recorrido bastante." (46) "I had already been around quite a bit when I decided that I would cut cane." (61)

"A mí me parece que era la caña lo que me ponía así; la caña con el sol." (47) "It seems to me it was the cane that made me like that, the cane and the sun." (62)

"Eso quería decir que uno en vez de quedarse reposando iba al campo, chapeaba, limpiaba o cortaba la caña." (48-49) "That meant that instead of resting you went to the fields, cleared with a machete, stripped or cut cane." (64)

"Los que se dedicaban al trabajo por su cuenta, nada más que tenían que llegar a un campo de caña y hacer un ajuste." (50) "The ones who decided to work on their own just went to the cane field and made a deal." (65)

"Se podía comer con azúcar o sin ella." (60) "It could be eaten with sugar or plain." (77)

"El sol de la caña es bueno a pesar de todo." (61) "In spite of everything, the sun in the cane field is good." (79)

"Me puso a tumbar caña." (62) "He put me to cutting cane." (80)

"El ingenio Ariosa fue uno de los primeros que se convirtió en central, porque le entraba una línea de vía ancha que traía la caña a la casa de calderas." (62) "The Ariosa was one of the first to be converted to a central because it had a wide belt that carried the cane to the boiler room." (80)

"Yo tenía que botar la caña de la estera." (63) "I had to dump the cane out of the conveyor belt." (81)

"Traían la carreta llena de caña y la ponían culateada a la estera." (63) "They brought the little wagon full of cane, and they backed it up to the conveyor belt." (81)

"Cuatro o seis hombres recibíamos la caña de las carretas y la íbamos colocando en las esteras." (63) "Four to six of us unloaded the cane from the wagons, and we went along putting it onto the conveyor belt." (81)

"Cuando la caña estaba toda botada, la estera se echaba a andar con correas y llegaba hasta la moledora." (63) "When the cane was all unloaded, the belt started moving along with ropes until it reached the crusher." (81)

"En la moledora descargaba la caña y luego regresaba a recoger más cantidad." (63) "The belt dumped the cane in the crushing room and then went back to get another load." (81)

"Eran unos carritos que iban vacíos a los tachos y allí se llenaban de azúcar fresca." (64) "There were some little carts that went empty up to the sugar boiler where they were filled with fresh sugar." (82)

"El mezclador era un aparato grande de unos ganchos y una canal donde se depositaba el azúcar." (64) "The mixer was a big machine with some hooks and a little trough where the sugar was deposited." (82)

"Ese azúcar la disolvían en el mezclador y ya disuelta iba a retinarse a la centrífuga, que era una máquina nueva en Ariosa." (64) "The sugar was ground up in the mixer and sent as a solution to be refined in the centrifuge, which was a new machine at the Ariosa." (82)

"Cuando un hombre era un buen manicero, las mujeres decían: "¡Coño, a mí me gusta ese hombre!" Y se lo llevaban para los cañaverales y a gozar, porque la paja de caña calientica, en tiempo de frío, sabe muy bien." (67) "When a man was a good mani dancer, the women said, "Damn, I like that man!" and they took him to the bushes to have a good time because the toasty warm cane straw felt real good in cold weather." (85)

"En ese tiempo se tumbaba a cualquier mujer y se metía dentro de la caña." (67) "In the time it took, you could grab any woman at all and go off with her into the cane." (85)

"Unas veces me daba por hacer los desorillos, que era guataquear igual, pero en las guardarrayas, para que en caso de candela no ardiera la caña." (71) "A couple of times I went to doing the edges which was hoeing weeds just as usual but on the boundary path between properties so that the cane didn't burn if there was a fire." (91)

"También se sembraba caña nueva y había que darle una mano de guatacas para que estuviera en tierra sana." (71) "New cane had to be planted, too, and you had to turn the earth over good so the plants would take hold." (91)

"Se aporcaba la caña con un sólo buey y un yugo chiquito." (71) "The cane was hilled over with a single ox and a little yoke." (91)

"El buey se metía por dentro del surco de caña." (71) "The ox went in between the cane rows." (91)

"Llevaban dos palos duros de caña brava o de guayacán." (73) "The dead man's fellow workers carried him. Four of them carried him. They used two strong lengths of wild cane or palm." (92)

"En esas máquinas no había picadoras, por eso no le sacaban todo el zumo a la caña." (79) "Those machines had no shredders, and they didn't remove all the juice from the cane." (100)

"En los trapiches viejos la mitad del Guarapo se iba en el bagazo." (79) "In the old trapiches, half the guarapo went out with the bagazo." (100)

"La centrífuga es una poceta redonda adonde baja la miel para que el azúcar quede seca." (79) "The centrifuge is a round tube where the molasses drips down so the sugar remains dry." (100)

"Si un ingenio no tenía centrífuga, tenía que hacer moscabado, que es un azúcar prieta desleída." (79) "If a sugarmill didn't have a centrifuge, it had to make muscovado, brown sugar, which is a mixed sugar." (100)

"El refresco que se sacaba de ese azúcar era muy bueno." (79) "The drink that could be made from that sugar was very good." (100)

"La picadora nada más que picaba la caña, la moledora sacaba el azúcar como hecha guarapo, y la remoledora dejaba el bagazo seco y listo para llevarlo a los hornos a levantar vapor." (79) "The shredder did nothing but break up the cane. The crusher squeezed the sugar out to make guarapo, and the grinder left the bagazo dry and ready to be taken to the furnaces to make steam." (100)

"Ellos les decían a los cortadores de caña cueros, que quería decir algo así como áspero." (79) "They said the cane cutters were cueros, which meant something like 'crude.'" (100)

"Igual maquinistas, que tacheros, que maestros de azúcar, que pesadores; todos tenían sus casas en el batey." (79) "Likewise the machinists, the crystallizing pan operators, the sugarmasters, the weighers. They all had their houses in the batey, and quite comfortable ones, too." (101)

"Se alegraban más que nadie, porque mientras más producción había en la casa de calderas, más caña les compraba el ingenio." (80) "They were happier than anybody else because more production in the boiler house meant that more cane was bought from them by the mill." (101)

"No se puede decir que tenían grandes sembrados de caña." (80) "You can't say they had large plantings of cane." (101)

"Cualquier sitiero tenía su colonita con diez o quince besanas sembradas de caña." (80) "A small landholder had his little field of ten or fifteen besanas sown to cane." (101)

"A veces aprovechaban y sembraban caña hasta en los alrededores del batey, a tres o cuatro cordeles." (80) "Sometimes they were pushy, and planted cane right up to the edges of the batey, twenty-five to thirty feet away." (101)

"Empezaron a crecer después cuando el alza del azúcar." (80) "They began to get bigger later, when the price of sugar went up." (102)

"Llegó la ambición de la caña y por poco no dejan ni montes en Cuba." (80) "The sugar cane fever arrived, and they left hardly any forest in Cuba." (102)

"Se cultivó caña, pero se acabó con la belleza del país." (81) "Cane was grown, but it destroyed the beauty of the country." (102)

"Una de las cosas más grandes que hizo Baldomero fue traer a Narcisa la máquina de halar caña." "One of the most important things Baldomero did was to bring a cane hauling machine to the Narcisa." (103)

"Por el día, cuando yo estaba en la caña, el sol se me metía por la camisa y me llegaba adentro." (90) "In the daylight, when I was in the cane field, the sun went through my shirt and burned me through and through." (113)

"Se mezclan todas, la albahaca, el apasote, el piñón de botija, se meten en la lata con un poco de azúcar y sal." (101) "You mix them all up, basil, apasote, pine nuts, put them in the can with a little sugar and salt." (126)

"También si uno quiere se puede bañar con él. Quitándole la sal y el azúcar." (101) "Also, if you want, you can take a bath with it by leaving out the salt and the sugar." (127)

"Se hacia de agua, azúcar, miel y cánula." (113) "It was made from water, sugar, honey and cinnamon." (141)

"Era a base de yemas de huevo puras, azúcar y aguardiente." (114) "It was made from pure egg yolks, sugar and alcohol." (141)

"Si me cansaba en el viaje me acostaba a dormir en los cañaverales hasta que las piernas me dieran para seguir la marcha." (117) "If I got tired on the trip, I lay down to sleep in the cane until my legs would let me continue on my way." (145-146)

"La caña es fresca por la madrugada." (117) "The cane is cool in the early morning." (146)

"Aun así cuando se disolvió el ejército, los libertadores negros no pudieron quedarse en la ciudad. Regresaron al campo, a la caña, al tabaco, a cualquier cosa, menos a las oficinas." (157) "Even so, when the army was disbanded, the black revolutionaries were unable to remain in the city. They returned to the country, to the cane fields, tobacco fields, to whatever, except to the offices." (195)

Botanical reference: N. Parthasarathy, “Origin of Noble Sugar-Canes (Saccharum Officinarum.),” Nature 161, no. 4094 (April 1, 1948): 608–608, https://doi.org/10.1038/161608a0.

Taro / Malanga

Number of times mentioned: 6
Latin name: Colocasia esculenta
Region of origin: Tropical Asia, Malesia, and Pacific

Quotations:

"El que come vianda todos los días, sobre todo malanga, no tiene problemas en los huesos."

"If you eat them everyday, especially taro, you won't have bone trouble." (50)

***

"La malanga tiene una hoja grande que se pone a brillar por la noche." (39)

"The taro has a big leaf that shines at night." (50)

***

"Lo mejor de todo era la vianda; el boniato, la malanga, el ñame." (48)

"'Taters were the best of all, sweet potato, taro, yam." (63)

***

"Uno le daba un medio o dos y a comer frituritas de yuca, de carita, de malanga, buñuelos... veinte cosas más." (114)

"You gave her a half peso or two and started right in eating little fritters of yuca, black eyed peas, taro, or doughnuts. ..and twenty more things." (142)

***

"Me decían: 'a la hoja de malanga le cae el agua pero no se moja.'" (121)

"They said to me, 'Water falls on the taro leaf, but it does not get wet.'" (151)

***

"Lo más que podía hacer un libertador en Las Villas era robar ganado, recoger malanga, retoños de boniato, bledos, verdolagas, en fin..." (140)

"The most a revolutionary could do in Las Villas was to steal livestock, collect taro weeds, sweet potato shoots, amaranth, purslane, and such." (175)






Botanical reference: Pedro Acevedo and Mark Strong, “Catalogue of Seed Plants of the West Indies,” Smithsonian Contributions to Botany 98 (January 1, 2012): 60-61, https://doi.org/10.5479/si.0081024X.98.1.

Taro / Malanga

Number of times mentioned: 6
Latin name: Colocasia esculenta
Region of origin: Tropical Asia, Malesia, and Pacific

Quotations:

"El que come vianda todos los días, sobre todo malanga, no tiene problemas en los huesos."

"If you eat them everyday, especially taro, you won't have bone trouble." (50)



"La malanga tiene una hoja grande que se pone a brillar por la noche." (39)

"The taro has a big leaf that shines at night." (50)



"Lo mejor de todo era la vianda; el boniato, la malanga, el ñame." (48)

"'Taters were the best of all, sweet potato, taro, yam." (63)



"Uno le daba un medio o dos y a comer frituritas de yuca, de carita, de malanga, buñuelos... veinte cosas más." (114)

"You gave her a half peso or two and started right in eating little fritters of yuca, black eyed peas, taro, or doughnuts. ..and twenty more things." (142)



"Me decían: 'a la hoja de malanga le cae el agua pero no se moja.'" (121)

"They said to me, 'Water falls on the taro leaf, but it does not get wet.'" (151)



"Lo más que podía hacer un libertador en Las Villas era robar ganado, recoger malanga, retoños de boniato, bledos, verdolagas, en fin..." (140)

"The most a revolutionary could do in Las Villas was to steal livestock, collect taro weeds, sweet potato shoots, amaranth, purslane, and such." (175)







Botanical reference: Pedro Acevedo and Mark Strong, “Catalogue of Seed Plants of the West Indies,” Smithsonian Contributions to Botany 98 (January 1, 2012): 60-61, https://doi.org/10.5479/si.0081024X.98.1.