Democratic Sentinel, Volume 4, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 December 1880 — A Mexican Market. [ARTICLE]

A Mexican Market.

The market, says a Mexico correspondent of the Alta-California, furnishes an abundance of eggs, chickens, cheese and milk. Fish can most always be had, being brought from the Santiago Biver, twenty miles distant. In my next I will write in respect to this river. A nice chicken can be bought for a real and a medio (18 3-4 cents), and a dozen of eggs for the same. The cheese mostly used is called panda, and comes in the form of small cakes, is white and soft, and eaten when freshly made. Milk is brought into town on the backs of animals, and is plenty and cheap. There is a belief that it is dangerous to drink it in any quantity and clear; that, if a glass of it be drank, and the person becomes excited or angry, the chemical affinities of the milk and blood are such that a poison is produced that creates immediate death. ' Flour sells for 12 cents per pound. The amount used is considerable, notwithstanding that tortillas, or corncakes, are a necessity in every family. The bread and cakes are all furnished by the baker. The bread is made in the form of rolls, which are sold at 4 cents each. Of the sweet bread, there is a great variety, and each family, in purchasing, procures the assortment. It is made into small cakes of different shapes, and sold at from 1 to 3 cents each. The entire ignorance of the value and use of stoves of course necessitates a simplicity in the art of cooking, and the excellence of the production of the cocinera is very remarkable, when this is considered. There is not a stove in use in Tepic. The original, antique furnace, that has been in use from the time of the Spaniards, is still cherished as superior to any modem innovation. It is simply of brick, of convenient height, with an opening on top to contain charcoal, which is the only fuel used, and on top of which the cooking utensil is placed. An opening underneath furnishes draft. All the cooking utensils are made by the Indians from clay. They are all glazed; some ornamented with colors, and are cheap but frail. They are all sizes, from a spoonful up to ten gallons. They are brought into the towns on the backs of Indians and donkeys, packed in crates, and are offered for sale about the Plaza on Sunday. This is an important indusity, as all families must use more or less, and the constant breakage creating a continual demand.