Núm. 32, pp. 219-229, ISSN 1405-2768; México, 2011
BROMELIADS: TRADITIONAL PLANT FOOD IN LATIN AMERICA
SINCE PREHISPANIC TIMES
Claudia T. Hornung-Leoni
Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo
Apartado Postal 69-1, Plaza Juárez Centro, Pachuca, Hidalgo, México.
Tel.: (52) 771 71 72000, Ext. 6655 Fax: 771 71 72000, Ext. 2112.
Correo electrónico: clauhl@gmail.com; hleoni@uaeh.edu.mx
ABSTRACT
RESUMEN
Bromeliads are monocots that have been
consumed by natives in Latin America
since pre-Hispanic times. The principal
ways bromeliads are used as food sources
include the whole fruit or another part of
the plant. They are eaten as a vegetable
or prepared in beverages (fermented or
unfermented). This study includes local
literature, personal observations and open
interviews with people who know about
the alimentary uses of bromeliads. The
results cover ten countries and 24 species
of bromeliads which have been reported
and described as traditional foodstuffs. Of
these, 76.9% have only a single use and
23.0% have two different uses. One species
(Bromelia pinguin) has three different uses.
Even in the present day these plants are still
eaten as vegetables (12 sp.), used to prepare
beverages (11 sp.) and/or consumed directly
as fruits (nine sp.). It is important to note that
contrary to expectations, in Latin America
bromeliads are consumed more as vegetables
than fruits.
Las bromelias son monocotiledóneas que
han sido consumidas por los nativos desde
tiempos prehispánicos. Los principales usos
de las bromelias como fuente alimenticia
incluyen desde el fruto completo hasta
una parte de la planta, consumidas
como vegetales o en bebidas preparadas
(fermentadas o no). Este trabajo incluye
literatura local, observaciones personales
y entrevistas abiertas a pobladores. Los
resultados incluyen diez países y 24 especies
de bromelias de las cuales se han registrado
y descrito un uso tradicional alimenticio, de
las cuales el 76.9% presenta un solo uso y el
23.0% dos usos diferentes, contrastando con
una sola especie (Bromelia pinguin) que tiene
tres usos diferentes. Estas plantas han sido
consumidas, incluso en nuestros días, como
vegetales (14 especies), para preparar bebidas
(11 especies) y/o directamente como frutos
(nueve especies). Es importante resaltar, que
contrario a lo esperado, las bromelias son
más consumidas en Latinoamérica como
vegetales que como frutos.
Key words: Bromeliaceae, uses, food, Latin
America.
Palabras clave: Bromeliaceae, usos,
alimento, Latinoamérica.
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Núm. 32: 219-229
INTRODUCTION AND METHODS
The Bromeliaceae are plants principally
found in the neotropics (Benzing, 2000)
and include about 3172 species in 58
genera (Luther, 2008). The family includes
epiphyte species such as Spanish moss
(Tillandsia usneoides), saxicolous species
such as “guapilla” (Hechtia glomerata)
and terrestrial species such as the pineapple
(Ananas comosus) (Benzing, 2000).
However Bromeliaceae is much more than
a source of pineapple, house plants and iber
for traditional uses. Various cultures have
been using bromeliads for thousands of years
(Bennett, 2000). The Aztecs, Mayas, Incas,
Quechuas, Yanomami and other peoples used
them for food, iber, ceremonies, medicine
and ornamental plants (Bennett, 2000; Pierce
2000; Rondón, 2003), just as they are still
used in the present day. Since their tissues
accumulate water and nutrients, plants in this
family have long been consumed by both
humans and animals.
Bromeliads have been studied from various
points of view since they have always been
very important to ecosystems, due to their
biological interactions and as food resources
for animals. The aim of this study was to
compile information on human consumption
of bromeliads, because this a less well known
use of the family. We compiled data from
personal observations, open interviews with
local people from various countries, and a
literature review. This study is focused on the
use of bromeliads as food, principally from
an anthropocentric point of view.
The study summarizes an updated review of
recent and local literature. It also includes
open interviews with local people as well
as personal observations carried out in the
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Agosto 2011
ield in Venezuela (Andes, Mérida state;
Caracas), Mexico (Jalisco and Hidalgo
states), Peru (Huascarán, Huaráz) and Chile
(Santiago and Valle de Aconcagua, and
Valle de Colchagua). The irst step was to
use photographs of the plants to ask people
if they knew the plants. They were asked
about the uses they made of the plants.
Afterwards the plants were examined in their
environment so they could be identiied.
The interviewees were local people, usually
farmers, with the exception of some urban
people interviewed in capital cities, such
as Caracas and Santiago. The results of the
open interviews are cited in the text as “pers.
comm. name” (the name of the informant).
Materials of the collected species were
deposited in Latin American herbaria:
Peruvian species were deposited in USM
(Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos,
Lima, Peru), Chilean species in HDCV and
some duplicates in SGO (Museo Nacional
de Historia Natural, Santiago, Chile).
In Venezuela, vouchers were deposited
in MERC (Universidad de Los Andes,
Ciencias, Mérida, Venezuela), and in Mexico
the material from Hidalgo was deposited in
HGOM (Universidad Autónoma del Estado
de Hidalgo, Centro de Investigaciones
Biológicas, Mexico). Vouchers from USM,
US (Smithsonian Institution, USA), F (Field
Museum of Natural History, Chicago, USA)
and VEN (Fundación Instituto Botánico de
Venezuela, Caracas), with emphasis on Puya,
were also reviewed, and only cases with
ethnobiological information from herbarium
specimen labels are mentioned in this study.
Vouchers from herbariums reviewed are
cited as “collector #, collector, herbarium!.”
The exclamation point before the herbarium
acronym indicates that the voucher was
reviewed in the stated herbarium as referred
to in taxonomical studies.
Hornung-Leoni, C.T.: Bromeliads: Traditional plant food in Latin America since prehispanic times
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Anthropocentric uses
Even though the better-known bromeliad
uses are not gastronomic, as these plants
are used principally as ornamentals and as a
iber resource (Hornung-Leoni, unpublished
data), the goal of this paper is to show the
importance of the family as food in different
cultures. Bromeliads are an important
source of protein in several ways; as fresh
fruit, beverages, or vegetables. It is known
that various people from different parts of
Latin America eat parts of these plants; for
example the Pima of Mexico occasionally
eat T. erubescens and T. recurvata lowers,
apparently attracted by the high sugar content
(Laferriere et al., 1991); and the shoot apices
of T. maxima and T. rubella are consumed
in Argentina and Bolivia (Benzing 1980). It
is known that bromeliads have proteins and
enzymes (e.g. bromelin, balansain), that
could have medicinal uses (Benzing 2000;
Pardo et al., 2000).
Traditional alimentary uses have been
reported from several different countries of
Latin America for 19 species of six genera
(Table 1). These results include plants in
which only the fruit is consumed directly
(11 species), some in which a vegetative
part is used (10 species) and others used to
prepare beverages (ive species) (Fig. 1). It is
worth noting that a single use is reported for
68.4% of the species and two different uses
for 26.3%, while only one species (Bromelia
pinguin) has three different uses.
Bromeliads have been consumed by humans
since pre-Hispanic times. One of the irst
plants from this family to be identiied was
the pineapple (Ananas comosus L.), a South
American fruit known in Europe since the
1492 voyage of Christopher Columbus,
when it was named “pineapple” because of
its resemblance to the pine cone (Benzing,
2000; Betancur, 2001). In the Amazonian
Tupí-Guaraní language, spoken over a region
that includes several countries (Argentina,
Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, French Guiana,
Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela),
Ananas is a word in which A means “fruit”
and nanas “exquisite” (Oliva-Esteva and
Steyermark, 1987).
In the New World, bromeliads had been
consumed by Latin American natives from
different countries. In Venezuela indigenous
coastal tribes ate the berry of Bromelia
chrysantha Jacq. known as “maya”, a sourtasting fruit with a sweet smell resembling
pineapple, as a fruit or in beverages
(fermented drinks used during ceremonies)
(Hornung 1998; Oliva-Esteva 1987). In the
Orinoco River region in Venezuela, both the
wild fruits of Ananas sativus, a succulent
pineapple consumed since the eighteenth
century and B. chrysantha, a type of berry
have been eaten fresh or roasted (Perera
2006). In Colombia it is documented that the
wild fruit of B. chrysantha and B. pinguin are
used as food (Rangel et al., 1977).
The fruits of Bromelia karatas L. are red
outside and white inside and are eaten or
made into a soft drink in Venezuela (Pittier,
1978; Oliva-Esteva, 1987; Comité de
Bromeliología, 2006) or a sweet conserve
(Pittier, 1978). This fruit is also eaten
abundantly in Chiapas, Mexico (Guess
and Guess, 2001) and in Hidalgo, Mexico
(Villavicencio and Pérez, 2005). In Hidalgo
the fruit known as “timbiriche” is found in
popular markets in the form of “agua de
sabor,” a sweetened, diluted juice made
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Núm. 32: 219-229
Agosto 2011
Table 1. Traditional plant uses in Latin America. None of the species listed here appear in
The IUCN Red List (reviewed in II/2011).
Species name
1. Aechmea distichantha
2. Aechmea magdalenae
3. Ananas comosus
4. Ananas sativus
5. Aechmea corymbosa
6. Bromelia alsodes
7. Bromelia chrysantha
8. Bromelia hemisphaerica
9. Bromelia karatas
10. Bromelia nidus-puellae
11. Bromelia pinguin
12. Greigia sphacelata
13. Hechtia montana
14. Puya aristeguietae
15. Puya berteroniana
16. Puya chilensis
17. Puya hamata
Reported in
Latin America
Latin America,
Ecuador
Latin America,
Venezuela, Ecuador
Venezuela, Orinoco
Colombia, Amazonia
Latin America
Venezuela, Colombia
Latin America
Venezuela, México
Latin America
Colombia, Ecuador,
México, Puerto Rico,
Venezuela
Chile
18. Puya raimondii
19. Puya sp.
20. Tillandsia complanata
21. Tillandsia erubescens
México
Venezuela
Chile
Chile
Ecuador, Latin
America
Perú
Ecuador
Venezuela
México
22. Tillandsia fendleri
23. Tillandsia imperialis
24. Tillandsia maxima
25. Tillandsia recurvata
Venezuela
México
Bolivia, Argentina
México
26. Tillandsia rubella
Bolivia, Argentina
222
Uses categories
In
as vegetable (or
beverage vegetative part)
Fresh Fruit
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√ cooked
√
√ inflorescence
is consumed
√
√
√ inflorescence
is consumed
√
√
√ fresh or
dried
Hornung-Leoni, C.T.: Bromeliads: Traditional plant food in Latin America since prehispanic times
from Bromelia karatas (pers. obs.). In
Jalisco (Mexico) the fruit of B. karatas
(Fig. 1), known as “piñuelas”, “cocuixtle”
or “jocuixtle,” is commonly found in
subtropical areas between April and May
and it is eaten directly or used to prepare a
sauce for tacos; this fruit it is also consumed
in Zacatecas where it is transported from the
state of Jalisco (pers. comm. Pablo Carrillo).
In Peru, juice is sucked from the fruit of
Bromelia plumieri (E. Morr.) L.B.Sm. Its
lavor resembles pineapple (van der Eynden
et al., 1999).
The delicious fruits of Greigia sphacelata
Regel, an endemic plant from Chile, (bayas
alargadas), have a leshy white base, which
is the part that is eaten. Called “chupones,”
they are eaten fresh or dried, or toasted to
make lour (Rapoport et al., 2003). In the
Colombian Amazon, fruits of Aechmea
corymbosa Mez, known as “sacha piña,”
(wild pineapple) and A. rubiginosa Mez
“piña de monte” (mountain pineapple) are
eaten (Cárdenas-López and López-Camacho
2000).
In Argentina, the fruit of Aechmea
distichantha Lam., known as “payo” or
“choclo choclo” is eaten by local children
directly in the ields where it grows as a
delicacy (Hilgert 1999). In Ecuador and
Venezuela “piñuelas” (fruits of Bromelia
pinguin) are consumed in the countryside
(Manzanares 2002) in spite of their sour
lavor (Pittier, 1978; Oliva-Esteva, 1987;
pers. obs.). In Mexico, this species is known
locally in the Huasteca and Otomí-Tepehua
regions as “timbiriche” (Villavicencio
and Pérez, 2005). In the same region, the
loral peduncle of T. imperialis (Fig. 1) is
the part of the plant which is consumed
(Villavicencio and Pérez, 2005).
Various drinks, both fermented and not, are
prepared from different fruits. Examples
are Aechmea magdalenae André ex Baker,
Bromelia alsodes St. John, B. hemisphaerica
Lamarck, B. nidus-puellae (André) André
ex Mez, B. pinguin L. and B. karatas
(Bennett, 2000). In the páramos, the bleak
alpine grasslands of Ecuador, people obtain
a sweet drink called “jugo de aguaronge”
from the soft leaf base and stem tissues
of immature specimens of Puya hamata
L.B.Sm. (Benzing, 1980); this species
is known in Chota-Cajamarca (Peru) as
“achupala” (Sagastegui 12881, F!). A
similar soft drink called “guarapo de piña”
is prepared in Venezuela (pers. obs.) from the
skin of pineapple (Ananas comosus) which
is boiled with panela (blocks of unreined
cane sugar) and spices (e.g. cinnamon, and
cloves). Another variation, using the pulp
instead, is prepared in the Venezuelan Andes:
this is “chicha de piña”, a thick beverage
fermented in a clay vessel. A similar thick
drink, but to which rice is added, is prepared
in Colombia (pers. comm. Liliana Ojeda),
and in Mexico a more liquid drink with
pineapple called tepache (pers. obs.) has
recently been industrialized.
In the coastal region of Ecuador, the juice is
sucked from the fruit of Aechmea magdalenae
(“piña, piñuela”); in the same region, the
pineapple Ananas comosus known as piña
silvestre, “sacha piña, piña de monte” (wild
pineapple, mountain pineapple) is eaten raw
or as juice or in a fermented beverage called
“chicha” prepared by boiling pineapple peel
with roasted, ground corn in water with basil
leaves, cloves, cinnamon and panela sugar.
Yeast is added when the liquid is cooled and
the beverage is left to ferment overnight (van
der Eynden et al., 1999).
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Núm. 32: 219-229
In Peru, the giant Puya raimondii Harms is
known as “cagua” (Leiva 292, Sagastegui
14510, F!) or “ckara” (Cerrate 2072;
USM!); the ash of the burned core of the
inlorescences mixed with sugar and called
“tocra” or “illipta” is used by coca-leaf
consumers (Hornung and Sosa 2004). In
some places, people dry out the center of the
inlorescence and use it in powdered form
for lavoring (Leiva et al., 1991; Hornung
and Sosa, 2004). In Huarochí and Huascarán
(Peru) the pulp of its inlorescence is roasted
and made into a fermented beverage called
chichi (Leiva et al., 1991; Hornung and
Sosa, 2004). Some leaves and meristems
are eaten in South America as well, such as
Puya hamata L.B.Sm. The soft leaf base is
prepared in salads (Bennett, 2000). Similar
uses are made of Puya chilensis Molina
and P. berteroniana Mez in Chile (Fig. 1)
known both as cardon or “chagual”. The
tender central cabbage-like leaves of the
rosette are grated and prepared in salads;
even today they can be found in modern
supermarkets in Santiago (Chile) when in
season (T. Adriazola pers. comm.). Muñoz
(2001) reports the use of P. chilensis and less
often P. berteroniana as a salad prepared only
with the terminal meristem. In Venezuela,
the leshy central part of the “piñuela” or
“piñuela piton” (Puya aristeguietae L.B.Sm.)
is eaten in the Alpine grasslands of the state
of Trujillo (Aristeguieta 3539, TYPE, US!).
In Ecuador the heart of the inlorescence of
Puya sp. known as “aguarongo” is cooked
and eaten (van der Eynden et al., 1999).
In Puerto Rico, the axis of the inlorescence
of Bromelia pinguin is eaten as a fresh or
cooked vegetable (Benzing 1980). In Bolivia
and Argentina, buds of Tillandsia maxima
Strangew. and T. rubella Baker are eaten by
the local people, who say that the “heart” of
224
Agosto 2011
this species is similar to the palm heart eaten
in several parts of South America (Benzing
1980).
In Mexico, Hechtia montana Brandegee,
known as “hichiconi” in the Guarijío
region of southwest Sonora or chicana in
Taraumaras southwest of Chiguagua, have
been eaten since pre-Hispanic times. The
heart is extracted after the plant has been
burned (Felger, 2000). Another vegetative
part of some bromeliads which have a
culinary use is the leaves, which are used to
prepare “bollitos de maíz” or “carabinas”,
a kind of tamale made in the Venezuelan
Andes. They are prepared with a dough
made of corn, illed with cheese or seasoned
meat and wrapped in bromeliad leaves, then
steamed in a pot over wood ires (A. Rangel
pers. comm.). The species employed for this
use in the state of Mérida (Venezuela) are
Tillandsia fendleri Mez (an endemic species,
Fig. 1) and T. complanata E. Morr.
Other Latin American uses: Animals
Bromeliads also offer nectar and pollen
rewards to bird, arthropod and bat pollinators
(Benzing, 2000). Several species are eaten
not only by humans, but also by animals such
as the Andean bear (Tremarctos ornatus)
called the “spectacled bear” in the north
of South America; this mammal eats the
terrestrial plants known as “achupaya” or
piñuela, but on occasion it also consumes
epiphytes that have fallen to the ground
(Pérez-Torres, 2001). The “piñuelas” grown
in the páramos, the alpine grasslands of
the Andes, are species of the Puya genus;
among them P. sodiroana (Bennett, 2000),
P. raimondii (Fig. 1) have been documented
in Peru (Hornung and Sosa, 2004), and some
Puya species (Goldstein, 1990) have been
Hornung-Leoni, C.T.: Bromeliads: Traditional plant food in Latin America since prehispanic times
Fig. 1. Bromeliad species used as food in Latin America: A, infrutescence and B, details
of fruits of Bromelia karatas from a popular market in Jalisco, Mexico (©Carrillo, 2010);
C, immature fruits of Bromelia pinguin (Veracruz, Mexico) (©Hornung, 2005); D, plants
of Puya berteroniana in the Coastal Cordillera, Chile (©Hornung, 2003); E, plant of Puya
raimondii in Huascarán National Park, Peru (©Hornung, 2003); F, Tillandsia fendleri
blooming in Mérida, Venezuela (©Hornung, 2007); G, Tillandsia imperialis in a forest of
Hidalgo State, Mexico (©Hornung, 2009).
225
Núm. 32: 219-229
identiied by the author in Venezuela as P.
aristeguietae L.B. Sm. and P. venezuelana
L.B.Sm.; this last species is known in the
state of Mérida (Venezuela) as “piñaton”
(Steyermark 56285, F!) or as “piñuela”
(pers. obs.). Bennett (2000) reported at least
21 species consumed by wild or domestic
animals (e.g. Aechmea tessmannii Harms,
A. tillandsioides Baker, A. zebrina L.B.Sm.,
Guzmania acuminata L.B.Sm., G. eduardii
Mez and G. monostachya Rusby ex Mez).
It has also been recorded that some simians
include young inlorescences in their diet and
drink the water that collects in the rosette. On
the mountains of Mérida in Venezuela, cattle
have also been observed to eat the leaves of
the rosette (pers. obs.).
In Ecuador, Puya gummifera, known as
“achupalla”, is the Andean bear’s favorite
food and its stems are fed to pigs and “cuys”
(guinea pigs), as recorded in W.H. Camp
5198 for Azuay province (VEN 32969).
CONCLUSIONS
It is important to note that non-food uses for
bromeliads are more well-known due to their
wide use for ornamental, medicinal and iber
production purposes. However, this family of
plants has been used for food by indigenous
cultures and has remained in our Latin
American traditions, despite the wild plants
being less accessible. New natural resource
management and exploitation strategies are
being developed to conserve traditions and
preserve biodiversity.
As noted in this work, various uses have been
made of bromeliads in Latin America from
pre-Hispanic times to the present, however
traditional foods made from these plants vary
by locality. Bromeliad crops show different
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Agosto 2011
trends depending on the region or area of
Latin America, many of them inluenced
by national and/or regional guidelines. For
example, the use of crops such as pineapple
(Ananas comosus) for local consumption and
exportation is common, but cultivars of other
bromeliads are less common today. People
from Ancash in Peru refer to harvesting the
resource for local consumption but without
cultivating the plants. Customs of bromeliad
consumption are conserved but on a small
scale, not from cultivars, and harvesting
mostly from the environment.
However, in recent decades some initiatives
have been developed to recover traditional
customs. Although some people have
mentioned that their interest is not in
growing bromeliads specifically, they
incorporate traditions which employ nonwood products that include bromeliads. One
such case is the rescue of Amazonian fruit
crops (among which are the bromeliads)
as part of efforts to restore traditions in the
Colombian Amazon (Cárdenas-López and
López-Camacho, 2000). A further part of the
effort is focused on post-harvest technology
to produce and market traditional products
such as jams, sweets and sauces from 15
native species from different families under
the Amazon Cooperation Treaty. Similar
efforts have been developed under the FES
foundation which has a handicraft supply
agreement with Artesanias de Colombia
and the Alexander von Humboldt Biological
Resources Research Institute (CárdenasLópez and López-Camacho, 2000). Bolivia
is investing in bio-products among which are
bromeliad fruits (Saucedo, 2005).
In Santiago de Chile, the center of the rosette
of Puya species is sold in supermarkets for
use in salads (pers. obs.), and is indicated as
Hornung-Leoni, C.T.: Bromeliads: Traditional plant food in Latin America since prehispanic times
being from cultivars, showing the presence
of a sizeable bio-commerce in Chile in
certain species.
Finally, it is worth noting that even though
this family has been widely employed as
food in different parts of Latin America by
our natives since immemorial times, some
of these food uses have been maintained up
to the present day, and none of the species
appears to be in the risk category (IUCN
Red List).
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author extends grateful thanks to the Red
Latinoamericana de Botanica for awarding
her a doctoral scholarship and providing
funds to carry out the ield work for project
RLB D1-02. I am grateful to a grant from
the International Association for Plant
Taxonomists for inancial support for visiting
areas in Chile,to PROMEP (Programa
de Mejoramiento del Profesorado) for
inancial support in Hidalgo State for my
project at UAEH, to “Diversidad biológica
del Estado de Hidalgo (Mexico)” project
number 95828 (Conacyt) for support in the
second phase, to three anonymous reviewers
for their suggestions which improved the
inal version of the manuscript, to Anna
M. Leoni and Margaret Schroeder for
reviewing the English version of this paper;
and inally, I am very grateful to the Latin
American people who contributed to this
study with their information about the uses
of bromeliaceae.
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