Sugarcane stems ready for juicing; copyright free image by "ruurmo" made available through Wikimedia Commons.

Mexican also have sweet-tooths (sweet-teeth?). Most Mexican sweetness originates from what they call caña, a word used both the thick, juicy stems of the Sugarcane plant, Saccharum officinarum -- seen at the right -- and the plant itself, which botanically is a giant member of the Grass Family. In Mexico's humid lowlands, sometimes you see street vendors selling such stems to folks who know how to strip away the tough outer skin (or have the vendor do it), and bite into the white, juicy pulp. When all the sugary juice is chewed out, spit out the pulp and take another bite.

Brown cones of piloncillo at the Central de Abasto, Mexico City's main wholesale market; copyright free image by "ProtoplasmaKid" made available through Wikimedia Commons.

Piloncillo -- sometimes called panela or chancaca -- is unrefined sugar prepared from sugarcane juice which hasn't been distilled. It's like the US's brown sugar, except its brownness is real, not added to white sugar by adding molasses, and it's profoundly more tasty, moist and smooth, and with at least some nutrients other than carbohydrates. At the left, note how it's sold usually in mercados, in cones. Mexicans make piloncillo by boiling down sugarcane juice until it's a very thick syrup. Then it's poured into molds in the shape of truncated cones, where it solidifies. Often the resulting masses are wrapped artfully in sugarcane leaves; note that no distillation or added preservatives, or colorants are added.

Typical appearance of natural, pure honey, as seen on a shelf in Mercado Michoacán, Colonia Condesa, Mexico City; copyright free image by "Xanyssel" made available through Wikimedia Commons.

In market areas, usually honey comes in plastic bottles with no labels, as seen at the right. If the contents glow warmly, or maybe are too dark to glow, that's honey, maybe locally produced. Mexico's honeys are capable of various hues and flavors, depending on the plants the bees were pollinating. Be on the lookout for these honey specialties:

• miel de flor de aguacata, from avocado flowers, is a very dark amber and tastes fruity and smooth
• miel de flor de azahar, from citrus tree flowers, mainly orange or lemon, is orange colored and very fragrant
• miel de flor de mezquite, from mesquite flowers, is clear amber with a light, subtle taste hinting of wood
• miel de flor de tajonal, produced by the Yucatan's famed stingless bess, is gold colored, aromatic, with the odor of fresh flowers
• miel multi-floral, from various mixed blossoms, with various color, tastes and intensities