Maize is the most important crop to me as a farmer and seed steward. Centli Chapalote is one of the most culturally relevant landrace maize varieties in Mexica history. For this reason, I selected Maize Chapalote accessions PI 503574 and PI 217409. I applied for this seed to expand my stewardship into landrace popcorn and continue documenting exudation of mucilage polysaccharide in landrace varieties. It grew wonderfully in the 2023 growing season and I look forward to growing it out again.

Uses: Ground into a sweet meal for pinole/atolli (atole); popcorn.

PI 503574

Taxonomy: Zea mays L. subsp. mays; Top Name: Chapalote

Origin: Collected – Sinaloa, Mexico

Locality: F.U. Cruz farm, near Rio Fuerte, Capomas, Sinaloa (26.4167, -108.5167)

Improvement Status: Landrace; Received by NPGS: 11 Oct 1985

Narrative: Preliminary race identification Chapalote. Fruit tiny to medium. Mean row number 12.9. Seeds brown/tan/yellow, popcorn type.

PI 217409

Taxonomy: Zea mays L. subsp. mays; Top Name: Maiz Chapalote

Origin: Collected – Mexico

Locality: No information provided.

Improvement Status: Landrace; Received by NPGS: 04 May 1954

Narrative: Primitive popcorn from western Mexico. It shows close similarity to teosinte in various characters. Ears have a narrow cob, with kernels of an irregular shape and a brown pericarp. Chromosomes have large knobs and the number of knobs are variable from plant to plant. This accession was part of the donor's collection of maize varieties demonstrating extreme variation. They were considered as endemic and were maintained as germplasm for breeding work and were part of the Anderson and Brown collection of "standard exotics". They were originally collected from farmers who maintained them as open-pollinated varieties.

Races of Maize in Mexico by EJ Wellhausen, LM Roberts, & E Hernandez-Xolocotzli (in collaboration with PC Mangelsdorf) indicates that Chapalote is an Ancient Indigenous Race of corn. They indicate that Chapalote performs best at low elevations like here in Kansas. “Chapalote has been found only in the coastal lowlands of the states Sinaloa and Sonora in northwestern Mexico.” Kernels range in color, the most distinct of which is its copper brown pericarp. When hybridized with other varieties, this tends to manifest pink and red kernels. “Derivation of name: Name used by people of the region where this race was found. Derivation unknown”.

Remarks from Gary Paul Nabhan, a co-founder of Native Seeds/SEARCH: Hernandez-Xolocotztli (Xoco) found that Chapalote could perform well even during relatively dry years, because it was early maturing, and needs little supplemental irrigation. Xoco believed that Chapalote had teosinte-like traits and classified it as a bridge between wild corn ancestors, popcorns and flint corns. The Chapalote kernels grown in New Mexico were not only chocolate-colored, but a golden tan, yellow and cream-colored as well. Different ears had different hues, with each ear falling on a gradient from dark chocolate to pale cream. To this day, Sonoran towns where Chapalote was grown—such as Ures, Suaqui and Sahuaripa—still pride themselves on making the best pinole in all of Mexico, largely because they continue to favor flinty heirloom popcorns.