Editing Millstone (section)

=== The metate ===
{{Main articles|Metate}}
The ''metate'' is a nether millstone for domestic use, for grinding [[Maize|corn]]. It has been used for several thousand years (around 3000 BC) in the cultural area of [[Mesoamerica]], and its name comes from the [[Nahuatl]] "''metatl''".<ref name="colloque5"><sup>(fr)</sup> Meules à grains. Actes du colloque international de La Ferté-sous-Jouarre.</ref>

Today's millstones are monolithic, usually made of [[basalt]], apodous, or tripod, rectangular, and slightly concave on the grinding surface. These millstones are associated with a two-handed wheel, called a "''mano''", whose size generally exceeds the width of the millstone and which is driven in an alternating rectilinear motion. On tripod wheels, one of the legs is slightly higher than the other two, giving the whole unit an inclination, with the user standing in front of the highest part.

The manufacture of millstones was essentially a male occupation. In [[Pre-Columbian era|pre-Hispanic]] times, millers used only stone tools, a practice that persisted in some villages until the mid-20th century. The use of metal tools, probably inherited from building stonemasons, made it possible to use the hardest basalts, resulting in millstones with a lifespan of over thirty years. While the manufacture of apod millstones from blocks of stone naturally polished in a riverbed was once within the reach of many farmers, the production of tripode metates requires specialized craftsmanship.

Grinding plays a key role in [[Mexican cuisine]]. Dry grinding is possible, but very few recipes are produced in this way: [[Coffee|roasted coffee]], roasted corn or [[Bean|beans]], [[salt]], sugar loaves, and cocoa are ground into powder. But most preparations require grinding with water. Fruits are ground into juices, beans or boiled vegetables, ingredients are added to various spicy sauces and, above all, corn is used to make the [[Tortilla|tortillas]] that form the basis of every meal. The latter are made from [[Hominy|nixtamal]], i.e. dry corn kernels cooked with lime, then rinsed with water, which softens the kernels and produces a paste. Maize or nixtamal can be ground for preparations other than patties: ''[[Tamale|tamales]], [[pozole]], [[atole]], [[pinole]]'', and ''[[masa]]'', with variations in the fineness of the grind depending on the use.
[[File:TortillaMakingSalvador.jpg|left|thumb|[[Tortilla]]-making in [[El Salvador]], circa 1900]]
The metate was used exclusively by women, and in [[Mixtec culture|Mixtec lands]], the place where the millstone is located was a space reserved for women. A couple often acquires, or is given, a millstone when they set up home. This acquisition represents a major expense in the life of a Mixtec peasant, as evidenced by the wills of nobles and wealthy peasants from the 16th to 18th centuries, which included metates.<ref name="colloque5" />

Daily tortillas are made from sufficiently moistened ''corn dough'', which, unlike flour, cannot be preserved. This technical characteristic no doubt explains why domestic metates were not replaced centuries ago by mills, as they were in Europe. During the wars of the 19th century and the [[Mexican Revolution|Mexican Revolution of 1910]], Mexican armies were accompanied by women and metates to ensure the stewardship of the country; the [[Spanish Empire|Spanish conquest]] did not replace tortillas with bread - quite the contrary. At the end of the 19th century, the owners of the large plantations introduced motorized corn mills, which freed up female labor for the fields.<ref>Here we find an example of the influence of a technical system on a social system, like the hitching system described by Major Richard Lefebvre des Noëttes</ref> From 1920 onwards, electric mills appeared in the countryside, owned by municipalities, [[Cooperative|cooperatives]] or private individuals. However, still in use today, nether millstones are still part of Mexico's rural heritage.{{Cn|date=March 2025}}

<gallery mode="packed-overlay" heights="200" widths="250">
File:Metate_Maya.jpg|[[Maya civilization|Mayan]] dish depicting the use of a metate to grind [[Cocoa bean|cocoa beans]]. ''Chocolate Museum, [[Bruges]].''
File:Metate_et_mano.jpg|[[Metate]] and mano from the Mayan period. ''Chocolate Museum, [[Bruges]].''
File:Metate_Costa_Rica.jpg|[[Costa Rica|Costa Rican]] funeral metate. ''Chocolate Museum, [[Bruges]].''
File:Tortilleras_aztecas.jpg|[[Aztecs|Aztec]] mother teaching her daughter to make tortillas. ''[[Codex Mendoza]].''
File:Tortilleras_Nebel.jpg|''Las Tortilleras'' (The Tortilla Makers). Hand-colored [[Lithography|lithograph]], [[Mexico]], early 19th century
</gallery>