Almanaque Dulce 1945: Of Mayflies and Baobobs -

Unión Nacional de Productores de Azúcar (Mexico). Almanaque Dulce. México, D.F. : Azúcar, S.A. [TX819.S94 .A4435]

Almanaque Dulce 1945. Unión Nacional de Productores de Azúcar (Mexico). UTSA Libraries Special Collections.

One of the most delightful aspects of almanacs is the wealth of potentially useful, but frequently random-seeming information that they include. In the 1945 Almanaque Dulce, my eye was particularly caught by a couple of illustrated pages listing the typical lifespans of various creatures, beginning with mayflies and moving up through longer-lived insects such as butterflies (2 months) to reptiles and mammals (I can’t vouch for accuracy, but according to t his source, frogs can live up to 15 years and bears for 50!), and ending with some of the longest-lived tree species, such as yew trees and baobabs (the latter potentially living as long as 5,000 years).

I’m afraid no recipes for mayflies or baobabs are on offer, but you can at least distract yourself from thoughts of the mortality of all things with these tasty empanada recipes: