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Documented food traditions in the Copper State run deep.
Corn and squash cultivation in the region can be traced back 4,100 years which, in the company of beans, came to be called “Three Sisters” – named by the Iroquois and Cherokee, who recognized that the crops, when planted together, nurture one another like family.
Local farmers – including Native Americans well-versed in ancient growing practices – continue to sow the seeds of more than 160 heirloom varieties of fruits, grains and vegetables produced since 1912, when Arizona became a state (and home to the third largest population of Native Americans in the country).
– Hannah Van Sickle, The Arizona 100