Local stories in Michoacán tell how, when the Spanish invaded what would later be known as Mexico in the 1500s, they found Indigenous communities tapping pine trees and using the resin in sizzling-bright torches and lamps that lit the Aztec Empire capital of Tenochtitlan, today’s Mexico City. The Spanish appropriated the resin to use as a sealant on their damaged ships and, as colonization spread, sent the valued product home to Europe. Today, pine resin remains an important economic commodity not just in Mexico’s Michoacán state, but throughout the world. It’s a key ingredient in turpentine, …

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