The AMATE is a type of vegetable support used from the times of the pre-hispanic era. It is referred as paper because its production begins with the inner bark of trees, although the manufacturing process is quite diferent from that used to produce normal paper.
Perhaps a more suitable term would be that of fabric or cloth,thought it is neither threaded nor woven. Amate paper is hand-crafted by crushing the bark of red and white Jonote trees and boiling them in water whit limestone, resulting in a fibrous vegetable dark brown to straw-colored sheet of material.
Today the manufacturing process of Amate paper handcrafts. a tourist attraction, can be seen in the community of Otomi San Pablito in the municipal area of Pahuatlán which belongs to the state of Puebla.
To read more interesting information about the Amate, click here.