Along with Cortes and the Spaniards in the Conquest of Mexico, came a number of changes to the diets of the natives. With the Spanish came the arrival of imported crops, most particularly of note is wheat, which would be of great importance, as well as other grains, including barley and rye (although they gained only regional importance. Along with these new crops came rice also, which would be of importance to the local diets (Kiple 2000:1250). There was also a great increase in protein sources through new domesticated animals including; pig, sheep and cattle. New vegetables including; onions, garlic, carrots, turnips, eggplants and lentils, as well as new fruits including; peaches, melons, figs, cherries, oranges, lemons, limes and grapefruit were introduced into to Mexican land (Kiple 2000:1250). Sugar also eventually became widely appreciated in Mexico. It's availability and price made it an excellent substitute for the previous sweeteners of honey or the honey like syrup fabricated by boiling the sap of the maguey plant (Kiple 2000:1251). With a cheap and readily available sweetener, Mexicans were soon experts in presenting a wide variety of desserts and sweets, that become characteristics of the cuisine (Zolla 1998). Also pulque, made from the fermented maguey aquamiel, earned more widespread use following the conquest, due to the ending of some of the negative views of its use that had been promoted by the Aztecs (Kiple 2000:1250).