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| | From:  Annie-LL (Original Message) | Sent: 10/30/2007 3:28 AM |
FOODs of our ancestors
"...the eatables were produced, consisting chiefly of wild meat; such as
venison, bear, and buffalo, tho' I cannot much commend their cookery, every
thing being greatly overdone: there were likewise potatoes, pumpkins, homminy,
boiled corn, beans, and pease, served up in small flat baskets, made of split
canes, which were distributed amongst the croud; and water, which, except the
spirituous liquor brought by the Europeans, is their only drink, was handed about in
small goards."
"They boil and roast their Meat extraordinary much, and eat abundance of
Broth."
"In 1761 Timberlake found that the Cherokee country was: 'yielding vast
quantities of pease, beans, potatoes, cabbages, corn, pumpions, melons, and
tobacco, not to mention a number of other vegetables imported from Europe, not so
generally known amongst them... Before the arrival of the Europeans, the natives
were not so well provided, maize, melons and tobacco, being the only things they
bestow culture upon, and perhaps seldom on the latter. The meadows or
savannahs produce excellent grass; being watered by abundance of fine rivers, and
brooks well stored with fish, otters and beavers: ... Of the fruits there are some
of an excellent flavor, particularly several sorts of grapes, which, with proper
culture, would probably afford an excellent wine. There are likewise plums,
cherries, and berries of several kinds, something different from those of Europe;
but their peaches and pears grow only by culture; add to these several kinds
of roots, and medicinal plants... There are likewise an incredible number of
buffaloes, bears, deer, panthers, wolves, foxes, racoons, and opossums.. There are
a vast number of lesser sort of game, such as rabbits, squirrels.. several
sorts, and many other animals, besides turkey, geese, ducks of several kinds,
partridges, pheasants, and an infinity of other birds.. The flesh of the
rattle-snake is extremely good; being once obliged to eat one through want of provisions,
I have eat several since thru' choice."
In "The Ultimate Cherokee Cookbook", Oukah tells that there was no
refrigeration, and in the heat of summer the pots were kept boiling to keep the food
from spoiling. In the winter, the cold weather could be used as a refrigerator
to keep food from spoiling. And, Cherokees in the old days did not sit down at
the same time everyday for a meal... they ate when the food was ready to eat, or
when they were hungry. There was usually something prepared in the pot from
morning until night.
"Besides the cultivated plant foods and game, the Cherokee made great use
of nuts, wild fruits, roots, mushrooms, fish, crayfish, frogs, birds' eggs, and
even yellow jacket grubs and cicadas."
Romans (1775) says: "Their way of life is in general very abundant; they
have much more of venison, bear, turkies; and small game in their country than
their neighbors have, and they raise abundance of small cattle, hogs, turkeys,
ducks and dunghill fowls (all of which are very good in their kind) and of these
they spare not; the labor of the field is all done by the women; no savages
are more proud of being counted hungers, fishermen, and warriors; were they to
cultivate their plentiful country, they might raise amazing quantities of grain
and pulse, as it is they have enough for their home consumption; they buy a good
deal of rice, and they are the only savages that ever I saw that could bear to
have some rum in store; yet they drink to excess as well as others; there are
few towns in this nation where there is not some savage residing, who either
trades of his own flock, or is employed as a factor. They have more variety in
their diet than other savages; They make pancakes; they dry the tongues of their
venison; they make a caustick salt out of a kind of moss that does not
deliquiate on exposing to the air; this they dissolve in water and pound their dried
venison till it looks like oakum and then eat it dipped in the above sauce; they
eat much roasted and boiled venison, a great deal of milk and eggs; they dry
peaches and persimmons, chestnuts and the fruit of the 'blue palmetto' or
'needle palm'... they also prepare a cake of the pulp of the species of the passi
flora, vulgarly called may apple; some kinds of acorns they also prepare into good
bread; the common esculent Convolvuius (sweet potato), .and the sort found in
the low woods, both called potatoes, are eat in abundance among them; they have
plenty of the various species of Zea or maize, or the Phaseolus (beans) and
Dolichos (hyacinth beans), and of different kinds of Panicum; bears oyl, honey
and hickory milk are the boast of the country; they have also many kinds of salt
and fresh water turtle, and their eggs, and plenty of fish; we likewise find
among them salted meats, corned venison in particular, which is very fine; they
cultivate abundance of melons; in a word, they have naturally the greatest
plenty imaginable; were they to cultivate the earth they would have too much. "
"The wild vegetable products... Ground-nuts, wild sweet potatoes, several
varieties of Smilax (kantak), Angelico roots, persimmons, plums, grapes,
strawberries, mulberries, blackberries, some varieties of huckleberries, wild rice,
the seed of a species of cane, chestnuts, walnuts, hickory nuts, acorns,
particularly those of the live oak, and cinquapins... The Virginia wakerobin, floating
arum... The prickleypear, crab apple, wild pea, tree huckleberry, goosberry,
cherry, and serviceberry are mentioned...
"Staple animal foods... were provided by the deer and the bear, the former
being valued mainly for its flesh, the latter for its fat... Most important of
the small animals were the rabbit and the squirrel..
"... food also had to be preserved for use in the future and cooked to make
it edible or more palatable. The favorite way of preserving food, whether meat
or vegetable, was by drying it. They dried some of their fruits and vegetables
in the heat of the sun. After squeezing persimmons into a pulp, they spread
the pulp out in flat loaves about half an inch thick, when dried in the sun it
made a sort of candy which would keep for weeks or even months, depending on how
dry they made it. They also sundried wild plums, berries, and grapes. A quicker
way to dry food was to put it on hurdles placed over a fire. A hurdle was
simply a horizontal framework of woven saplings and canes resting on four posts.
Some foods, such as wild fruits, pumpkins, fish, and meat were dried directly on
the hurdles, but others, such as wild roots, corn, oysters, and probably beans
were first boiled for a short time before being dried.
"The Indians cut buffalo and deer meat into moderately thin slabs, speared
them on spits made of cane or saplings, and placed them over a fire, cooking them
until they were quite dry. When removed from the spits, each piece of dried
meat was left with a hole through which a cord could be strung, and the meat
could thereby be easily stored or carried. Meat which was prepared this way would
keep for at least four to six months without spoiling, and it sometimes kept for
as long as one year.
"They frequently build a smoky fire, often using green hickory wood, to
give a smoked flavor and aroma to the meat dried over it. Oysters and fish were
smoked in this fashion.... All of this dried food, both domesticated and wild,
was kept in their food storehouses.
"Bear meat, with its thick layers of fat, was treated differently. First,
they separated the fat from the lean meat, cooking or drying the lean portion
like any other met. The fat was cooked in earthen pots and an oil was extracted
from it. They stored this oil in large earthen containers and in gourds. They
used it as a condiment, a cooking oil, and even as a cosmetic. For use as a
cosmetic, they mixed a red pigment into it and scented it with fragrant sassafras
and wild cinnamon. They rubbed it into their hair and onto their bodies. Some
stored bear oil in bags made from whole deerskins.
"Nutmeats were extremely important... nuts could be cracked and eaten raw,
they could be stored for a time in their shells, and they could also be dried
and preserved for a longer period of time. In addition, black walnuts, hickory
nuts, and acorns provided another source of oil. The Inds. were particularly
fond of oil from hickory nuts, which they made by first pounding a quantity of the
nuts into small pieces on nut stones -- stones with several small depressions
for cracking a handful of nuts at a time. They then stirred the pieces, shell
and all, into a pot of water. In time the shells sank to the bottom and the oil
floated to the top as a milky emulsion to be skimmed off and preserved. One
hundreds pounds of hickory nuts would produce about one gallon of oil. The
Europeans called it "hickory milk'. The Inds. used it for cooking and seasoning.
Hickory milk was said to impart a particularly delicious flavor to venison and to
corn bread.
"They thoroughly cooked all the meat they ate; they never ate it raw. They
used two methods of cooking it: broiling and boiling. Small animals received a
minimum of dressing before cooking. Sometimes they did not gut such animals as
raccoon, opossum, rabbit, and squirrel; they simply skinned them and cooked
them whole. They barbecued fish, small animals, and pieces of meat of larger
animals by impaling them on one end of a sharpened stick; the other end of the
stick was stuck in the ground with the stick inclined toward the fire. They turned
the stick from time to time to cook the meat evenly. They impaled larger pieces
of meat on spits, suspending them on two forked sticks and turning the spits
as the meat cooked. The Cherokees often used spits made of sourwood (Oxydendrum
arboreum (L.) D.C): it imparted a pleasing flavor to the meat and was thought
to repel witches.
"They were fonder than we of soups and stews. After barbecuing fish,
squirrel, or ground hog, they would make it into a stew, adding a little cracked
hominy or hominy meal. They boiled meat and fish with vegetables to make a soup.
Bear and deer meat, for example, was boiled along with squash and kernels cut
from ears of green corn. They were especially fond of kidney beans boiled with
meat and seasoned with bear oil. The milky pulp of green corn was sometimes added
to boiled venison to make a kind of hash. The Inds. shredded or pounded dried
meat before boiling it in soups, and they also ate dried meat after adding bear
oil to it, much as we add mayonnaise to dry luncheon meat.
There were noticeable taboos about food preparation... "For example, meat
and vegetables could be cooked in the same pot, as could different kinds of
four-footed animal meat, but they would not cook the flesh or birds and
four-footed animals in the same pot."
Potatoes were introduced early and were so much esteemed that, according
to one old informant, the Inds. in Georgia, before the Removal, 'lived on them'.
Coffee came later, and the same informant remembered that the full-bloods
still considered it poison, in spite of the efforts of the chief, Charles Hicks, to
introduce it among them"
They cooked pumpkin and squash by boiling or broiling. They preserved
pumpkin by cutting it into round slices which they peeled and dried. Pumpkin and
squash seeds could of course be roasted and eaten.
"The wild roots were collected and made into a meal or a powder. Swamp
potatoes (Sagittaria L.), for example, were baked in a Dutch oven or in the ashes
of a fire and then put in a mortar and pounded into a meal. They used this meal
as they would hominy meal, relying on it especially during winter famines.
They made "red coontie out of the large roots of Smilax. They first chopped the
roots into pieces and pulverized them in a mortar. They put this in a pot filled
with cold water, stirring vigorously. After it settled for a time, they dipped
out the liquid, leaving in the bottom of the pot a residue which they dried
into a reddish powder. When this starchy powder was added to boiling water it
turned into a kind of jelly and was a favorite food for infants and old people. It
was also mixed with hominy meal to make fried bread.
ACORNS: "Next morning, we got our Breakfasts: roasted Acorns being one of the
Dishes. The Inds. beat them into Meal, and thicken their Venison-Broth with
them; and oftentimes make a palatable Soop. They are used instead of Bread,
boiling them till the Oil swims on the top of the Water, which they preserve for use,
eating the Acorns with Flesh-meat."
"Live-Oak.. the Acorns thereof are as sweet as Chesnuts, and the Inds. draw
an Oil from them, as sweet as that from the Olive, tho' of an Amber-Colour.
With these Nuts, or Acorns, some have counterfeited the Cocoa, whereof they have
made Chocolate, not to be distinguish'd by a good Palate."
"Acorns were another interesting featureof the diet. In addition to
extracting oil from acorns., the Ind.'s occasionally made the nut meats into a meal.
Live oak acorns were best for this, but the several species of white oak were
almost as good, and even the black and red oaks could be used if necessary. The
primary problem in processing acorns was to extract the bitter-tasting acid
from the nutmeats. Some acorns were edible after merely being parched, but others
had to be boiled in water to remove the tannic acid. These were then pounded
into a pulp which was dried into a meal and used in much the same way hominy meal
was used."
"...they did not eat raw vegetables. Slight exceptions to this may have
been wild onions (Allium cernuum Roth), wild garlic (Allium canadense L.) and in
the Appalachians wild leeks or "ramps" (Allium tricoccum Ait.). These were among
the very few green vegetables available from late fall to early spring.
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"Beverages:.. we may assume that many of the beverages made today are the
same as those from earlier days by their ancestors... "The roots of sassafras,
for example, have probably long been used to make a fragrant hot tea. The roots
are best when dug early in spring, and the bark from the roots has the
strongest flavor. The young leaves and young pith of sassafras are highly
mucilaginous. The Choctaws dried them and ground them into a powder which they used to
thicken soups, this being the forerunner of Southern gumbo. The Cherokees made a
hot tea out of the dried leaves, twigs, and young buds of spicebush (Lindera
benzoin [L.] Blume). Another Cherokee drink is made of maypops (Passiflora
incarnata L.) by boiling them in water until they become soft. The pulp is then
squeezed out and put through a strainer. The Cherokees drink it while it is hot.
Another beverage that is still made by Cherokees today was made from the ripe pods
of honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos L.) which contain a kind of paste with a
delicate sweet-sour flavor. The Inds. split the pods in half, soaked them in
water which was not but not boiling, and strained it through a cloth. They drank
it as both a hot and cold beverage. White and black Southerners used to make
this honey locust drink and ferment it, making a kind of beer."
"They did not eat regular meals. They ate whenever they were hungry....
they ate food from pottery or gourd containers or from shallow wooden bowls
carved out of gum, poplar, box elder, sycamore, or elm. They ate with large spoons
made from gourds, wood, or bison horn, and they also ate with their fingers.
BEANS: "The South. Inds. had several ways of cooking beans. Their standard way
was to boil them in water and season them, often with meat or bear oil. They
made succotash by boiling together hominy and beans, sometimes adding some
pumpkin to the pot. After they boiled their beans, they sometimes put them in a
mortar and mashed them to a pulp which they formed into small loaves.
BEES & HONEY: "Bees, if not native,... were introduced at so early a period
that the Inds. have forgotten their foreign origin. The DeSoto narrative mentions
finding of a pot of honey in an Ind. village in Georgia in 1540. The peach was
cultivated in orchards a century before the Revolution, and one variety, known
as early as 1700 as the Ind peach, the Inds. claimed as their own, asserting
that they had had it before the whites came to America.
GINSENG: "The roots of ginseng were boiled in water and made into a potion.
This was primarily used for shortness of breath, to stop the flow of blood from a
wound, and to keep ghosts away.
"The Cherokee herbalist... when hunting ginseng... the herbalist addressed
the mountain on which he stood as the "Great Man" assuring him that he was
only going to take a small piece of his flesh. He then pulled up the plant, root
and all, and dropped a red or white bead, whichever was appropriate, into the
hole. Then he covered it up.
HOMINY: "The staple food of the ...their staff of life, was hominy. Its
manufacture requires several special implements, including a mortar and pestle. In
historic times... a mortar was made from a section of a hickory, oak, or beech log
some twelve to twenty inches in diameter and about two feet long. They rested
this on one end, and in the other end they burned out a conical hole about
eight inches deep. For a pestle they cut a section from a tree, preferably hickory,
about six inches in diameter and five of six feet long. They trimmed this down
to about two inches in diameter for about four-fifths of its length, leaving
the remainder as a weight at the upper end of the pestle. The small end was used
to pound the corn in the mortar, while the large, weighted end added force to
the pounding. Wood-ash lye was also needed in making hominy. The Inds. made it
by placing hardwood ashes in a container with a small hole in the bottom. They
filled the container with the ashes and poured in a quantity of cold water. The
yellow liquid which dripped out of the hole was lye.
"This technique of processing corn with wood-ash lye has been found to
reduce some of its essential amino acids, but it dramatically increases the amount
of the amino acid lysine and also the amount of niacin. Thus this treatment of
corn enhances its nutritional value selectively. For people whose diet depended
heavily on corn, this technique probably reduced the incidence of pellegra.
"Cracked hominy was one of the most important items in the... diet. The
process of its manufacture began with the placing of a quantity of thoroughly dry
kernels of corn into a vessel filled with cool water to which was added a cup
of wood-ash lye. After soaking it overnight, the corn was drained and placed in
a mortar and lightly pounded with a pestle to crack the grains and loosen the
hulls. The cracked grain was then separated from the hulls in a fanner, a large
flat basket with a shallow pocket on one side. The corn was placed, a little at
a time, on the flat part of the fanner. When the fanner was agitated, the
heavier pieces of hominy rolled into the pocket while the lighter husks remained on
the flat part to be flipped away. The cracked hominy was then emptied from the
pocket and the process repeated until all the hulls had been separated out.
"From cracked hominy the Inds. made a kind of soup by putting it in a pot
of water and cooking it about four hours, stirring frequently and adding enough
water to keep the mixture thin. For flavor, they sometimes added a little
wood-ash lye until the hominy began to turn yellow. When the hominy was done they
poured it in a large earthen jar, taking out portions to eat when they wanted it.
The Creeks called this dish sa*fki ("sofkee"), the Cherokees called in
ganohe*ni, and the Choctaws called it tanfula. They often set jars of it in a
moderately warm place and allowed it to sour or ferment slightly. They usually drank it
cold... Cracked hominy was hospitality food. The Cherokees served it to
visitors. Inside their houses the Choctaws kept a bowl of it with a spoon alongside
and a visitor who failed to eat a little of it was considered impolite.
HONEY LOCUST: Probably the main source of "sweet" was from the honey locust
tree. "The sweet pulp from the pod of the honey locust tree (Gleditsia triacanthos
L.) is edible, and the Inds. sometimes dried it, ground it up, and used it as
a sweetener".
PUMPKIN: Dry pumpkins as soon after the harvest as possible. The old-time
drying method was to slice whole pumpkins into thin rings, peel the rings, remove
the seeds and stringy pulp from the centers, and hang the rings from a broom
handle or other stick propped between rafters in the ceiling or attic.
"Native Americans showed the Pilgrims how to dry pumpkin and grind it into
meal for year-round use. Corn bread made with pumpkin is still popular in some
areas of New England. Any recipe will gain food value, flavor, and color if you
substitute pumpkin meal for a small part of the flour - say 1/4 to 1/2 cup
To grind, use dried raw slices. In a Vitamix or other mixer they can become
flour in less than a minute. Thin slices (sliced in a food processor) readily
grind into flour; while thick slices tend to grind into a coarser meal. Either
way, take care not to inhale the powder that billows up when you transfer the
flour into an airtight container for storage.
For pumpkin seed oil: Grind the seeds in a blender and set the meal aside
until the oil rises to the top. If you want to use the oil in salad dressing,
just pour it off. If you plan to use it in a skillet, strain it through a coffee
filter to minimize burning. Use the remaining meal to thicken soups, stews, and
sauces.
CASSINE YAPON: Bartram noted the Cassine yapon (Cassine vomitoria) near the
Jore village in the Cherokee country under semicultivation: "Here I observed a
little grove of the Cassine yapon, which was the only place where I had seen it
grow in the Cherokee country; the Inds call it the beloved tree, and are very
careful to keep it pruned and cultivated; they drink a very strong infusion of the
leaves, buds and tender branches of this plant, which is so celebrated, indeed
venerated by the Creeks and all the Southern maritime nations..."
CHINA ROOT: (Brier Smilax): "From these roots while they be new or fresh beeing
chopt into small pieces & stampt, is strained with water a juce that maketh
bread, & also being boiled, a very good spoonemeate in maner of a gelly, and is
much better in tast if it bee tempered with oyle."
"They dig up these roots, and while yet fresh and full of juice, chop them
in pieces, and then mascerate them well in wooden mortars; this substance they
put in vessels nearly filled with clean water, when, being well mixed with
paddles, whilst the finer parts are yet floating in the liquid, they decant it off
into other vessels, leaving the farninaceous substance at the bottom, which,
being taken out and dried, is an impalpable powder or farina, of a reddish color.
This, when mixed in boiling water, becomes a beautiful jelly, which, sweetened
with honey or sugar, affords a most nourishing food for children or aged
people; or when mixed with fine corn flour, and fried in fresh bears grease, makes
excellent fritters."
MAPLE SUGAR: "They are said to have tapped trees on a stream near Old Tellico
and on Limestone Creek, while Hawkins witnessed the process at a point near the
present Atlanta. Mooney informed Mr. Henshaw, it is true, that before they met
Europeans, the Cherokee "extracted their only saccharine from the pod of the
honey locust, using the powdered pods to sweeten parched corn and to make a
sweet drink", but if so they must have adopted the custom of extraction from the
sugar maple at an early period and there seems to be no reason why they could not
have done this before white contact as well as after it "
PUMPKINS (POMPIONS): "For this purpose they are cut into the shapes of pears
or other fruits and preserved thus with very little sugar, because they are
naturally sweet. Those who are unacquainted with them are surprised to see entire
fruits preserved without finding any seeds inside. The(y) are not only eaten
preserved; they are also put into soups. Fritters (bignets) are made of them,
they are fricasseed, they are cooked in the oven and under the embers, and in all
ways they are good and pleasing."
"When the pompions are ripe, they cut them into long circling slices, which
they barbecue, or dry with a slow heat"
SPICES: Lawson reports from Carolina, 1700-1702: Anise, Basil, Camomile,
Caraway, Chives, Comfrey, Coriander, Cumin, Garlic, Horseradish; Houseleek,
Licorice; Marjoram; Malt, Mint; Mustard, Pepper, Pot Herbs, Pot Marjoram, Rosemary,
Sarsaparilla, and Shallots.
"Maize (Zea mays) was the most widely dispersed and commonly used crop...
The Cherokee relied most heavily on three primary maize types: (1) "six weeks
corn" - consisting of small kernels, that ripened in about two months and were
often roasted: (2) "hominy corn" - a smooth, hard kernel, generally red, white,
blue, yellow, or a combination: and, (3) "flour corn" - the most important type,
with large, white kernels....
Corn provided the Cherokee with a rich source of carbohydrates, protein, and
fat.
"Ripe corn was usually harvested in the late summer, early fall and stored
in long cribs. Parched corn was used as a standard provision for long journeys
-- especially since it was a nutritious foodstuff. Otherwise, the principal
uses of corn included the processing of the kernels into various flours and cakes,
e.g., succotash, samp, hominy, hoe-cake, and ash-cake. Soups (some
semi-fermented) and stews (mixed with meats) were also prepared with corn.
"Second in importance to maize ... was the bean (Phaseolus). At least
eighty native species of this plant existed in North America during the prehistoric
period, with evidence of multiple domestication and limited diffusion ... The
Cherokee had access to several types of beans, although it is probable that
varieties of (kidney bean) and (lima bean) predominated...
"Beans were generally planted in the vacant rows alongside corn... a
symbiotic relationship existed between the two crops as the beanstalk was sometimes
used as a beanpole ... When examining the nutritional benefits of each crops...
the protein in corn was zein, while the bean had alpha and beta globulins. The
bean had a high lysine (amino acid) content compared to corn, and together the
two crops had high nutritional value.
"Several species from the genus Cucurbitacae (gourds) followed corn and the
bean. All twenty-six varieties of squash were native to the New World... wild
species, e.g., lagenaria gourds, grew in some southeastern locales, and certain
squashes and gourds may have been the earliest domesticated plants in the New
World.
"Three major species of Cucurbitacae can be identified, including squash,
gourd, and melons.
Of the many different squashes, the summer crookneck was one of the most
common, and it could be stored for winter use if necessary. The winter variety took
somewhat longer to grow, but it was considered more nutritious than the summer
species. A third type of squash that the Cherokees considered highly important
was the pumpkin. This large, round fruit provided them with valuable seeds that
yielded a rich supply of fats and proteins. The pumpkin took even longer to
mature than either the winter or summer squash, averaging close to 150 days before
ripening. Each type of squash could be cut into thin sections and hung on
racks to dry for storage and winter use. It might also be boiled, baked in ashes,
used in breadmaking, or dried."
"The gourd (lagenaria) probably found greater use than any other member of
the Cucurbitacae family -- possibly constituting the most utilitarian of all
plant foods. As an early domesticate, the bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria) one
of the shelled varieties of the species, had over twenty-six know uses,
including water vessels, bows, lamps, baskets, masks (used in ceremonial dances)
containers, bird nests, medicine cups, spatulas, and scrapers).
"Last of the four major crops that received widespread use among the
Cherokee was the sunflower -- a versatile, native North American food plant. (They)
extracted an edible table oil from this plant by boiling the pulverized seeds
and removing the oil from the surface of the water. The seed could be parched and
mashed into flour and processed into bread or soups or it could be eaten raw,
dried, or roasted. Lastly. the larger seeds might be saved for next year's
planting.
"A species of sunflower, Jerusalem Artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus) offered
a hardy and prolific tuber, that was usually baked or boiled as a vegetable.
(They) usually planted this tuber in the early spring and harvested it in
autumn, winter, or when needed.
"Soon after initial contacts with the Spanish in the sixteenth century,
(they) adopted additional plant foods that could be cultivated with relative ease.
An important member of the gourd family of Cucurbitacae was the watermelon
(Citrullus vulgaris) that proved not only a tasty fruit, but also an oily, yet
nutritious edible seed. The sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) seems to have become an
essential food to the Cherokee .. Peas (Pisum sativum) were mentioned as a
prominent crop... although they were known to have been introduced by the Spanish
during earliest contacts.
SQUASH: "these being boiled whole when the Apple is young, and the Shell
tender, and dished with Cream or Butter, relish very well with all sorts of Butcher's
Meat, either fresh or salt. And wherewas the Pompion is never eaten till it be
ripe, these are never eaten after they are ripe."
Wild Plants: "The Cherokees often found it both practical and necessary to
augment their diets with wild plant life. Uncultivated vegetal species abounded in
Cherokee lands and provided the native with an array of foods, that, in most
cases, thrived independent of man's activities. Specifically, when boiled,
spinach-like plants such as the Amaranth (pigweed), Trillium grandiflorium, and
Chenopodium album (goosefoot) furnished a highly nutritious vegetable foodstuff.
Also, species of "Tuckahoe" (Pachyma cocos), consisting of a large fungus found in
the roots of trees, after cooking, resembled potatoes in taste and could be
eaten as a starchy vegetable or processed into a palatable breadstuff.
There "were many varieties of the plant Smilax, including, Smilax bona-nox
(stretchberry, Smilaxglauca, Smilax pseudo-China (ChinaBrier), Smilax
rotundifolia, and Smilax herbacea (carrior flower) Most commonly used by the Cherokees
were probably the Catbriers (e.g., Smilax glauca and Smilax rotundifolia). These
nutrient-rich tuberous rootstocks, when crushed and mixed with sweetening
agents, yielded very delicious and useful flour. Smilax pseudo-China, when chopped
and soaked in water, offered a farinaceous residue that dried into a reddish
powder - sweet, nourishing, and popular among the natives. All of the Smilax
evergreens grew best in sandy (or clay), well-drained soils, and usually in wooded
coves or thickets.
"Other tuberous roots of value included: Arrowhead (Sagittaria
engelmanniana and Sagittaria latifolia) -- shallow water plants; Nut Grass, found in wet,
sandy soils, and False Spikenard -- associated with deciduous woodlands, and
consisting of rootstocks that furnished a salubrious and sought-after food.
Ground-nuts (Apios apios), a creeping vine with purple flowers, produced a starchy
edible tuber at the stem base, as well as pea-like seeds; it thrived in moist,
rich thickets and along streams. As a ready food, ground-nuts abounded throughout
the southeast, and often served as a dietary mainstay.
"Judicious utilization of plant life by the Cherokees is perhaps best
exemplified by the Cat-tail. A highly diverse plant in structure and potential human
use, the Cat-tail provided pollen as a flour, the bloom (spikes) as an
"asparagus-like-vegetable, the root could be cooked as a vegetable, and the stalk was
peeled and eaten like a cucumber. It was generally gathered throughout Cherokee
country in the shallow waters of rivers, lakes, and ponds."
FRUITS
"The Southeastern Inds. enjoyed a variety of wild fruits and berries.
The most important fruit was the persimmon (Diospyros virginiana L.) a small
tree-borne fruit that is highly astringent until late fall and early winter, when
it develops a delicious datelike flavor. Eating an underripe persimmon is an
unforgettable experience; they should be gathered after they have fallen to the
ground and are soft and pulpy. The Inds. gathered several varieties of wild
grapes -- muscadines and scuppernongs -- which mainly grow in swamps and along the
banks of rivers. They also ate wild cherries, pawpaws ( Asimina triloba L.),
tart crab apples (Malus coronaria [L.], Mill) and small, reddish-orange wild
plums (Prunus L.).
Where available they ate prickly pears (Opuntia Mill.) and maypops (Passiflora
incarnata L.).
"They picked and ate large quantities of berries during the summer months,
including blackberries, gooseberries, raspberries, and small but sweet wild
strawberries. From trees they picked huckleberries, tart black gum berries,
mulberries, serviceberries, and palmetto berries.
"Of the fruits there are some of an excellent flavour, particularly
several sorts of grapes, which, with proper culture, would probably afford an
excellent wine. There are likewise plumbs, cherries, and berries of several kinds...
but their peaches and pears grow only by culture... add to these several kinds
of roots, and medicinal plants, particularly the plant so esteemed by the
Chinese, and by them called gingsang..."
GRAPES: "...many native species of the North American grape prevailed in the
southeast. Most common of the wild grapes included varieties of the Muscadine
(Bitis rotundifolia), sand grape (Vitis rupestris) and wild grape (Vitis
reporia). "Cherokees" did not cultivate grapes, however, nor did they ferment the
berry, until contacts with Europeans in the 18th century. An abundance of the wild
species, plus a comparably small population, eliminated the necessity for
nurturing large quantities of this cultivar. Grapes, as well as other succulent
fruits, normally ripened during the later summer and early fall months, and usually
grew below 2,500 feet along stream courses and in moist, siliceous soils".
Some fruits were considered so important that they were given ceremonial
status. Longe, in 1715, mentioned "The Feasts of the First Fruits" and the
importance of "muskemilons", "pompkin", etc. Buttrick discussed the Anoyi, or
strawberry moon, that began the Cherokee year and coincided with the vernal equinox.
(Buttrick, 1884: 16). It was at this time that corn, beans, and potatoes were
planted. Furthermore, the natural year was divided into seasons on the basis of
crop maturity, e.g., March -- honey month; April -- strawberry month; May --
mulberry month, etc.
PEACHES: "Peaches (khwa-na) were prepared like persimmons, either 'pounded' and
mixed with flour for 'great loaves' of bread, barbecued and dried for winter
storage, or 'seethed' to flavor soups and drinks."
An interesting observation was made of a southeastern house: among other
foods "barbecued peaches, and peach bread, which peaches being made into a
quiddony (a quiddony or quiddany was a thick fruit-syrup or jelly; originally and
properly made from quinces) and so made up into loaves like barley cakes, these
cut into thin slices, and dissolved in water, makes a very grateful acid, and
extraordinary beneficial in fevers, as has often been tried, and aproved on, by
our English practioners".
PERSIMMONS: "In old fields, (ka-lage-si) up to 3,500 feet, persimmon
(tsa-lu-li: pucker mouth) pioneered and provided sweet autumn fruit for Cherokees,
songbirds, and foraging game like deer, bear, raccoon, rabbit, turkey, and possum.
Women collected persimmons to dry and store or to seed, pound, and knead into
cakes. From "pissimmons" according to James Adair: they made "very pleasant bread,
barbicuing it in the woods".
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