Food and plants native to the America's part 2, a little less known

With no relation to the rice plant, wild rice, or "manomin/mahomen,manoomin" meaning, "good berry", packs much more flavor and nutrition, earning its name, "the caviar of grains". The wetland grass, reminded Europeans of rice patties, therefore calling it wild rice. There are three main varieties growing all over North America, zizania palustris, zizania aquatica (most well known), and zizania texana. Wild rice grows all over the United states, but most of it, in large quantities, is in the Northern U.S.

Traditionally Native Americans prepared for the harvest, during the fall, under the "rice moon". Celebrations began, and sometimes battles over harvesting territories. Often, women were the ones, gently tapping or shaking the little berries, or grains, into the canoes using juniper sticks, and then they were placed in the sun for two weeks to ferment, due to high water concentration, for preventing mold. After fermenting, they were parched, danced on, with gentle child's feet, then strained, and finally tossed in wind, to remove hulls, a long and tedious process, making modern day hand-harvested Native American wild rice, very pricey. If you are purchasing any other kind, its quality is questionable, and is also responsible for decreasing the income of Native Americans. Organic, hand harvested, from the great lakes region, is considered to be the most prized among wild rice varieties.

With only 83 calories for a 1/2 cup, it has more protein than both wheat and brown rice. It is full of niacin, a natural antidepressant and also thiamine and riboflavin, along with plenty more. It sky rockets in folic acid, compared to brown rice, 21.3 verses 3.9 grams, about 1/2 of our daily requirements, and also potassium ans zinc. All this nutrition is why settlers said the Natives who ate it were so healthy.

Native Americans called them "sassamanash", "atoqua" and "ibimi (bitter berry)". Natives made pemmican, a survival food for hard winter months, using mashed cranberries, deer meat, and animal fat, mashed into cakes. Cranberries were also mashed and mixed in with corn meal for a bread, and sweetened with maple or honey.  Tea was made to calm nerves, and cranberries were brewed to create medicine for wounds. North Eastern Native Americans also used them for dye.  Early European sailors and whalers used them to prevent scurvy, and the Dutch called them "crane berry" for its crane headed shaped flowers.

The Algonquin said it, "sinsibuckwud", while the Ojibway called it "sheesheegummavvis" meaning, "sap runs fast." Long before Europeans arrived, Natives to the Eastern North Americas, both the U.S. and Canada, tapped the Maples, by carving a "V" shape into the tree, and collecting the sap into their birch bark bowls.  They evaporated the extra water, with hot rocks, and made a syrup, or a wax sugar, or a grain sugar, depending on what use they wanted.  The bark, both inner and outer was also used for medicinal purposes. Algonquin and Iroquois used the bark to treat irritated eyes, muscle pain, hives, coughs, and diarrhea.

One of only a few fruits native to North America, different cousin blueberry plants are all also considered native to Eastern Asia and Northern Europe, some say, yet true wild blueberries are only found in North America. Blueberry flowers are shaped perfectly like the five pointed star, earning it the name of "star berry", believed to be a sacred gift of the Great Spirit, to relieve the hunger of little children, during hard times of famine and starvation.

Medicinally the root can be made into a tea to relax a woman during childbirth, and later settlers adopted this remedy. Also a tea from leaves have been used by Native Americans to purify the blood, and the juice of the berry itself was used to alleviate coughing. The berries were also used as a dye.

Settlers saw it like Scotland's blaeberry, or English whortberries, and other Europeans already had names for their version of blueberries, and carried this name on to become the modern day blueberry.

Native Americans enjoyed making stews, soups and sautauthig (saw-taw-teeg) or a beef jerky with dried,crushed blueberries rubbed into the meat, for long journeys.  The story of the blueberry goes back to Plymouth in the 1600's, where the Wampanoag taught settlers how to gather these berries and how to dry them and store them for the long winters ahead!

The only major tree nut of North America, the pecan tree is native to central, and East North America, and Mexican river valleys.  "Pecan" is an Algonquin term, or "pakan" that was also used for hickory nuts and walnuts, simply meaning, "must be cracked with a stone."  It is actually a bit easier to shell than other North American nuts and has a great taste, making it a long time favorite food source for Native Americans in the Autumn season.

   The fermented drink "powcohicora" made from pecans, is also where the word "hickory" was derived.  Pecan trees and walnut trees are actually in the hickory family! Pecan trees are found growing naturally nowhere else in the world, and today, after hundreds of years of cultivating, you can find pecan trees in Georgia with a diameter of over 7 feet!

   It is said that after being introduced to pecans by the Quinipissa and Tangipahoa native peoples of New Orleans, the French decided New Orleans was a great place to set up shop, and created the first pecan pie.  Almost 90% of the pecans fat, are unsaturated, and is full of vitamins and minerals, making you a little less guilt stricken for all those pecan pralines last Christmas!

"Keen-wah" or the gold of the Incas and the mother grain, la chisiya mama, is native to the Andes and has been a staple diet in Bolivia, Peru, and Chile, until the conquest of the Spanish. The Spanish brought along Catholicism, which did not take too kindly to the Incas God/king honoring Quinoa and performing rituals to the grain, even sacrificing children, animals and other things, in hopes of a good harvest. The grain was almost obliterated because of this conflict, and has taken hundreds of years to attempt at reclaiming its former glory.

Chicha was a beer of the Incas made from the grain, and it with corn and potatoes was a major staple. Coca and quinoa ash was placed in the cheeks of long distance runners, to withstand the altitude and send messages up to hundreds of miles away. Incas were very advanced in medicine and surgery, performing some of the first head injury surgeries to relieve pressure, that actually worked! They looked to quinoa for many medicinal properties. Loaded with calcium, it was fed to those with broken limbs and casts were made with quinoa plaster, this plaster was used for infected wounds as well.

It belongs to a group of ancient grains such as amaranth, buckwheat, spelt and millet. They were first cultivated around 3,000 B.C. as part of the Andean diet. Archeologists have found evidence that it was cultivated in North America before they were introduced to corn. From caves in Alabama to bluff dweller sites in Arkansas, historians and Archeologists have dated quinoa seeds dating to around 2,000 B.C.

The cashew tree is Native to North Eastern Brazil, Venezuela and the Caribbean Islands and was pushed out towards India and other Eastern Nations by Portugal sailors in the 16th century.  India took to the tree for its cashew apple, highly perishable, yet quickly ferments, and India started producing hundreds of thousands of gallons of liquor every year.  The Spanish and other explorers learned how to make the wine and other useful things out of the cashew tree from the Natives, and the tree was quickly adored by all European Americans, planting them all over warmer climates in the Americas. 

   This evergreen was used for its fruit, its nuts, and the uses of the nut's shell oil, and the sap of the tree itself.  The sap can be tapped for a natural insect repellent and a varnish, the nuts shell oil was used by natives treat scurvy, ringworm, psoriasis and other skin ailments, becuase it is a natural antibiotic.

   The cashews are related to the mango, pistachio, and poison Ivy.  The nuts are high in copper, magnesium and tryptophan. According to one recent documentary, 2 handfuls of cashews are equivalent to a Prozac, without all of the side effects.

One of the earliest fruits consumed  in Meso-America, the evidence of its consumption began around 8000 B.C. and was cultivated by 5,000 B.C. Aztecs called it "ahuacatl" meaning testicle because of its shape, and superstitions surrounded it being a natural sexual stimulant.  The Spanish used its seeds for the reddish brown liquid produced by pressing the seed in the center, for ink, and many of those documents are still in tact today.  English in Jamaica called them alligator pears, and Jamaicans still call them pears today.  Mummies in Peru, dated to 8th century B.C. had avocado seeds buried with them.

   Introduced to Indonesia by the 1750's and to South Africa and Australia by the 1800's, and despite growing them in the United States even longer, it did not become very popular here, until the 1950's.

"Pina' de Indes" or "pine of the Indians", as Columbus called them, were first tasted by Europeans in 1493,  while in Guadeloupe.  Contrary to popular belief, the pineapple is not from Hawaii, but was only later introduced into Hawaii, some say 1770, others say 1813. 

  This fruit has a long history with the Native peoples of Central and South America, and the Guarani Indians cultivated pineapples calling them nana' or anana's, (which means "excellent fruit")for thousands of years.

  By the 1500's it was exported all over the world, something that was once held sacred by pre-Incan people. According to Archeologists, pre-Incan ruins have carvings of pineapples all over them. The Caribbean Islanders were very fond of the fruit and drank its juice after large meals for digestion, and gave it to anyone with an upset stomach, and today with our knowledge of its enzymes we know this is actually very helpful in digestion. In the Caribbean, they also fermented the fruit to make a wine out of it.