How Native American Used Nuts

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        Which nuts do you like best? It would seem that people like pecans very much for more of them are sold in the markets than any other American nut. They are very desirable because they have thin shells and large kernels. The American Natives had learned to use pecans and other nuts for food long before the white man found this land. The Natives taught the colonists how to make a delicious food out of hickory nuts. They pounded the hickory nuts in water, skimmed off the floating shells and allowed the remaining mass to set until a rich creamy substance rose to the top as cream rises to the top of milk. That "cream was called 'pawhiccora" and the colonists shortened the term to "hickory," and called the shaggy-barked tree which bore the nuts by that name. Both the shag-bark and the shell-bark hickories are found in the eastern part of the United States and in the Mississippi Valley.

       The native black walnut is a richly flavored nut that grows from New England to Florida in the east, and from Minnesota to Texas in the west. The tree is valued more for its wood than for its nuts, although they are desirable. However, it takes a persevering boy or a hungry squirrel to get the kernels from the thick, hard, rough shells. The butternuts or white walnuts are even more delicious, but so rare they are seldom found. In earlier days, the colonial women used the green hulls of the butternuts to make a dye for their homespun cloth.

       Hazel nuts or filberts grow on small, bush-like trees in the northeastern and north-central parts of the United States, the large, colored scar around the base of the globe-shaped nut shows where the nut was attached to its outside covering. Within the shell is a single, dry, firm kernel of sweet and agreeable flavor.

       The nuts of the horse chestnut, which is a European tree planted for ornament, are not good to eat, but those of the "Chinquapin" are eaten. That American chestnut has been the reason for many "nutting party." In the Appalachian region where the chestnut is native, the trees grow to huge size. They bear their nuts in silken-lined burrs that have such long stickers it is impossible to get the nut until after the frost has caused the burr to pop open. Unfortunately, the tree is so easily killed by a disease called "Chestnut Blight" that it is fast disappearing. Most of the edible chestnuts bought in the markets come from southern Europe.

       The pinon pines of the far southwest bear nuts that are so well liked by the Natives and Mexicans of the region that they are an important part of the food supply and very few get into northern markets. The women beat the cones from the trees and heat them over a fire until the nuts fall out. Usually they eat them just as they are, but sometimes they grind the nuts into flour out of which they make bread. The Araucaria pines of Chile and southern Brazil bear similar nuts, but they are much larger. They are used as food there and can be bought in the markets when in season.

       The kidney-shaped cashews are usually imported from India but are really native to South America, where they are very common. The natives eat only the fleshy fruit and throw away the nut as you would throw away the core of an apple. The nut grows on the end of the fruit and the outer coat of its shell has a dark brownish fluid that has the same poisonous qualities as poison ivy. It causes blisters on the skin. After heating the poison disappears and the shell can be easily removed. The cashew nut is then ready for use as food.

       The most popular nuts from South America are the Brazil or cream nuts that grow on tall forest trees in the river lands of the Amazon region. A dozen to twenty nuts grow in a round, hard-shelled case as large as a grapefruit. This falls to the ground when ripe. Both men and monkeys hunt for Brazil nuts and the natives sell great quantities to American and English companies who ship them to northern markets.

       Certain introduced nuts, like the almond and English walnut, have become so important to us that they seem almost native. Coconuts and peanuts are also very familiar but neither is a true nut.

       When next you eat nuts will you be any better able than the squirrel to name the nuts you have? Leota G. Thomas

How Native Americans Preserved Food and Stored It