Page 34 - Fall2012

Early photos many years, but required burning to maintain berries were gathered in substantial quantities
show large, their quality and quantity each year. The late and often dried and stored for winter use. Fruits
Rosalie Bethel, North Fork Mono, remembers, such as huckleberries (Vaccinium), gooseberry
concentrated “They used to burn for the clovers. It would in- (Ribes), sourberry (Rhus trilobata), wild grape
patches of crease the quality—the clovers would be young (Vitis californica), wild strawberries (Fragaria),
accessible and tender and increase in amount.” Clovers (Tri- blackberries, thimbleberries, blackcap raspber-
folium) were perhaps more widely eaten than any ries (Rubus), holly leaf cherry (Prunus ilicifolia),
berries from other greens, and were eaten fresh or steamed, elderberry (Sambucus mexicana), and many oth-

which one or dried and stored for use in the off-seasons for ers were valued. The medicinal values of these
could gather making soups. The Choinumne pulled up hand- fruits—the elderberry for example—“were well-
fuls of the tender first clover, rolled them into known to our ancestors,” writes Rhonda Robles,
much fruit in balls between the palms of their hands and put Ajachmem.
4
a short time. them into their mouths. After thoroughly chew- Fruits are used to make beverages such
ing the clover-balls, they added salt by sucking as the sour fizzy drink made from sourberry
on a length of saltgrass (Distichlis spicata). favored by the Sierra Miwok in hot weather.
The drink with the most widespread use, still
FRUITS popular today, is made from crushed manzanita
Many native fleshy fruits and berries were fruit. Thomas Jefferson Mayfield, writing of his
available to California Indians and these plants youth with the Choinumne in the 1850s, says,
responded to their management; early photo- “A sweet cider was made from the juice of the
graphs show large, concentrated patches of manzanita berries. They were crushed in mortars
accessible berries from which one could gather and set in wicker colanders to drain into baskets.
much fruit in a short time. Such fleshy fruits or A little water was added to the crushed berries.
This made a sweet and well-flavored cider, and
I remember it with more relish than anything I
ever ate or drank with the Indians.” With over
1
fifty species of manzanita native to California's
varied landscape, tribes had their own favored
local ciders, each reflecting its own particular
terroir.

FUNGI
Throughout the year mushrooms provided
an important accompaniment to acorn, venison,
elk-meat, fish and other dishes. Some California
tribes gathered at least nine or ten different
kinds, considering them a staple food. Varieties
included chanterelles, morels, boletes, corals,
puffballs and other soil-growing fungi. Others,
such as willow or oyster mushrooms and giant
sawtooths, were cut or torn from the trunks or
branches of live and dead trees and then dried
in large quantities.

ANIMAL FOODS IN MANAGED
LANDSCAPES
Figure 3. In addition to burning oak woodlands Animal foods were an essential part of the
and grasslands, California Indian women saved
edible seeds of wildflowers and grains of grasses diet for California's first peoples; the diversity
and sowed them in appropriate habitats to ensure of animal foods incorporated into this diet again
future harvests. reflects an in-depth knowledge of and participa-
34 Wise Traditions FALL 2012 FALL 2012 Wise Traditions

101665_text.indd 34 9/14/12 1:33 AM