Native American Ingredients To Add To Your Culinary Repertoire

The pre-colonial diet of Native Americans was full of nutritious foods that tended to be low fat and high in nutrients. So, adding some of these natural foods into your diet can be advantageous for your health as well as help expand your culinary repertoire.

To learn more about indigenous ingredients, we talked with two experts on indigenous foodways and cooking with de-colonized ingredients (those that existed before European colonization). Both have written award-winning books on the subject. One is chef Sean Sherman, an Oglala Lakota Sioux tribe member who created the Owamni restaurant, featuring de-colonized menu items. He also wrote "The Sioux Chef's Indigenous Kitchen." Our other source is Devon Mihesuah, who is the Cora Lee Beers Price Professor at the University of Kansas and enrolled citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. She's the author of "Recovering Our Ancestors' Gardens: Indigenous Recipes and Guide to Diet and Fitness."

Mihesuah notes that "people already use a good many of food items that are indigenous to this hemisphere [such as] corn, peppers, potatoes (NOT yams), [and] beans." If you want to try some of the less common ones, Sherman suggests "specialty stores and online retailers focused on Indigenous foods [and] sites like natifs.org [that] share resources to help people locate Indigenous ingredients sustainably. Some local farmers' markets may feature regional produce or traditional ingredients grown by small-scale or Native farmers." He says, "I would also encourage connecting with nearby Tribal communities." So, it's easier than ever to add indigenous ingredients to your diet or even try them in Native American restaurants.

Many people have misconceptions about Native American grains since wheat flour features in modern Native American foods. However, Devon Mihesuah points out that "tribes did not make 'grape dumplings' with sugar or white flour as we see on many online 'traditional Native American recipes' websites. And, frybread is NOT a traditional food." Instead, it was created after tribes were moved from their native lands and were forced to subsist on white flour available to them from trading and government food resources.

A few indigenous grains that are fairly easy to find and incorporate into your cooking repertoire are wild rice, blue corn meal, and quinoa. Chef Sean Sherman says, "Wild rice has a rich, earthy flavor and is incredibly versatile, working as a base for many dishes." He says it's also "readily available in many grocery stores and makes a wonderful base for hearty salads, soups, or side dishes." He adds cornmeal "works in a variety of recipes, like cornbread, pancakes, or as a crust for proteins." Mihesuah suggests quinoa, which she says, "goes with the same foods that people normally match with rice."

If you want to try something a little different, you'll find amaranth to be a versatile option. Chef Sherman says it's used both as "a highly nutritious grain and leafy green." He also mentions that it's "another plant that's easy to grow and very adaptable. Mihesuah says, "I pop amaranth seeds and put those in bars along with agave nectar, nuts, and seeds." It also makes a great porridge, can be used in bread, or can replace up to a quarter of cornmeal in recipes. A good option is Bob's Red Mill Organic Amaranth.

Beans are essential components of Native American cuisine, representing an easily portable source of protein. There are numerous beans that are indigenous to North America. Chef Sean Sherman says that "native heirloom varieties of corn, beans, and squash — known as the 'Three Sisters' ... can be grown in companion planting systems that support each other and enrich the soil." Native Americans were growing these three together since at least A.D. 1070 for mutual benefit. Beans climbed corn stalks for support, squash prevented weeds, and beans converted nitrogen to nitrates to provide fertilizer for all the roots.

While many are ones you're only likely to find through heirloom seed companies like Native Seeds, others have remained in the public rotation. You've likely already been eating many beans indigenous to North America, such as creamy and tender great northern beans, quick-cooking and soft lima beans, firm navy beans, pinto beans (popular in Mexican cooking), and mild and earthy black-eyed peas.

There are plenty of lesser known ones to seek out and try either dried or to plant in your garden. These include quick-cooking Anasazi beans, creamy Appaloosa beans, creamy and mild Arikara yellow beans, earthy Aztec beans, meaty black turtle beans, creamy and delicate Hidatsa Shield Figure beans, delicate and mild Jacob's Cattle beans, creamy and mild marrow beans, pink pintos called pinquito, meaty Rio Zape beans, and earthy tepary beans. This list just scratches the surface.

While you may not have realized it, squash originated in the New World, with evidence of them being grown in Mexico as far back as 10,000 years ago. Thus, they were among the earliest crops that people planted purposefully. So, the squash you'll find in your grocery store today are all descended from earlier squash varieties.

The word "squash" comes from the Narragansett word "askutasquash." While Native Americans often roasted or boiled squash, "askutasquash" actually means "eaten raw or uncooked." One variety, gete okosomin, was nicknamed "big old squash" or "happy traveling seed squash" and was shared from tribe to tribe. It was this variety that many Native Americans sewed into their clothes for safekeeping on the Trail of Tears so that they would have a taste of home after their displacement.

You're likely acquainted with several varieties of squash. There are ones on the sweeter side like butternut and pumpkins as well as ones that go in a mild savory direction, like summer squash and acorn squash. Spaghetti squash are fun with stringy innards that are reminiscent of spaghetti. There are others you may not be as familiar with, like earthy and slightly sweet kabocha squash; sweet and mellow carnival, delicata, and sweet dumpling squash; mild and large blue Hubbard squash; chestnut-like red kuri squash; and mild buttercup squash. You'll find tons of recipes for squash that involve roasting, baking, frying, sautéing, grilling, putting them in salads, adding them to casseroles, stuffing them, and more.

When it comes to greens, there are more indigenous edible ones available to forage than you probably realized, and some are likely already in your yard, marauding as weeds and feeding local bees. If you know what you're looking for, you can gather quite a feast of greens from the lawns, forests, and fields around you.

The one you're most likely to recognize is dandelion greens, but there are so many more. Dandelion greens are more nutritious than spinach and are great sautéed as a side dish or served raw in a salad. Others that are good in salads include amaranth, chickweed, knotweed, lamb's quarters, plantain, and watercress. A collection of ones like amaranth, chickweed, dandelion greens, mustard, and watercress work well in place of basil to make pesto. Still others are good for soup or stew add-in, such as lamb's quarters and mallow. Mallow is also a good soup thickener.

There are a couple that are especially worth exploring because of their nutritional content. One of these is purslane. Although it's a succulent, you can use its leaves similar to the way you would use lettuce or spinach. Not only is it high in omega-3 fatty acids, but it has lots of antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals. Another highly-nutritious one is lamb's quarters, which is loaded with omega-3, omega-6, and high percentages of your daily amount of vitamins and minerals. While you can eat both raw, they're best cooked since the oxalic acid in them can upset your stomach.

When the leaves of plants have died back for the year with the coming of colder weather, many still offer up their roots, which have finally grown larger and are ready to eat. Several are worth exploring to add to your diet.

Most are fairly versatile. Dandelion roots are bitter but make great coffee when roasted. Cattail roots taste like a grassy mixture of corn and potatoes, and you can cook them like other root veggies. They're also useful as a thickener or flour. Another root of interest is the wapato (aka arrowhead, duck potato, and Indian potato). Simply cook them like regular potatoes and remove the skin. The roots of wild carrots are also nice even if they're not as large as you're accustomed to. Sunchokes (or Jerusalem artichokes) are another option, which are great roasted or even turned into pickles.

Timpsula (prairie turnip) is a root well-known to natives like the Lakota, who tell stories about how the hand-shaped leaves of one plant would point to the next plant to harvest. These roots taste similar to raw peanuts and have a variety of uses. You can roast, boil, or fry them. You can also add them to stews like more familiar root veggies. Dried and pounded into flour, they can be turned into porridge, used as a thickener, turned into bread, or made into trail bars. Some Native Americans in the Northern Plains area have de-colonized fry bread by making it with timpsula flour.

Seeds and nuts are another important source of nutrients and protein. You can likely find local groves selling nuts when they're in season. There are several nuts native to North America, including acorns, black walnuts, pecans, hickory nuts, and pine nuts. While the others can be eaten raw or roasted, acorns require grinding and leaching to remove the bitter tannic acid before using. Then, they can be used as a soup base or turned into flour to make everything from falafels and burgers to pancakes and porridge.

A nut that once featured largely in Native American cuisine in the Northwest U. S. was the chestnut. They once represented a fourth of the hardwood tree population in some areas of the Northwest. They're now far less prevalent after large blight hit them in the first half of the 1900s, but hybridized versions are making a comeback. Some people call chestnut trees "bread trees" because of how versatile the nuts are. Not only can you eat them raw and roasted like ordinary nuts, but they also act like potatoes when you boil them and you can even mash them. They're especially good paired with mushrooms.

Mushroom foraging is a popular way to experience a large number of indigenous fungi in the U.S. Of course, with the presence of potentially deadly mushrooms out in the forests and meadows, it's essential to be well-informed before picking and eating just anything. However, there are professional sources for buying foraged mushrooms online, or you might be lucky enough to find them at local farmers markets, too.

There are all sorts of mushrooms out for the taking if you know what you're looking for. Morels, lion's mane, chanterelles, hen of the woods, chicken of the woods, oyster mushroom, king trumpet, and giant puffballs are among the more popular ones that are fairly easy to identify once you know what you're looking for. Ones like chicken of the woods and oyster mushrooms are popular for tasting similar to their namesakes.

Another type of fungi that is noteworthy is corn smut, also known as huitlacoche, mape di, corn truffles, or devil's corn. It's technically a fungal disease that attacks sweet corn. However, the younger galls that look like grey corn kernels are edible. Boiled with your corn, they provide protein. It's also possible to use them as a taco filling, add them to soups or stews, incorporate them into cornbread, turn them into a sauce, and more.

Many of the fruits that you can find at the grocery store are native to North America, such as American plums, Concord grapes, raspberries, blueberries, cranberries, passion fruit, persimmons, pineapples, and numerous local berries. However, there are plenty of regional ones that you've likely never become acquainted with that are just as tasty.

If you're looking for something out of the ordinary try locating prickly pear cactus fruits or pawpaws. Prickly pear fruit grows on prickly pear cactuses and can be made into several things including candy, sauces, jelly, or dried fruit. Pawpaws are another type of fruit that's gaining a little more popularity these days. You're more likely to find them at farmers markets or made into preserves because of their short shelf lives. This custardy fruity is excellent eaten raw or used in desserts, and the Iroquois turned mashed pawpaws into cakes that they could later reconstitute to turn into sauces or cornbread.

Sean Sherman says that "one ingredient that's gaining recognition but isn't as widely known is chokecherry, a small fruit with a deep, tart flavor that works beautifully in sauces, preserves, or as a natural dye. It is native to the Plains and has been used traditionally for generations, and it's excellent for adding authentic, regional flavor to your cooking."

While the average grocery store offers meat from just a handful of domesticated animals, there are far more indigenous animals that could be gracing our plates. You don't have to necessarily be a hunter or fisher to enjoy them since you can often find more variety through local butchers or co-ops or buy them online. Something you may not have realized is that game meat that is able to roam and eat a natural diet has an advantage of being leaner, is free from hormones, and is lower in saturated fat.

Depending on what's prevalent in your area, you may find that you have easy access to various types of game meat like native sheep, deer, elk, moose, caribou, muskox, antelope, bear, and wild boar. Don't forget smaller animals like squirrels and rabbits that are more visible even in urban settings. Plus, there's plenty of tasty North American game birds, too, such as duck, grouse, pheasant, partridges, woodcocks, doves, wild turkey, and quail. Of course, some are acquired tastes.

Probably the most easily accessible native meat beyond native fish like salmon and catfish is bison. Although there's nowhere near the hundreds of millions that once roamed wild, there are plenty of ranchers selling bison meat to the public. It's fairly similar in flavor to beef, but slightly sweet and not at all gamey. So, you can cook it pretty much the same way as beef, taking into consideration that it's a lot leaner.

Refined sugar wasn't originally a part of the Native American diet, but there are plenty of natural native ingredients that are available to sweeten foods. The ones that likely come to mind are honey and maple syrup, but there are other natural sweeteners as well.

Devon Mihesuah recommends "agave nectar and camas bulbs. The latter are found in the NW. They were once used as trade items because of their sweetness. They are making a comeback because of tribal efforts." If you're looking for something that works a little more like sugar in recipes, Sean Sherman suggests maple sugar. He says that it "is a natural sweetener we often use in place of refined sugars" and that it "can replace other sweeteners in baking or drinks." Brands like Nova Maple Sugar are fairly easy to find online if you don't have any locally.

Another option that might be available in your own yard is to tap trees for syrup. It turns out that maple trees aren't the only ones that produce a sweet syrup, albeit the others have a lower yield and lower sugar content. Some native trees that are tappable include boxelders, butternuts, birches, sycamores, Douglas fir sugar trees, black walnuts, ironwoods, and hickories. You'll just need a tree tap kit like the ATOTOP Syrup Tapping Kit to get started, plus a bucket and a drill.

There's plenty of flavor to be had from wild ingredients. Some may be as close as your own backyard. Plus, there are lots of herbs, seasonings, and aromatics that are easy to grow.

Sean Sherman suggested a few that are easy to grow. He said that "native herbs like sage, sweetgrass, and mint can be grown in small garden spaces or pots." Some other native herbs include bergamot, juniper berries, mustard, and rosehips. Another seasoning that he mentions as an easy ingredient to incorporate into your everyday cooking is sumac. He says it "brings a bright, lemony acidity that pairs well with proteins and vegetables." Sherman also recommends using cedar. He says that "used sparingly, [it] adds a unique aromatic quality to broths and teas." You can literally boil a cedar branch in your broth for flavoring when you're making dishes like beans.

Devon Mihesuah has a slightly different approach to seasoning foods with native ingredients. She says, "I use tomato and various chile powders on almost everything. Sage goes well with meats. I dry then powder foods from the garden."

Some other native ingredients that are great for flavoring food are aromatics. Some of the most common aromatics you can find in the wild (maybe even in your yard) are wild onions, ramps, and wild garlic. While they may be smaller than cultivated versions at the store, they're just as flavorful.