Native American - Introduction

Picture credit:  California Intermountain Culture

Their Food Lives in California

Living in a land of great plenty … There is no record of starvation anywhere in Central California.  Even the myths of this area have no reference to starvation.  All around the Ohlones were virtually inexhaustible resources; and for century after century the people went about their daily life secure in the knowledge that they lived in a generous land, a land that would always support them.  Malcolm Margolin, The Ohlone Way - Indian life in the San Francisco-Monterey Bay area (Berkeley, CA: Heyday Books, 1978), 40.

The groups of Indians we call the Ohlone lived between Point Sur and the San Francisco Bay. (Margolin, 1)  They had available to them shellfish, fish, rabbits and other small mammals, birds, eggs, seeds, greens, pine nuts, acorns, and more.  (Margolin, 13-23)

California is geographically and ecologically diverse, so it is unreasonable to expect the entire state to be a land of “inexhaustible resources.”  Yet non-Indian observers who recorded the food gathering and eating habits in various locations found, sometimes to their surprise, a wide variety of items available, even in the desert.

“I cannot pretend to have exhausted the food supply for these Indians, but I have discovered not less than sixty distinct products for nutrition … all derived from desert or semidesert localities …,” wrote David Prescott Barrows when studying the Cahuilla Indians in southeastern California in the late 19th century.  David Prescott Barrows, “Desert Plant Foods of the Coahuilla” in  R. F. Heizer and M. A. Whipple, eds., The California Indians - A Source Book, 2nd ed; rev. ed. (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1971), 306.  He listed honey mesquite, screwbean mesquite (tornillo), various species of Chenopodium (amaranth), agave, yucca, date palms, junipers, acorn, pine nuts, various cacti, and more. (Heizer and Whipple, 308-314)

It is that ecological diversity and the abundance it provided that allowed most California Indians to remain hunter-gatherers.   S. J. Jones, “ Some Regional Aspects of Native California”, in R. F. Heizer and M. A. Whipple, eds. The California Indians - A Source Book, 2nd ed; rev. ed. (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1971), 88-89.  They didn’t require traditional agricultural methods because a generous environment provided a more-than-adequate diet.  (Margolin, 45)  The Chumash Indians of the Santa Barbara area, in particular, were noted for their hunter-gatherer skills: 

They had a technology – the tools and techniques – for collecting, processing and storing these foods efficiently.  And they had a trade network, stretching from the Channel Islands to the highest pine forests, which assured them access to a wide variety of foods all year round.  Because of their success in using the natural environment, they did not plant crops of corn, beans, and other vegetables as so many other American Indians did.  Nor did they raise domestic animals.  They relied, instead, on acorns and other nuts, seeds, roots, bulbs, and leaves from an incredible variety of native plants.  They also enjoyed an abundance of fish and shellfish from the rivers and ocean.  They were skilled at hunting the plentiful wild game:  deer, antelope, rabbits, birds and seals.  Beached whales provided an occasional feast.  Even such small animals as ground squirrels and grasshoppers were trapped and eaten. …

[Food] was usually so plentiful that they had ample time for leisure activities … There was time, too, for religious festivals and for the development of their arts and crafts to the highest standard.  … [The] Chumash were able to go beyond survival, to develop a truly unique and fascinating culture.  Lynne McCall and Rosalind Perry, project coordinators. California's Chumash Indians. (Santa Barbara, CA: John Daniel, Publisher, 1986), 12.

Only the groups who lived in the desert along the Colorado River bottomlands and the south end of the Imperial Valley did any farming, adding corn (maize), pumpkins, and beans to their diet.  Ralph L. Beals and Joseph A. Hester, Jr., “A New Ecological Typology of the California Indians” in R. F. Heizer and M. A. Whipple, eds., The California Indians - A Source Book, 2nd ed; rev. ed. (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1971), 82.

So where the people lived dictated what they ate.  Ralph L. Beals and Joseph A. Hester, Jr. provide a broad classification in “A New Ecological Typology of the California Indians”:

Coastal Tidelands Gatherers (Estero Bay to the Oregon border)	shellfish, surf fish, acorns, game including deer
Sea hunters and fishers	sea fish, shellfish, game, acorns, sea mammals
Riverine (salmon cultures)	fish especially salmon, acorns, tule, game
Lake	fish, tule, acorns, waterfowl, game
Valley or Plains	acorns, tule, game, fish including sturgeon and salmon, fresh or brackish water shellfish
Foothill	acorns, game, fish
Desert hunters and gatherers	piñon, mesquite, game, a wide variety of vegetable foods
Desert farmers	farm produce, mesquite, fish

(Heizer and Whipple, 74-81)

Their diet was also influenced by the pacing of the seasons: 

During the rainy winter the Ohlones collected mushrooms, and in the early spring, they gathered greens.  Clover, poppy, tansy-mustard, melic grass, miner’s lettuce, mule ear shoots, cow parsnip shoots, and the very young leaves of alum root, columbine, milkweed, and larkspur were all used, some as salad greens, some as cooking greens.  Seaweed was gathered, dried, and used as salt. 

Soon after the spring greens appeared came time for gathering roots.  With their digging sticks the women pried out of the ground cattail roots, brodiaea bulbs, mariposa lily bulbs, and soaproot bulbs. …

Finally, throughout the summer there were berries.  There were berries to cook, to eat out of hand, to dry for later use, or to make into a refreshing cider: strawberries, wild grapes, currants, gooseberries, salal berries, elderberries, thimble berries, toyon berries, madrone berries, huckleberries, and manzanita berries – all of them growing in great numbers.  (Margolin, 50)

This description of the Chumash diet appears to be applicable to any group found anywhere in the state:  “Their diet was broadly based and included virtually every good source of protein and nutrition in the area.”  Bruce W. Miller, Chumash, A Picture of Their World, (Los Osos, CA: Sand River Press, 1988.), 87.  The primary food staples changed according to the ecosystem the people lived in, but they were adept at finding and utilizing the resources available to them. 

 

My Intent

I will utilize a variety of resources to learn how California native people across the state prepared their foodstuffs:  books, articles, blogs.  One particularly excellent book is Temalpakh, Cahuilla Indian knowledge and usage of plants, by Lowell John Bean and Katherine Siva Saubel.  Lowell John Bean and Katherine Siva Saubel, Temalpakh:, Cahuilla Indian knowledge and usage of plants, (Banning, CA: Malki Museum, 1972; reprint 2003)   It provides a long list of plants and their uses as documented by David Prescott Barrows and other observers of native culture, and the authors interviewed members of the Cahuilla to verify and expand on that knowledge. 

It is also a convenient book as I live in Southern California close to the Cahuilla region, making it easy to venture out to find the plants.  Keeping in mind the hazards of eating plants that have not been correctly identified, I will also utilize A California Flora and Supplement by Philip A. Munz and David D. Keck, which provides botanical keys for accurate identification. Munz, Phillip A. in collaboration with David D. Keck.  A California Flora and Supplement.  Berkeley, CA:  University of California Press, 1973.

Preparation descriptions in my resources vary; some are detailed while others mention only the final product.  If I am unable to find a description of Native American preparation methods for a known food item, I will utilize modern sources that appear to be using techniques comparable to what Native Americans would have had available at pre-contact.  When I acquire the food item, I will try the instructions and write about my experiences.

Ranchos - Making Chicos, a Pinedo recipe

On page 57 of Miss Pinedo's book, I found a recipe that described a stew that features a dried corn product called "chicos."  The recipe was simple:  first it described how to make the chicos, then said how to make the stew.

A look around the internet lead me to some New Mexico sites.  Edible New Mexico says this:

Chicos are dried kernels of sweet corn, traditionally roasted in an horno. Once rehydrated, they taste just like the sweetest roasted summer corn you’ve ever had, intensified. This is serious New Mexican food, completely obscure outside of the state, and even many who grew up here have never tried them. I’ve never seen them in a restaurant, but they are worth seeking out. They’re actually listed on the U.S. Ark of Taste, a catalog of outstandingly delicious traditional foods in danger of extinction.

I looked, but I could not find any reference to chicos in the Ark of Taste site.  However, I believe that chicos are probably not well known outside of New Mexico and most likely not well known in that state.  Which is surprising because corn isn't a hard ingredient to acquire.

I happened upon a big pile of fresh corn at the market, so I decided to make chicos.

Chicos.

Despues de cocidos los helotes, se ciman y se pone á secar el maiz en el sol. Se guarda en un lugar seco.

Cuaudo se necesita, se toma la cantidad necesaria y se cocina.

Poned el maiz despues de bien cocido en salsa de tomate ó se guisa con chile colorado y queso rallado.

Chicos.

After the corn cobs are cooked, their tops [are removed] and put out to dry in the sun. Store in a dry place.

When needed, take the necessary amount and cook.

Put the well-cooked corn in tomato sauce or it is stewed with red chili and grated cheese.

My Notes

I followed this article for more detailed advice:  New Mexico Nomad, "Chicos".

My three fresh ears of corn were put on a tray into a 170 degree F oven for 10 hours, then allowed to cool in the oven for 2 hours, then on the counter overnight.

Fresh from the market

After slow cooking for ten hours.

After that, I pulled back the husks and removed the silks.

The husks were tied together with a string and hung from a hook in front of a bright window.  This allowed them to get sun and air circulation for drying, and I didn't have to leave them outside to experience the vagaries of nature.

I noticed that the kernels smelled very good.  They were still moist under the husks, and the kernels that were not covered by the husks while cooking had turned a dark brown.

Beginning to dry.

After 2 weeks of drying

Close up of two weeks of drying

I let them dry for two weeks.  I noticed that the kernels were separating and they started feeling harder and not as moist.  They had also turned a more golden rather than bright yellow.

So I let them dry for nearly two more weeks, for a total of about four weeks.  The kernels were noticeably dryer and a deeper gold after that time.

After nearly 4 weeks of drying

The kernels were easily rubbed off the cobs, which I let fall onto a tray.  There were some small membrane-like pieces that joined the kernels.  Most of those I kept in with the kernels.  The rest I could blow with my breath.  I suspect winnowing the kernels in a wide basket would remove this if I really felt the need.

Off the cob

One thing I noticed was a darkened region on the cob below kernels near where the husks attach (on one cob) and on the kernels themselves that were slightly under the husks.  I wondered if it was mold, and I was concerned about eating these kernels.  I kept the ones from the cob because they were the same color as all the others, but left the ones under the husk because they were darker.

Mold?

When I originally translated the recipe, I thought the husks were supposed to be pulled up and tied, but after seeing this I reread what Miss Pinedo had written, "they were topped", and realized that she probably meant the husks were supposed to be removed, as the website I referenced said.  

What I got from these three ears was about 8 ounces of chicos, which I will cook with and report on in another post.

This was so easy to do, I am still surprised that people don't make this at home or that companies don't make it for sale.

Another day I brought home some more, smaller ears and decided to dry them without baking at all.  I pulled the husks off and placed them on a wire mesh basket so air could circulate all around them.  I was surprised that I got some mold on some of the kernels - possibly because they weren't roasted?  The good kernels were small, so they didn't add much to the chicos I had already made.  

Black spots are mold.