The Oskaloosa herald., 1917-11-15
NATURAL IFl1ODSH
OF THE FOREST
INFORMATION ABOUT OUR UN-
KNOWN RESOURCES.
GIVEN BY FORESTRY SERVICE
Food Value Of Various Nuts and
Fruits-Even the Grab Apple and
Persimmon Are Worthy of
Conservation.

that Daniel Boone and some of our
other early pioneers could go into the
wilderness with only a rife and a sack
of salt and live in comfort on the
game and other wild food which the
woods afforded While few people
want to try that sort of thing nova
days, persons who know the food
value of the fruits of our native trees
and shrubs are, according to forest
ers, able to use them to good advan-
tage in supplementing other foods.
.. Our Native Nuts.
Aside from the numerous edible
mushrooms, roots, fruits of shrubs
and smaller plants, the trees of our
| forests afford large variety of edi-
bles which are highly priced by
woods connoisseurs. First in inn
portance, of course, are our native
nuts-beech nuts, butternuts, wal
nuts, chestnuts and chinquapins, ha-
eel nuts, and several kinds of hick-
DRY nuts, including pecans. The
kernels of all of these are not only
tootbsome but highly nutritious and
are used by vegetarians to replace
meat. The oil of the beech nut is
said to be little inferior to olive oil,
while that of butternuts and walnuts
was used by some of the Indians for
various purposes. The Indians, it
is said, also formerly mixed chest
| n,,fc vrrifh al nd Ia n
which was baked in corn husks, like
tomales. In parts of Europe bread
is made from chestnuts alone. The
chestnut crop in this country is being
: reduced each year by the chestnut.
blight disease which in some sections
I is gradually killing out the tree.
Acorn For Food.
| Acorns are commonly thought to be
fit only for feeding hogs, but many
kinds of them can be made edible
and nourishing for people as well.
The Indian custom was to pound or
grind the acorns up and leach out the
tannin, which makes most of them
unfit for eating when raw, by treat
ing the pulp with hot water. The
resulting flour, which contained con-
siderable starch, was made either in,
to a porridge or baked in small cakes
of bread. AS rule, the acorns of
the various white oaks having less
tannin are the ones best suited for
food, but Indians also used those of
the black oaks, even though they con-
bot 0f
the basket or cow oak, the chinqua-
pin oak, shin or Rock Mountain oak
live oak, and of several other spe.
cies, are sweet enough to be eaten
raw.
Another nut which is not suited for
eating raw, but from which a palat,
able food is said to have been pre-,
pared by the Indians is the buckeye
The kernels of these nuts were dried
powdered, and freed of the poison
which they contain when raw by fiji.
tration. The resulting paste was
either eaten cold or baked.
Pines Have Food
Several western pines have seeds
which play an important part in the
diet of the local Indians. Perhaps
the best known of these is the fruit
of the nut pine or pinon which forms
the basis for local industry of some
size. Not only is it extensively eat
en- by local settlers and Indians, but
large quantities are shipped to the
cities where the seed is roasted and
sold on the street. The similar seed
of the Parry pine and the large Dig
ger pine seeds are eagerly sought by
the Indians. The latter tree is said
to have gained its name from it's use
as food by the Digger Indians. The
seeds of the longleaf pine are. edible
and are improved by roasting. In
deed, it may be said that most nuts
are more digestible> when roasted
than if eaten raw.
The Puckery Persmmon.
One of the best known fruits, the
foresters say, is the persimmon,
which is edible only alter it is thor
oughly ripe. AS this is usually not
until late in the fall, it is commonly
thought that the fruit must be frost
bitten. If the persimmon is eaten
before it is well ripened, the fannie
acid which the fruit contains has a
strongly astringent effect, which JUS
titles the story of the soldier in the
Civil War who said he had eaten
green persimmons so as to shrink his
stomach up to fit his rations The
pawpaW. or custard apple, is also
best when thoroughly ripe. The
fruit of some species of haws is eaten
or preserved in different parts of the
country, while those of several diff.
ferent kinds of wild cherries have
food value and are used for various
purposes. Wild pIums are abund-
ant in certain sections and occur in
particularly plentiful quantities along
the streams in the Eastern and Mid
die Western states
Crabs Are Good.
Several varieties OF wild crab ap
pies make delicious jellies. Some of
the largest, which attain the size of