Ashland tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919, 1917-11-26
Edible Products
From Forest Trees

1t is said that Daniel Boone and
some of our other early pioneers
could go into the wilderness with only
rifle and 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 nowadays, persons who
know the food value of the fruits of
our native trees and shrubs are, ac-
cording to foresters, able to use them
to good advantage in supplementing
other foods.
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 Importance,
of course, are our native nuts
beech nuts, butternuts, walnuts,
chestnuts, chinquapins, hazel nuts
'and several kinds Of hickory nuts, in
cluding pecans. The kernels Of all
these are not only toothsome 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 pur-
poses. The Indians. 1t is said, also
formerly mixed chestnuts with corn
meal and made a bread which was
baked in corn husks, like tamales.
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 dis
ease which in some sections Is gradu-
ally killing out the trees.
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 we'll.
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 treating
the pulp with hot water. The result
ing flour, which contained consider
able starch, was made either into
porridge or baked in small cakes of
bread. AS a rule, the acorns Of the
various white oaks, having less tan
min, are the ones best suited for food,
but Indians also used those OF the
black oaks, even though they contain
much tannin. The acorns of the bas-
ket or COW oak, the chinquapin oak,
shin or Rocky Mountain oak, live oak,
and of several other species, are
sweet enough to be eaten raw.
Another nut which is not suited
for eating raw, but from which pal
atable food is said to have been pre-
pared by the Indians, is the buckeye
or horse chestnut. The kernels Of
these nuts were dried, powdered and
freed Of the poison which they con-
tain when raw by filtration. The re-
sulting paste was either eaten cold
or baked
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 pinion, which forms
the basis for local industry of some
size. Not only is it extensively eaten
by local settlers and Indians, but
large quantities are shipped to the
cities, where the seed is roasted and
sold on the streets. 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 its use
as food by the Digger Indians. The
seeds of the long-leaf 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.