The Athena press. [volume] (Athena, Umatilla County, Or.) 18??-1942, 1918-02-08
MUCH Wild FOOD
IN The FORESTS
Uncle Sans Foresters Show
Value of the Fruits Of
Native Trees.
NUTS FIRST IN Importance
PersImmon and Pawpaw Among Best
Known Fruits, and Edible Berries
Of Many Kinds Are Found
Acorns Nourlshlng.


=. :. u,,a .ho+ Don,o, poora and
.on,o ~ our othor eorlv n,onaers could
49, ~ ,,,,aornoss ,v,th nnlv a
s,ao nua ,oo,, ~ so,+ ond live in
onroeort an tho oo,no ond other wild
sood ,yh,oh +ho woods q ofporded While
eo,s noon,o ,uont 70 trv tbot sort of
.hino norodovs norsons who know the
eand ro,no ~ .ha fr,,+s ~ our na.
.,uo +roos and sh,,,ho oro according to
Uncle Sans foresters, able to use
them to good advantage In supplement-
Ing other foods.
Aside from the numerous edible
mushrooms, roots, fruits Of shrubs and
smaller plants, the trees of our forests
afford large variety Of edibles which
are highly priced by woods connois-
seurs. First in Importance. of course,
are the native nuts-beechnuts, butter
nuts, walnuts, chestnuts and chinqua-
pins, hazel nuts, and several kinds OF
hickory nuts, including pecans. The
kernels of all Of these are not only
toothsome, but highly nutritious and
are used by vegetarians to replace
meat. The oil Of the beechnut Is said
to be little inferior to olive oil, while
that Of butternuts and walnuts was
used by some of the Indians for vari-
Gus purposes. The Indians, 1t Is said,
also formerly mixed chestnuts with
cornmeal and made bread Whlch was
baked In corn husks, ike tomales.
Some Acorns Are Edible.
Acorns oro common,v Thought, 70 he
n. onIu sor food,no hogs but MANY
L,rds ~ tbom con be made ed,ble and
nour,sh,ro sor noon,o os well The
Ind,on orstom wos to Mound or grind
tbo ocorns nm and ,eocb out tbe tan.
min which makas most of them unfit
FOR eating whom raw nv treating the
min with hot woter The resulting
fonr which contained considerable
starch was made either into a DOR.
,1doe or baked in small cakes of
hraah Ad fnln tho nRnrnQ 0f me
vor,ous white oohs having less tonnin
n ro tbe ones host su,ted for food. but
Tnd,ons olso usod those of tbe black
ono. even Though tbev contain much
tonn,n rho acorns Of the basket or
cow oak tbe cbinouapin oak shin or
Rocky Maintain oak live oak md ~
savero, other snec,es ore sweet enough
IN he eoton raw
Anothor nut which 10 MT su,ted for
oot,ro row hut from which n na,atable
food ia said to have heen nrenared hv
the Indians ia the buckeve The ker-
malls ~ thoso nuts were dr,ad nowder.
ed and freed of tbe no,son which
thov contain whom r,w nv filtration
The resulting nnste was either eaten
co,d mr. boked
Ono of tho hest.known fruits the
forestorns sov ia the nersimmon
which is edible only after IT ia thor.
ougblv rine AS thIs ia usuallv NOT
until lote I'm the fall II ia commonly
thoupbt tbot tbe frult must he frost.
hilton. If the persimmon Ia eaten be-
fore II is well rInened the tnnnic acId
which tbe fruit contains has n strong.
Az ostrInpent effect. which iustifies the
story of the soldier in the Civil war
who said he had eaten green perslm-
mons so as to shrink his stomach up
IN UI his rufInnl Ihn nnWnnw nlig-
tard apple, Is also best when thorough
ly ripe. The fruit or some species OF
haws Is eaten or preserved In different
parts of the country, while those OF
several different kinds of cherries
have n food value and are used for
various purposes Wild plums are
abundant In certain sections ana occur
IN particularly plehtirul quantities
along the streams In the eastern and
middle western states.
Several varieties or wild crab ap-
pies make delicious Jellles. Some OF
the largest, whlch attain the size or
small apples are more OF less aDun-
d0nt throughout eastern North Caro-
lima. Elderberries are frequently used
for pies and for sauce. Those found
In the West are sweeter and have
better flavor than the Eastern varie-
ties.
blackberry Has Agreeable Taste.
The berries of the hackberrv. or
suror henry ns II is called In tho