Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1938-01-27
INDIANS GAVE NUTS
TO AMERICAN MENU
Value as Part of Diet Recog.
nized in Early Times.

Washington, D. Cat this time
of the year nut bowls, filed with
nuts, fresh and sailed, shelled and
unshelled, are as much an adorn-
ment of the dining table as bowls
of fruit.
Nuts have been on the American
menu since colonial times" says
the National Geographic society.
The earliest Americans invited In
dams to their feasts. Their con-
tribution to the festive board was
nuts, corn and wild game.
From prehistoric times, Indians
Of North America have appreciated
the value of nuts and have used
them to supplement their diet. The
Indian in the role of orchardist
seems strange, yet he found so
many uses for hickory nuts alone
that he cultivated hickory groves.
He not only ate the nuts, but drank
hickory milk made by pouring
water over pulverized nuts or the
ground press cake, and used it in
cooking hominy and corn cakes,
ana as gravy on sweet potatoes.
Pecans FavOrites.
"Pecans, which have been grow
ing wild for centuries in moist low
lands of the southern United States
and Mexico, were also favorites
with American Indians. Later pc
cans furnished nourishment for ear
ly Mississippi settlers and were one
of their first articles of commerce.
In the 1760's fur traders carried pc
cans along with their beaverskins
to New York, where some were
shipped to England and France.
'Murmuring pines in the South
west and in Mexico still provide
Indians and Mexicans with edible
nuts. Long before cowled Spanish
monks marched up the western
coast, establishing their missions,
Indians depended for food partly
on nuts of the scrubby pinon tree
of Arizona and New Mexico. Paiute
and Washo tribes of western Neva-
da once fought long, bloody battles
over pinon nuts. Hatchets were not
buried until the territory was def
nitely divided to give each a
share of pinon woods.
''The expression from soup to
nuts implies that nuts are merely
dainties to top a feast, whereas to
many people they are the feast it
self. Nuts are one of the richest
foods grown. Their protein is of
good quality, but because of their
, high fat content they are used in
terchangeably with other fatty foods
such as cream, butter or bacon.
Many inhabitants of India and ia
pan substitute nuts and legumes en-
tirely for meats.
Chestnuts Scarce.
"The chestnut-bark disease, which
has destroyed most of the native
chestnut trees in the eastern United
States, has greatly limited Amer
lean acquaintance with these nuts.
Few of recent generations in the
United States have seen the large
spiny burrs with their velvety lin
ings, and recognize the glossy,
bright brown nuts only as stuffing
in Thanksgiving turkeys or as tasty
morsels bought from street vendors
on frosty mornings.
''But in other parts of the world,
cheStnutS are a valued food. In
some Japanese mountain regions
they almost usurp the potatoes
place. In France, where the
trees grow thickly, these large nu-
tritious nuts are priced as vege-
tables in the humblest cottage and
in the finest chateau. Dawn sees
great streets dotted with vendors
carrying pals of hot steamed chest
nuts. Working people flock to them
for their breakfast. Others MUNICH
sweet heavy flat cakes, something
like oat cakes, made from chest
nut flour. In one kind of chestnut
bread the holes are as large as in
Swiss cheese.
''In much of southern Europe,
chestnuts form the chief winter diet
of poor people, who often make
two meals a day from them. The
nuts are served in a number of
ways-steamed and eaten with salt
or milk, roasted or made into
stews, buildings and bread. Euro
peans also eat large quantities of
almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts fried in
oil, and pickles made from imma-
ture walnuts. California growers
annually export many tons of green
English walnuts, largely to Eng
land, to be picked