USEFUL WILD PLANTS 



rights. The berries were consumed either dried and 

 trround into pinole, or cooked as a mush, or in the 

 fresh state. Death from intestinal stoppage is said 

 to liave sometimes resulted, however, from too free 

 indulgence in the uncooked fruit."* A favorite 

 aboriginal use, too, was in the manufacture of cider, 

 which will be described in the chapter on Beverage 

 Plants. 



To wliite cooks the Manzanita is of negligible in- 

 terest except, as already hinted, as a basis for a jelly, 

 which is famously good. The following recipe I 

 have from ^Ir. Edmund C. Jaeger of Riverside, 

 (California: Select berries, by preference of the 

 smooth-skinned variety, which are more juicy than 

 tlie others, picking them when full grown but still 

 green, say about the first of June. Put them in a 

 boiler with cold water to cover; and after bringing 

 them to a boil, let them simmer until thoroughly 

 cooked through: then pour into a cheese-cloth sack 

 and press out the juice. This will have a cloudy 

 look. Add sugar in the proportion of pound for 

 pound, and boil till the liquid jells. The sugar clari- 

 fies the juice, and the jelly is a beautiful, clear, amber 

 red. Should the berries be too ripe, there will be 



* Chesnut. "Plants Used by the Indians of Mendocino Co., Cali- 

 fornia." 



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