90 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Fried cooked green beans (none v owi = it is done). The cooked 

 green beans were fried in sunflower or bear oil and eaten with 

 salt. 



Mashed bean pudding (osai v da' odjiis'kwa). Dried beans 

 were put in a mortar and pounded coarsely, soaked in cold water 

 and boiled down to a pudding with bear meat or vension. 



Boiled beans (osai"duk odjis'kwa). These were mashed and 

 mixed with sugar and grease. 



Beans and squash " together " (Ganiu"suk osai'Ma' kho). Cook 

 cranberry beans with the pods and when beans are almost dry serve 

 in the shell of a boiled squash. This dish is served at the Green 

 Corn Thanksgiving ceremony and is called Onon'deikwawas, cooked 

 together food. 



Beans with corn (Gai'nonda). Green shelled beans were 

 boiled with green sweet corn, meat or fat. The red beans were 

 preferred. 



XII SQUASHES AND OTHER VINE VEGETABLES 



The squash plant is indigenous to America and was cultivated to 

 a large extent by the Iroquois and other eastern stocks. The word 

 squash is derived from the Algonquin akuta squash or isquouter 

 squash (colonial spelling). Roger Williams 1 writing on the agri- 

 culture of the New England Indians says: "Askuta squash, their 

 vine apples, which the English from them call squashes, are about 

 the bigness of apples of several colours, a sweet light wholesome 

 refreshing." 



Van Curler in the same year wrote in his journal: " We had .1 

 good many pumpkins cooked and baked that they called anansira." 



This was in December which of course shows the use of squashes 

 in winter. Van Curler attests the hospitality of the Mohawk when 

 he writes : "A woman came to meet Ucs bringing us baked pumpkins 

 to eat." [See Am. Hist. Soc. Trans. 1895. p. 91-92] 



The squash was one of the principal foods of the Iroquois who 

 even yet regard it as a favorite. The records of earjy travelers 2 

 abound in references to the uses of squashes and pumpkins. Some 

 of them praised " pompions " for their goodness while others 



1 Williams. Key. 1643. p. 125. Narragansett Club Pub. Cf. Wood. 

 New England Prospect. 1634 : " In summer when their corn is spent Is- 

 quoter squashes is their best bread, a fruit like young Pompion." 



2 Heckewelder, p. 194-95; Jesuit Relations, 10:103. 



