318 USES OF PLANTS BY THE CHIPPEWA INDIANS  [fTH. ANN. 44 
the powdered flowers and a tiny bit of red pepper. The water was 
then removed from the stove and the mixture allowed to steep a 
short time. 
SEASONINGS 
Koellia virginiana (L.) MacM. Mountain mint. 
The flowers and buds were used to season either meat or broth. 
Arctostaphylos uva-ursi (L.) Spreng. Bearberry. 
The red berries of this plant were cooked with meat as a seasoning for the 
broth. The leaves were smoked (see p. 337). 
Asarum canadense L. Wild ginger. 
The root of this plant was regarded as an “appetizer,” being put in any 
food as it was being cooked. It was also used for indigestion (see p. 342). 
The silk of corn (called “corn hair”) was dried before the fire and 
put in broth to season it. The corn sillk was said to thicken the broth 
slightly as well as to impart a pleasing flavor. 
Pumpkin blossoms were dried and used to thicken broth. 
A Canadian Chippewa said that in old times his people had no 
salt and that more maple sugar was used as seasoning than the quan- 
tity of salt now used by white people. In the early days the Minne- 
sota Chippewa had no salt and some of the older Indians have not 
yet acquired a taste for it. Ina treaty known as the “Salt Treaty,” ® 
concluded at Leech Lake, August 21, 1847, with the Pillager Band 
of Chippewa, there was a stipulation that the Indians should receive 
5 barrels of salt annually for five years. 
A sirup was sometimes made from the sap of the woodbine and 
wild rice was boiled in it to give an agreeable flavor. 
CEREALS 
Zizania palustris L. Indian rice. 
Wild rice was the principal cereal food of the Chippewa, being 
cooked alone and also with meat or game. The manner of procuring 
it and the first processes of its preparation have already been de- 
scribed. The following are among the ways in which rice was cooked : 
(a) Boiled in water and eaten with or without maple sugar. 
(6) Boiled with meat. 
(c) Grease was put in a kettle and the rice parched in the grease, 
after which it was seasoned with maple sugar. Dried blueberries 
were often combined with this, and the rice and berries stored for 
use on journeys. 
(dz) Rice (not parched) was stored with dried blueberries during 
the winter and the two were cooked together in the spring. 
* A compilation of all the treaties between the United States and the Indian tribes, now 
in force as laws. Washington, 1873, p. 212. 
