IROQUOIS USES OF MAIZE I09 



been cultivated but little before -the colonial period. After and dur- 

 ing that time however the Iroquois began to plant potatoes in increas- 

 ing quantities until now as a food they are consumed in greater 

 quantities than corn. To give the Indian method of preparing po- 

 tatoes for food now would be merely to repeat what every modern 

 cookbook gives. Their favorite recipes, however, were potato soup, 

 boiled and baked potatoes. Distinctive flavoring was given by mixing 

 in bear oil, sunflower oil and white ashes. Potatoes were sometimes 

 dried and made into a flour. 



The Seneca cultivated the potato long before the Revolutionary 

 War. To them it was known as onon'nonda' while groundnuts 

 were often called onon'nonda'on'we", original potatoes. 



The root of Solomon's seal is said to have been used for food. 

 The mature roots were gathered in the fall, dried, pounded and 

 worked up into bread. Harris cites that a Seneca Indian in passing 

 through Highland Park, Rochester, called the attention of his white 

 companion John Nott to the plant saying it was once highly prized 

 for its root. 



The roots of skunk cabbage Lymplocarpus foetidus were also used 

 being dried and pulverized. Harris says it was sometimes roasted 

 or baked to extract its juice. The modern Seneca call it bear root. 



The stalk of the milkweed rises from a tuberous root of consider- 

 able size. Western Indians it is said boil these roots for food. One 

 writer^ says that the Sioux gather the roots early in the morning 

 while the dew is on the plant and prepare a crude sugar from them. 

 He also states that the young seed pods are eaten after boiling them 

 with buffalo meat and that the young stalks were used as white men 

 use asparagus. 



Wild rice was an important food of the Indians of the eastern 

 portion of the continent, especially along the great lakes and the 

 Mississippi valley. It was little used by the Iroquois however, 

 although there are records of its employment. The Seneca some 40 

 years ago gathered a great quantity of it but the writer does not 

 know of its use subsequently. 



1 Palmer, Dr E. U. S. Agric. Com'n Rep't 1870, p. 405. 



