Cherokee Foods
From very early times much of the Cherokees foods came from the wild plants in abundance in their woodland environment.
Preparation of such foods developed into an art among the Indian women.
Among the wild plant foods listed below are some that are still used today by the mountain people.
Wild Plant Foods
Persimmon
strawberries
Plumbs
Honey Locusts
Grapes
Wild Potatoes
Blackberries
Smilax Roots
Mulberries
Hickory nuts
Walnuts
Wild greens
Mushrooms
Other roots and herbs
Huckleberries
The beginning of gardening, or planned crop raising, came when the Indian people discovered plants growing from refuse that they had discarded .
Gradually the art of planting, tending and harvesting crops developed.
Basic among the food they raised was Corn. Called by the Cherokee,"Selu". So important was it to their lives that many religious ceremonies, including the Green and rope Corn Feast, were held in its honor .
Garden Crops
Corn
sunflowers (for Oil and Meal)
Beans
Tobacco (for ceremonial use)
Pumpkins
Gourds (for Utensils)
Squashes
"Sugar" needs were provided for the use of Maple sap, honey, and honey -locust pods . Salt was derived from salt licks in Kentucky and from salt springs in Tennessee.
The Cherokee hunter was very skilled in the killing of wild game.
Using bows and arrows, masks, decoys, blowguns, spears, and traps, he claimed the animals and adapted every part of them to use. Meat, hides, claws, and antlers all found their useful place in the Cherokee camp.
Wild Game Foods
rabbit
dear
squirrel
elk
wolf (for hides)
bear
cicadas
wild turkey
bison
groundhog
birds
bird eggs
yellow ~ jacket grubs (eggs)
Crayfish
frogs
trout
catfish
redhorse
and a variety of other fish were abundant in the mountain streams and rivers around the Cherokee settlements. The men and boys devised a means for catching them, giving them a very welcome place among the Cherokee foods.
FISHING DEVICES
Hooks.....made from bones.
Thread....Spun from animal hair and Bark fibers.
Weirs...Stone walls where fish were driven through opening and caught.
Poison....Fish were stunned by poison from chestnuts, walnut roots, bark, and other materials,and caught by hand.
Hands.....Fish were caught by hand while wading in shallow water.
