FAGACEAE (BEECH FAMILY)
Beech (Fagus grandifolia Ehrh.) “gaweˈmîc”. All the Ojibwe know and appreciate the sweet nuts of the beech tree. They are never plentiful enough to store for winter, but the Indians like them fresh.
White Oak (Quercus alba L.), “mîciˈ mîn” [oak berry]. All Ojibwe encountered told of their former dependence upon acorns for their soup stock. It seems that at least every Algonkian tribe knew and used all species of acorns. They got rid of the bitter tannin taste by soaking the acorns in hot lye. Wood ashes in water, when boiled gave them the lye. A regular woven bark bag held a quantity of acorns and the lye was leached out by washing the whole bagful in several changes of warm water. The acorns were then dried for storage, and when wanted, pounded and ground to a coarse flour which was used to thicken soups or form a sort of mush. Blueberries were often cooked with this mush to give it a good flavor and it was seasoned with maple sugar. White Oak acorns needed no lye treatment.
Bur Oak (Quercus macrocarpa Michx.), “mîtîgoˈ mîc” [wooden tree]. Bur Oak acorns are bitter, but yield to the lye treatment to become as edible as the acorns of the White Oak.
Red Oak (Quercus rubra L.), “mîtîgoˈ mîc” [wooden tree]. Because Red Oak was so abundant in the Ojibwe territory and so large in size, the acorns were one of their most important starchy foods. They leached the tannic acid flavor with lye and brought them to a par with the sweet acorns of White Oak.
Black Oak (Quercus velutina Lam.) “têˈ komîn”. The name is evidently an abbreviation of “mêtîgoˈ mîn”, but probably an intentional one for this tree was always referred to by the abbreviation. Its acorns were equally good as others when the tannin was extracted.
FUNGI
The writer found that none of the Ojibwe eat any of the mushrooms although they have two names for them,—“pîkwaˈ djîc” and “wajackweˈ do” [muskrat]. Probably some remote ancestor had a fatal experience with mushrooms and the news has been handed down. Although the Ojibwe have fanciful stories explaining why they use certain plants, no doubt their knowledge came by a process of trial and error through the centuries and the errors have been duly buried but not entirely forgotten.
GRAMINAE (GRASS FAMILY)
Corn (Zea mays L.), “mandaˈ mîn”. Corn is a traditional heritage of the Ojibwe, although none knew a time when they did not have it. Their origin myth is that it was a pinch of flesh taken from the side of their culture hero, Winabojo, by himself and cast upon the ground, to grow and become corn for them. This is the same as acknowledging that they do not know how it came to be here. When mandamin matures, they say that only horses can eat it raw in that condition. They have to soak it in lye water, wash out the lye and then parboil it to prepare it for the table. This is the same as our hominy. Scientists think now that corn originated in Mexico from an accidental crossing of teosinte and gama grass. While the Ojibwe cultivate and grow the approved strains of corn for Wisconsin, they also cling to their own “calico” corn, with all sorts of colors of grains on different cobs. They have two names for sweet corn,—“wîckobiˈ mandaˈmîn” [sweet maize], and “wîckobiˈ sîˈganûg” [turns sweet in cooking]. Their sweet or soft corns are different from those used by the white man. They roast the ears in the husk and make it into hominy as the white man does. They cut the kernels from their sweet corn and dry them for winter use. It is also boiled in a kettle, and when half-cooked, is cut from the cob and dried for winter use.