Down to Earth: Native Culinary Herbs

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Walking throughthe woods recently, I caught sight of a blue-gray pointed stone barely sticking out of a fist-sized clod of dirt. An uprooted oak tree and heavy rains had exposed pieces of sandstone and flint chips in various colors beside the trail.

I picked up the clod and pried the stone from the surrounding soil. A perfect arrowhead-shaped stone knife point—as keen now as when it was made—lay in my hand. As I admired its workmanship, the cold stone began to warm from my touch, and I thought about the hundreds, possibly thousands, of years that had passed since the point had been warmed by a human’s hands.

As I continued my walk, still treasuring this connection to the past in my hand, I began to notice the plants growing on either side of the trail that would have been available to the hunter who made and used the stone tool if he were assembling a meal. The trail wound through stands of red oak, hickory, ash, and sycamore, through colonies of licorice-flavored sweet cicely (Osmorhiza claytonii) with its umbels of slender black pointed seeds, and through patches of wild ginger (Asarum canadense).

In the dense shade along the banks of the river grew head-high bushes of one of my favorite shrubs—spicebush (Lindera benzoin). I use the allspice-flavored berries and spicy, fragrant leaves and twigs to flavor meat dishes, as did Native Americans.

Clusters of mayapples (Podophyllum peltatum) stood nearby with fruit that looked like little tan eggs hanging under the foot-high umbrella leaves. When mayapple fruit ripens, the woods smell like ripe mangoes. I sometimes make a cream puff filling of the ripe fruits or use them in jams or pies.

A canopy of pawpaw trees (Asimina triloba) towered overhead, the large, tropical-looking leaves covering the immature fruits that would ripen in the fall. The fruits with their banana custard flavor make a satisfying snack right off the tree or can be used to make all kinds of sweet desserts.

Sour weed (Rumex acetosa) is a European native that is naturalized in North America. You may know it as garden sorrel. I found it growing in open, sunny spots on the forest floor, alongside pungent, tasty wild onions. Wild river cane (Arundinaria gigantea) grew in dense thickets, and I noticed that a squirrel had been feeding on the young, bamboolike shoots. I, as well as native peoples, have eaten the young shoots as vegetables, steaming them or cooking them with meat. Shoots of greenbriar (Smilax sp.) have a subtle, beanlike flavor, and the tops of stinging nettles (Urtica dioica) are slightly salty; these two plants, abundant in the forest, expanded the choice of vegetables available.

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