This recipe was inspired by a traditional recipe made by Alicia Gear (Monacan Indian Nation and Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians).

• 1 cup of maple syrup
• 16 oz of Red Mulberries (Frozen)
• 16 oz of Blackberries (Frozen)
• 16 oz of Strawberries (Frozen)
• 8 oz of Raspberries (Frozen)
• 1 cup of American Plums Puree
• 1 tablespoon of salt
• ¼ cup of Staghorn sumac juice

How to make American Plum Puree

• Collect around 2 to 3 cups of American Plums and wash them off.
• Cut the plums in half and separate the pits from the Plums.
• Blend the plums in a blender to smooth.
• *Recommend to freeze the plums after separating the pits - easier to blend

How to make Staghorn Sumac Juice

• Separate the fuzzy berries from the branches.
• Collect around ½ cup of Staghorn Sumac Berries.
• Drop the berries into the boiling water.
• Brew the berries till the water turns a lit yellow color.
• *Recommend drying or dehydrating the berries before brewing - quicker to brew
• Grab all your frozen berries and let them sit out at room temperature for 10-15 minutes. The longer they are out, the easier they are to mash.
• In an 8-Qt Stainless pot or cooking pot that heats up. Add the berries to the pot.
• As the berries heat up, use a masher or spoon to soften them. Mash the berries until they are mixed and soft. Once the berries are mashed, add 1 cup of water to the softened berries.
• Add salt, maple syrup, and Staghorn Sumac Juice to the berry mixture. Stir with a spoon.
• Stir and simmer the mixture til it returns to this thick consistency. Serve the Wojapi Yesą́ warm or cold.

Wojapi Yesą́ is a recipe inspired by the traditional dish sauce, Wojapi. Wojapi is translated from Lakota as a “fruit pudding”. “Wojapi is a traditional Native American dish made of stewed berries sweetened with honey or maple syrup. It is often served on its own as dessert or used as a sauce for meats, wild game, and vegetables.”² This dish is an example of the Indigenous communities' utilizing what was accessible in the region and the time, especiall when it comes to foraging. Traditionally, Wojapi would be made with blueberries, strawberries, huckleberries, blackberries, and chokecherries. This recipe draws from the traditional Lakota dish but utilizes the ingredients of Eastern woodland communities, especially the Yesą́. This recipe includes blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, mulberries, wild cherries, and American plums that were foraged from shrubs from Virginia Tech campus, the Indigenous Community Garden at Virginia Tech and local parks in Blacksburg.

Yesą́ Acorn Cakes

Acorn Cakes

Basic Recipe for Acorn Cakes

• 2 ½ cups of acorn flour
• 1 cups of corn flour
• 1 teaspoon of hickory wood ash
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 2 tsp of baking powder
• ½ cup of maple syrup
• ½ cup of hickory milk
• ¼ cup of water
• 2 tablespoon of butter or fat from hickory oil
• 2 eggs

In a mixing bowl, add acorn flour, corn masa, baking powder, baking soda, and hickory wood ash. Then stir until all the dry ingredients are combined.

Warm butter or the fat from hickory oil with the microwave or stove top til it is a liquid.

In the mixing bowl, add the liquid ingredients (warmed butter/fat, maple syrup, hickory milk, and water) to the mixture alongside the maple syrup or molasses and the plant milk option. Then stir the mixture until it is a thick batter.

In a frying pan or skillet, add two tablespoons of oil to the skillet to heat up. Scoop two tablespoons of the batter and pat the batter into a small cake.

With a spatula, place the cake on the frying pan/skillet. Cook until the tops of the pancakes begin to bubble around the edges and the bottom is golden brown. Flip the pancakes and cook until the bottom is golden brown. Continue the process until the batter is used up.

Ta:skaho:i (Oak)

Ta:skaho:i (Taa-Skaa-Hoe-Eee) is the Yesą́ word for oak. Oaks (Quercus) have many other names associated with the peoples of the Appalachian Mountains. According to Monacan scholar Victoria Persinger Ferguson, “Oaks are an important traditional food source for Eastern Woodland People, and have been throughout history.”³ This importance is reflected in the land-use patterns of Eastern Woodland People. Oak species are early-successional trees which are promoted by disturbance events such as burning and forest clearing. Paleoclimate data in the eastern United States from 1650-1700 shows a higher incidence of oak relative to late-successional trees.⁴ These patterns reveal the land stewardship of Eastern Woodland People through burning and forest clearing to promote this important food source.⁵ The same patterns have been found locally, in eastern Virginia, where oak forests were more common following Indigenous burning before the modern practices of fire suppression.⁶ Oaks are a crucial part of Eastern Woodland traditional food systems. Rarámuri ethnobotanist Enrique Salmon discusses the many uses of oaks within Indigenous communities, noting, “For American Indians across North America, oaks provide a fountain of uses, from materials for tools, constructions, toys, dyes, even games to medicine and food.”⁷ For the region of Appalachia, there are many species of oaks, but the white oaks and red oaks are the most treasured.

Ta:skahoi:i asą́ (Taa-Skaa-Hoe-Eee As) is the Yesa:sahį word for Quercus bicolor (swamp white oak) and Quercus Alba (white oak). These two white oak species are highly valued among Eastern Woodland Peoples for their acorns and wood. As Victoria Persinger Ferguson has noted, “White oak acorns also provided the Eastern Siouan tribes a flour option other than bread.”⁸ The acorns are most preferred due to the lower concentration of tannins and the mass of the meat when shelled. White oak wood is preferred traditionally for communities in Appalachia for smoking meats and campfires, as found in both historical and contemporary data. A wood charcoal analysis from the late prehistoric Mount Joy site in Botetourt County, Virginia, revealed a high incidence of white oak (46%), followed by hickory (15%), black walnut (9%), and red oak (6%).⁹ This analysis shows the utilization of white oaks and their predominance in the Eastern Woodland food system.

Ta: skahoi:i aču:ti (Taa-Skaa-Hoe-Eee Ahh-Choo-Tee) is the the Yesa:sahį translation for Red Oak. Red Oak (Quercus rubra) is notably identifiable from distinct ridges in the bark. Red oak is a very high value species for timber production- especially in firewood, lumber and medicine. The bark from Red Oaks can be utilized for multiple applications when it comes to medicine. As Salmón reveals, “Red Oak bark is a great source of several medicines. Both the leaves and the bark can be used to reduce bleeding and to treat hemorrhoids through rubbing directed to skin.”¹⁰ The bark from Red Oak also is used as a tanning agent for deer hides.

Úti is the Yesa:sahį translation for Acorns. Monacan Indian Nation elder and historian Victoria Persinger Ferguson discusses the utilization of acorns as a food source for Eastern Woodland communities, explaining, “Acorns alongside hickories and pecans are the common foods that Eastern Woodlands would prioritize when it came to harvesting and foraging.”¹¹ Acorns are the nuts from oaks. Acorns are a high source of carbohydrates, proteins, and healthy fats. Acorns are a staple food within the harvest season for many Indigenous communities in Turtle Island: “Acorns are normally ground into a fine meal and either used to make breads, mush, and porridge or added to stews as a thickener.”¹² As stated by Enrique Salmon, “White oak is said to produce the sweetest acorns in the East."¹³ Acorns from Red Oaks are notably described to have a higher concentration of tannins than white oaks. Their bitterness is useful in pressing for oils and a natural deterrent/ insecticide for plants.

In order to process acorns, the nuts must be shelled for their white nut meat. Then the meat is soaked in water to remove the bitter tannins for the nut meat. This process is called leaching. For leaching techniques and information, return to the interactive essay here: Indigenous Foodways and Foraging in the an Appalachian Virginia Town.