Roasted pumpkin seeds are a seasonal favorite.

Roasted pumpkin seeds are a seasonal favorite.

I am sure if each of us researched the ancestry lines of our families we could trace some American Native lines linked to our family. My mother always claimed Irish heritage as her limited number of surviving family members agreed. My father would say “we are Eastern Shore born and raised!” That ended the ancestry search! I have a cousin from my dad’s side who is actively researching this ancestry so I am letting her do the footwork and I will do the writing the stats work.

Living on the Eastern Shore we learned in school that in the early 16th century the Lower Shore was home to tribes including the Pocomoke, Choptank, Nanticoke, Wicomico and many more. The first European explorers to land on the Eastern Shore was led by Captain John Smith, who left England in 1608 and landed in Jamestown and decided to settle here among the rich land surrounded by water that produced a plentiful bounty of fish to eat. The rest is history — leading up to that was the first Thanksgiving, the frigid winters, the warm spring, and plentiful harvesting shared with the Native Americans.

The women of the tribes mostly planted the crops of beans, corn, squash and fished in the summer and spring. The men hunted for the wild game and fished during the winter months. The children picked berries and learned many trades to survive.

Growing up on the Eastern Shore near small rivers, the Bay and ocean produced many activities like our ancestors. We fished, planted crops, ate the wildlife and prepared for the long cold winter months. I had a younger brother who was the “hunter and the waterman and trapper.” He never came home empty-handed — you just never knew what he had with him. That mischievous grin made you stand back, and I had another brother who found many arrowheads while sifting in the sand or dirt along the banks of the bays and seashore. How excited he would be!

Today we will explore some of the original recipes using fish, beans, squash, corn, berries and then some originals but cooked the modern way. Duck, beaver, rabbit, pig and deer were most of the meats our Native American tribes ate here on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. No roaming buffalo or large Elk like the western natives had. Most of the below recipes took hours cooking on heated rocks or open fires. Thankfully, today we have ovens!

6 Tbsps. cornmeal, 1/2 cup cold water, 1 cup boiling water, 1 tsp. salt, 1 Tbsp. butter, 1 packet active dry yeast, 1/4 cup lukewarm water, 1 cup mashed potatoes, 2 cups all-purpose flour, 2 cups finely ground bleached acorn meal.

Grab a big bowl and mix your cornmeal with the cold water first, then add the boiling water and let it cook for about two minutes while you blend it together. Stir in your salt and butter, then let the mixture cool until it’s lukewarm.

With a separate bowl of lukewarm water, soften your yeast and then add with the rest of the ingredients. Knead until a sticky dough forms, then cover and let rise until it has doubled in size.

Shape it into loaves and let it rise again, then bake at 375 °F for about 45 minutes. In today’s kitchen, bleached acorn meal can be purchased online and we do not have to spend hours collecting and smashing acorns like the Native Americans did.

Several tribes relied on the “three sisters” of corn, squash and beans to survive harsh winters back in the 15th and 16th centuries. 4 lbs. winter squash, 4 quarts vegetable stock (or water as they would’ve used), 2 small diced yellow onions, 1/4 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup chopped garlic, 2 tsps. dried thyme, 1 tsp. ground black pepper, 1 lb. fresh or frozen corn kernels, 4 cans cannellini beans, 1 bunch sliced green onions, 1/2 cup white wine, 1 large bay leaf. Preheat your oven to 350 °F.

Slice your squash in half and scoop out the seeds, then roast for about 40 minutes. Allow to cool once soft, then scrape out the flesh and save the liquid for later. Blend until totally smooth (you can use a food processor or blender).

Sauté onions in a large pot over medium heat until brown, then add garlic, thyme, and black pepper, stirring until the garlic turns brown as well. Pour in the stock and follow with the bay leaf, wine, and squash.

Allow it to simmer for a few minutes before adding the rest of your ingredients. Simmer for about 20 minutes total.

1 cup flour, 1/2 tsp. salt, 2 tsps. baking powder, 3/4 cup milk, oil or lard for frying. Mix all of the ingredients together well until a dough forms, then knead on a floured surface until it smooths out. Roll them out into a thin layer and cut small portions, then drop into hot oil to fry until golden brown. The Native American women would use the fat from buffalo, cows or animals slaughtered to make this. Almost every tribe had their own way of doing this depending on their region in the world.

As the European settlers started to come to the Americas, tribes would trade goods for spices and other products. Salt was a popular spice used for many different things such as medical as well preservation.

This one comes courtesy of the Navajo Nation. 2 1/2 cups blue cornmeal, 1/2 cup white enriched flour, 1 1/2 cup canned milk, 1 tsp salt, 1 cup water, 1 tsp. baking powder. Mix the blue cornmeal, salt, and baking powder together in a large bowl. Mix water and milk together. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients. Mix it all together but don’t over mix. Grease a large skillet and heat. Pour batter on skillet to make a very thin pancake Cook until brown on both sides. Usually served with coffee and mutton stew.

1/2 lb. or 2 cups dehydrated corn, 3/4 lb. cooked salt pork or venison, 2 cups of cooked beans (red, kidney, or pinto beans). Soak corn overnight in enough water to cover the corn. Drain. Add enough water to cover the corn about 1 inch, bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for about 1 hour. Add the cooked salt pork or meat and the beans. Simmer 1-2 hours. Add more water to cover the ingredients throughout the cooking process. This recipe comes courtesy of the Oneida Nation.

6-12 ears of corn, husks on, salt to taste, pepper to taste. You can use any variety of spices you like on this. Preheat your outdoor grill and using a grill brush, “paint” the grill with vegetable oil. Native Americans would place cooking rocks around a continuous fire they kept burning. Then carefully pull the cooking rocks aside and use them to prepare meat, corn etc. Peel back the corn husks and remove the silk. Pour your spices on the corn. Close the husks. Put on the grill for about 30 minutes. Turn occasionally. Also try soaking the corn in salt water with a few tablespoons of sugar (with husks) before cooking to make the corn tender. Sugar can make the corn sweeter which is something Spanish traders bartered with and taught Native Americans.

Strip a pumpkin of all its seeds. After washing to remove all the stringy parts, spread seeds on a flat surface to dry. 1 cup pumpkin seeds, 3-4 cloves fresh garlic, 1 Tbsp. dried red Chile peppers, crushed. Add seeds to a heated frying pan. Stir seeds continually until they swell.

After the Native Americans would clean the pumpkin seeds out, they’d use pumpkins for a variety of different things. Here is how you can take the cored, cleaned out pumpkins and use them. Use a paper towel and lightly coat the insides with vegetable oil. Preheat the oven at 325 degrees and cook on a cookie sheet until the outer skin is slightly tender. This takes about 30-50 minutes. Native Americans would place the pumpkins near the fires they’d built to achieve this. Remove pumpkins from the oven and set aside till hardened. Besides using to drink from or to hold spices etc. You can fill them with different fishes such as rice dishes or veggie dishes.

2 tablespoons crushed peppermint leaves, 2 tablespoons crushed juniper berries, 2 tablespoons dried and crushed rose hips, 2 tablespoons crushed clover leaves, 2 tablespoons crushed raspberry leaves, 2 tablespoons crushed sassafras leaves. Mix herbs together well. Rub mixture between hands to release flavors. Preheat a teapot by filling with boiling water. Empty hot water and add tea. Add one heaping tablespoon of mixture for each cup. Allow to steep for at least 5-6 minutes.

Chop and bruise a good handful of young green pine needles. Remove any brown ends and chop into half-inch pieces. Place needles in a glass, ceramic, or stainless tea pot. Pour two cups of boiling water over the needles, cover the pot, and allow to steep for a few minutes. The tea will turn a pale green with a light, piney smell. Sweeten with honey or sugar to taste or drink plain to get real indigenous experience.

So many factors went into the Nomadic way of life for Native Americans. Seasons dictated what was eaten and when. For our last dish, this was usually a spring breakfast you could find on any reservation and comprised of strawberries, blackberries, various seeds and honey and cornmeal.

1.5 cups cornmeal, either yellow or white or both if you like, 1 cup of any berries, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries or a combination of all, 1/2 cup chopped nuts and seeds — any combination of walnuts, pecans, sunflower seeds, 1/4 cup honey or maple syrup, 3 cups water.

In a medium sized pot, mix the cornmeal with just enough water to form a paste. Add in 1 cup of water and mix thoroughly. Add in 1/2 cup berries. Heat over medium heat to simmer and cook, stirring continuously, for 10 minutes, or until the desired consistency has been reached. Continue adding more water as you see fit for consistency.

Divide into bowls and top with remaining berries, nuts and seeds, and honey or maple syrup.

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