Tip 146: November 2020 – American Indian Soups

Website Educational Tip for Physical Development

Will Roger Jr. said that “American Indians never were a unit. They were
scattered in hundreds of tribes with hundred of cultures and customs. It is
these tribal variations that have given color and character to the American
past, and a wondrously wide variety of dishes to the American diet.”

Almost 75% of our present food plants were new to Europeans 500 years ago.
Captain John Smith, writing in 1607, noted that the settlers of Jamestown,
Virginia, would have starved if the Indians of that region had not brought
the famous Indian triad, the “three sisters” of corn, squash, and beans to
them. The following soups were eaten by almost all Indians in a variety of
individual ways (with the exception of the Arctic Eskimos).

Infants:
Yellow Squash Soup

2 medium yellow squash (cubed) 2 scallions (sliced with tops) 1 T. honey

1 quart water or vegetable broth 1 T. corn oil 1 t. dill

1.) Peel squash and remove seeds then cube. Place in pot with water or
broth, then add

the rest of the ingredients. Cover and simmer 30 minutes until squash is
tender.

2.) Mash squash into a smooth puree. Add more water to thin if desired.
Serve either

hot or cold.

Toddlers:
Corn Chowder

2 C. corn (fresh or frozen) 1 potato (peeled, diced) 1 onion (chopped)

3 C. water or vegetable broth 1 T. corn oil 1 t. dill

1 green pepper (chopped) 1 T. nut butter (peanut, almond) 4 mushrooms
(sliced)

1.) The Indians used dried corn kernels and would soak them overnight.
Cooking the

corn for 15 minutes after soaking then add ingredients minus mushrooms and
cook

30 minutes more all with lid on. Add mushrooms and simmer another 5
minutes.

2.) It’s a little easier to use fresh or frozen corn. Put all the
ingredients except the

mushrooms and simmer covered for 20 minutes. Add mushrooms and simmer

another 5 minutes. Serve hot.

Preschoolers:
Clover Soup

2 C. clover blossoms & leaves 3 medium potatoes (peeled, diced) 1 t.
dill

2 small onion (chopped) 1 quart water or vegetable broth 4 T. sunflower
seed butter*

1.) Have the preschooler go outside to pick clover.* Make sure the yard
hasn’t been

sprayed with chemicals. Wash and sauté the clover blossoms and leaves and

chopped onions in the sunflower seed butter.

2.) Add water or broth and the potatoes and dill to the clover. Simmer,
covered for 20 minutes. Serve hot.

*To make sunflower seed butter – Grind 1 cup of sunflower seeds into a
paste using a mortar and pestle or a blender. Keep refrigerated to retard
flavor loss and spoilage.

Behold my brothers, the spring has come; the earth has received the
embraces of the sun and we shall soon see the results of that love.
Every seed is awakened and so has all animal life. It is through this
mysterious power that we too have our being, and therefore yield to our
neighbors, even our animal neighbors, the same right as ourselves, to
inhabit the land. (Sitting Bull, 1877)