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The Zuni People and Their Edible Plants

© Gregg Pasterick

I have been writing about the Zuni Indians and their plush, velvety regard for the natural world, as reported by Matilda Coxe Stevenson in the 1915 publication, the Thirteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1908-1909. They found many uses for the plants that grew around them, the most important of which were as medicines and as a food source.

The seeds of wormwood (Artemisia wrightii), which was also used medicinally by the Zuni, were ground, mixed with water, formed into balls, and then steamed. They claimed this was among their most ancient foods.

The seeds of tumbleweed (Amaranthus blitoides), which were said to have been brought from the underworld and scattered over the earth by the rain priests, were eaten raw. When corn became part of their diet, tumbleweed seeds were no longer eaten raw, but instead ground with black corn meal, mixed with water, and formed into balls or pats and steamed, like tumbleweed. The seeds of pigweed (Cycloloma atriplicifolium) were also prepared this way.

The seed pods of Milk Vetch (Astragalus diphysus) were gathered in the autumn and eaten fresh, or they were dried for winter use.

A hot beverage made of Coreopsis (Coreopsis cardaminefolia) was once a favored drink. That all changed when traders brought in coffee.

Squash (Cucurbita pepo) blossoms were cooked in grease, or used as a delicacy with other foods. Fresh squash was cut into pieces and boiled, or roasted whole in the ashes. It was then cut into strips, folded into loops, and then hung up to dry for winter use.

The tender leaves of Rocky Mt. Bee Plant (Peritoma serrulatum) were boiled with corn and seasoned with chili.

The dried flowers of Pectis papposa, a thistle, were crushed and added to stew, after it is cooked, for flavoring.

The gummy ooze from the roots of Wild Lettuce (Lactuca pulchella) was dried, and then chewed like chewing gum. The roots of Hymenopappus filifolius were also chewed like chewing gum.

And course the Zuni used plenty of wheat and corn.

As a food source or a medicine source, it seems few plants went unused by the Zuni. But that was still just the proverbial tip of the iceberg: plants were used in weaving, basketry, in dyeing, pottery decoration, and "the toilet." And then there is their folklore of the plants, and their ceremonial uses of the plants ... it's really rather remarkable how their lives were truly entwined with the flora around the.

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