Variety and Source
(see key to sources below)
|
Growth Habit, Appearance and Known History |
Culinary Uses and Flavor Notes |
| Beans |
| ‘Arikara Dry Yellow’ (7) |
Bushy, drought-resistant; small, yellow beans; a primary food crop for the Mandan and the Arikara tribes of the Missouri Valley |
A bean at its best dry; has a light color and smooth consistency if puréed, so is ideal for soups and stews; subtle flavor goes well with poultry |
‘Cherokee Trail of Tears’ (1, 2)
|
Drought-resistant; heavy producer; black beans grow in pods that ripen red to violet; taken to Oklahoma by the Cherokee during their forced migration in the 1830s |
Used as a dry bean; works well for refried beans or paired with cornbread; has a heavy bean flavor that can be controlled with a little bit of red wine vinegar |
| ‘Genuine Cornfield’ or ‘Scotia’ (1) |
A true corn hill bean; grown by the Iroquois |
Can be used like any Mexican pinto bean; turns creamy as a baked bean, which makes it excellent for cassoulet-type dishes; good with duck |
| ‘Indian Hannah’ (1) |
Tan seed with brown markings; ideal to grow with a short corn; a Delaware/Lenape variety of “wampum bean” preserved by Hannah Freeman, the last of her tribe in Chester County, Pa. |
Young, tender pods make good snap beans, while the large green seeds make good shelly beans; can replace pinto beans as a dry bean; mild flavor; makes excellent bean flour for adding to breads or grits |
| ‘Mayflower’ or ‘Amish Nuttle’ (2) 
|
A semi-pole variety; small, speckled beans; grown among the Iroquois |
Used as a dry bean; a small-seeded variety that’s good combined with other vegetables, especially in soups and stews; excellent mixed with wild rice; flavor is similar to that of cowpeas |
| ‘Ohio Pole Bean’ (1) 
|
Prolific variety; robust vines about 8 feet in length; 8-inch pods; best adapted to grow on tall corn varieties or, better yet, sunflowers; beans have purple speckles on one end |
This large, fat dry bean is good for baking; has a meaty flavor that goes well with game or red meats |
| ‘True Red Cranberry’ (1) 
|
Unique, round red beans; a New England variety |
A classic for baked beans; keeps its shape well when baked; used either as a shelling bean or as a dry bean; texture is dense and meaty; works well with smoked meats |
| ‘Wild Pigeon’ (1) |
A semi-pole, cut-short variety; best grown on short corn; produces tiny beans; grown by the Iroquois |
Good for soups, stews or stuffings; nutty flavor reminiscent of hickory nuts; can be ground for flour and added to grits or mush to impart an interesting background flavor; goes well with morels and other wild mushrooms |
| Corn |
| ‘Cherokee’ (long- and small-eared) (6) 
|
Two types of multicolored popcorn (must be ordered separately); 100 days to maturity; grown by the Cherokee |
Small kernels of popcorn with big corn flavor; good in pies, cookies and stuffings |
| ‘Dakota Black’ popcorn (6) |
Maroon-black kernels on 4 1/2-inch ears; 1 ear per stalk; 6-foot-tall plants; 90 days to maturity |
Yields larger puffs of popped corn than the ‘Cherokee’ variety does, but has a similar nutty flavor |
| ‘Hopi Sweet’ or ‘Tawaktchi’ (4) |
Small ears with white kernels; 100 days to maturity |
Sweet corn that’s commonly dry-roasted at the milk stage and then stored for later use (a food-preparation technique of the Pennsylvania Dutch that was acquired from Native Americans); can be eaten like typical sweet corn, but is so tender you can eat it raw; also used as a dry corn in savory pies or stuffings, or stewed with poultry
|
| ‘Mountain Pima’ (4) |
Small ears with yellow and, on occasion, red kernels; 100 days to maturity |
A Southwestern sweet corn that can be used like ‘Hopi Sweet’; good for creamed corn and corn soup |
| ‘Puhwem’ (3) |
White kernels on extremely long ears; a towering variety that reaches 16 to 18 feet with raccoon-proof ears high up on the stalks; not well-adapted to the Three Sisters planting scheme; known as “mother corn”; from the Delaware Nation |
Used as a dry corn and is one of the best Native American corns for making corn flour; exceptionally flavorful; great for dumplings, Johnny cakes and cornmeal pound cakes; can be used in cake and bread recipes (consider blending with wheat flour); a rich nuttiness comes through even in grits made from this corn; starchy, so grits cook quickly and thicken up with a soft, porridge-like consistency |
| ‘Shawnee Flour Corn’ (1) |
Eight- to 10-inch ears with white kernels; plants reach about 10 feet in height; grown by the Shawnee |
Somewhat grittier than ‘Puhwem’ flour corn, but the flavor is about the same; good for hominy
|
| ‘Tutelo Strawberry’ (3) 
|
Five to 6 feet in height with one or two cobs low on the stalks; ideal for Three Sisters if planted with short pole or semi-pole beans; when planted in hills, it will sucker and send out side shoots, some of which will produce additional ears; 115 to 130 days to maturity; originated in Virginia and western Maryland; a variety that was preserved by the Cornplanter Senecas of Northwestern Pennsylvania |
Used for grits, mush and hominy; the unique, deep rose color of this corn is preserved in the meal and grits, and turns out a wonderfully pink polenta; has a slightly sweet taste similar to that of maple syrup, so it works well as a “dessert” corn |
| ‘Virginia White Gourdseed’ (6) 
|
White, flat kernels; known among the Iroquois as “tooth corn” because of the kernel shape; 125 days to maturity; one of several truly ancient Native American corns surviving from the Eastern Woodlands |
Whole kernels look like large, flat seeds, and this appearance can be used to advantage in stews, stuffings and baked dishes; makes excellent hominy and grits; hint of almond or walnut flavor |
| Squash |
‘Arikara’ (Cucurbita maxima) (5)
|
Oblong in shape; off-white with faint, flesh-colored stripes or speckles; a North Dakota squash |
Good for winter storage; generally used for soup, as it makes a nice, thick purée; also valued for its squash blossoms, which can be used in cookery fresh or dried |
‘Mandan’ (Cucurbita pepo) (5)
|
Early, insect-tolerant variety that is more generally available than most Native American squash; small, round, flattish squash that’s cream-colored with green stripes; developed by the Mandan peoples in North Dakota; one of the first Native American squash acquired by noted seedsman Oscar Will |
A summer squash best if eaten young and soft, at which point it has a slight nutty flavor; can also be stored for fall and winter use; stored squash can be cut to create a “lid,” emptied of seeds, and then splashed inside with a bit of sunflower oil, a few pieces of dried fruit, and, best of all, a few spoonfulls of fresh pawpaw, which will caramelize the interior (if you cook the squash this way, close lid and place in bowl with a bit of water; cover and bake) |
| ‘Menominee’(Cucurbita pepo) (check Seed Savers Exchange) |
Small, top-shaped squash that ripens dark green with lighter green stripes; the name of this squash (which is also the name of a Native American nation in Wisconsin) means “Wild Rice People” |
Can be eaten young, at which point it resembles zucchini; if fully ripe and hard, it can be stored for winter as a source of seeds; try cooking the seeds with wild rice or baking the young squash with a wild rice stuffing |