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Native Foods
| Acorn – Used to make flour and fertilizers for the plants.
Achiote or annatto seed, seasoning Acuyo, seasoning Agarita – berries Agave nectar Allspice or pimento, seasoning Amaranth American chestnut Amole – stalks Aspen – inner bark and sap (both used as sweetener) Avocado Barbados cherry or acerola Beans – Throughout the Americas Bear grass – stalks Birch bark Birch syrup Blackberries Blueberries Box elder – inner bark (used as sweetener) Cacao Cactus (various species) – fruits Canella winterana, or white cinnamon (used as a seasoning before cinnamon) Cashew Cassava – Primarily South America Cattails – rootstocks Century plant (a.k.a. mescal or agave) – crowns (tuberous base portion) and shoots Chicle, gum Chile peppers (including bell peppers) Cherimoya Chokecherries Cholla – fruits Coca – South and Central America Cranberries Culantro, used as a seasoning before cilantro Currants Custard-apple Datil – fruit and flowers Devil’s claw Dropseed grasses (various varieties) – seeds Elderberries Emory oak – acorns Epazote, seasoning Goldenberry Gooseberries Guarana Guava Hackberries Hawthorne – fruit Herba luisa Hueinacaztli or “ear-flower” Hickory – nuts Hops Horsemint Huazontle Jicama Juniper berries Kaniwa Kiwacha Lamb’s-quarters – leaves and seeds Lepacho Locust – blossoms and pods Lúcuma Maca Maize – Throughout the Americas, probably domesticated in or near Mexico Mamey Maple syrup and sugar, used as the primary sweetener and seasoning in Northern America Mesquite – bean pods, flour/meal Mint Mexican anise Mexican oregano |
Mulberries
Nopales Onions Palmetto Papaya Passionfruit Paw paw Peanuts Pecan – nuts Pennyroyal – American False variety Pigweed – seeds Pine (including western white pine and western yellow pine) – inner bark (used as sweetener) and nuts Pineapples – South America Pinyon – nuts Popcorn flower, herb Potatoes – North and South America Prickly pears Prairie turnips Pumpkins Purslane – leaves Quinoa – South America, Central America, and Eastern North America Ramps – Wild onion Raspberries Rice – imported by Spanish Sage Saguaro – fruits and seeds Salt Sangre de drago Sapote Sassafras Screwbean – fruit Sedge – tubers Sea grape or uva de playa Shepherd’s purse – leaves Sotol – crowns Soursop or guanábana Spanish bayonet – fruit Spanish lime or mamoncillo Squash – Throughout the Americas Stevia Strawberries Sumac – berries Sunflower seeds Sweet potato – South America Sweetsop or sugar-apple Tamarillo Teaberry or wintergreen Tobacco Tomatillo Tomato Texas persimmons Tulip poplar – syrup made from bark Tule – rootstocks Tumbleweed[disambiguation needed] – seeds Tumbo or taxo Uña de gato Vanilla Vetch – pods White evening primrose – fruit White walnuts Wild celery Wild cherries Wild grapes – fruit Wild honey Wild onion Wild pea – pods Wild roses Wood sorrel leaves Yacon nectar Yaupon holly leaves Yerba buena Yerba mate Yucca – blossoms, fruit, and stalks |
Hunted or Livestock
| Antelope
Badger Bear Beaver Bighorn sheep Bison – Originally found throughout most of North America Burro – from Europe Camel – extinct Cattle – important European import Chipmunk Deer Dove Duck Elk Geese Ground hog Grouse Guanaco – Hunted in South America by hunter-gatherer societies, for ex. in Patagonia until the 19th century. Guinea pig – Domesticated in the Andes Hog – important European import Honey wasp – Brachygastra mellifica, Brachygastra lecheguana, and Polybia occidentalis, a source of honey found from the Southwestern United States to Argentina Horse – Although imported by Europeans, the horse was still very important to Native American cultures throughout the Americas (although famously on the North American Plains) in the historic era Hutia Iguana Livestock Llama – Domesticated in the Andes |
Locust (cicada)
Manatee Mastodon – extinct Moose Mountain lion Mourning dove Mule Muscovy duck – Domesticated in Mesoamerica Opossum Otter Passenger Pigeon – extinct Peccaries Pheasant Porcupine Prairie Chicken Prairie dog Pronghorns (antelope) Quail Rabbit Sheep – important European import Skunk Sloth Stingless bee – Melipona beecheii and M. yucatanica, Mayan source of honey Squirrel Turkey Turtle Wood rat Woolly mammoth – extinct |