Cross-eyed Joe’s little green apples

I am declaring the remainder of August and all of September Ethnobotany months. Ethnology is the study of culture and botany is the study of plants. When the two words are slapped together, it is the scientific study of the relationships that exist between people and plants.  Before individuals of European decent arrived in the Valley of the Moon, plants were used for food, clothing, currency, rituals, medicine, dyes and shelters.

As the mustard begins to bloom in the valley, one can only imagine how Native peoples would have reveled in such beauty. The key word here is ‘imagine’, because like so many plants we see today, mustard is a non-native species.  Most amateur ethnobotanists, like you and I, know that our local indigenous peoples relied heavily upon the yearly acorn crop. The emergence of the acorn might indeed be a cause for revelry, however, a much smaller and highly nutritious fruit known as the “little apple” also made for quite the excitement.

To botanists it’s called Arctostaphylos manzanita, to the Spanish it was Manzanita and, to you and I, it is translated to “little apple”, though most simply call it by the Spanish name. The fruit is small, about a third of an inch in diameter, however, each plant produces great quantities of this magnificent little gem.  The fruit was used extensively by California Natives and had a variety of uses.

The fruit ripens in July and August, when Native women would carry baskets to the foraging areas and beat off large quantities of the fruit.  They are eaten raw or boiled, converted into cider and often stored in similar fashion as the prized acorn. Some Native tribal members and families held ownership over specific plants and very much like the apple trees from the Wizard of Oz, picking was only allowed with permission.

Cross-eyed Joe was Yuki, living up in Mendocino County in the late 19th century. Many of his ancestors were killed during the Mendocino War of 1859 and those that survived were forced onto what would later become the Round Valley Indian Reservation.  The Yuki had a quaternary counting system based on counting spaces between the fingers.  Just for the record, that fun fact has nothing to do with this story.

I suppose Joe was cross-eyed, and by his contemporaries calling him cross-eyed, it distinguished him from other Joe’s in the community. Joe, much like Mrs. Fields, Colonel Sanders and Mary See (love the milk buttercream), left a recipe just to die for.  First, find a large and bountiful bush in the backwoods. Second, pick only ripe red berries and discard those with worms.  Third, let them soak for ten minutes. Fourth, smash them.  For one quart of pulp add one quart of water and let it stand for one hour before straining.  The result will be the best Manzanita cider this side of Sonoma Mountain.

Manzanita had other uses as well.  The leaves were made into a tea to assist with severe colds. Some Native groups boiled the leaves until the water turned yellow-red and used the solution to cleanse the body and head. Women would chew on the leaves to form a thick “cud” , placing it on open wounds. Even the flowers were eaten from January to March, reportedly offering children a slight sweet flavor and providing them with the energy to head out and collect wood for the daily fire.

Manzanita cider can also be left to ferment, creating a nice vinegar, and if conditions are right, a refreshing alcoholic beverage. I have made Manzanita cider many times, and I must say, it is one of the most reliable concoctions generated from the wild that I have produced.  Evidently, the words still out on my acorn cookies