Native American Foods: Technology and Food Sources: Incidentals, Flavorings, and Delicacies

Mushrooms were gathered in season, dried, and used as flavorings in soups and stews. Although mushrooms abounded throughout America, especially in the Northwest, reported use was limited to clearly identifiable, safe varieties. These varieties included bracket fungus (family Polyporaceae), which was prized by the Pueblo Indians; oyster mushrooms (genus Pleurotus) and timber mushrooms (genus Boletus), prized by the Pomo and eastern tribes; field mushrooms (genus Agaricus), by the Delaware and Pomo; and hen-of-the-woods and chicken-of-the-woods (family Polyporaceae), by eastern tribes. Corn smut, a large, black, irregularly shaped fungus appearing on an ear of corn, was especially prized. Even now, the southwestern Hopi simmer corn smut and then crisp it in fat.