Greetings! I wanna find out more historic documentation and evidence of the strawberry spinach centuries back when Native Americans and early settlers used it for food and dye. Is it still going on today? I'm also looking for more evidence on the historic use of that crop in the American Great Lakes years ago. I'm looking to find it and grow it in my garden this year if it's still around. Please see me if you all have any feedback and stuff. Take care!
I've never grown it, and don't know much about it, but Baker Creek does have seeds for it here https://www.rareseeds.com/store/vegetables/garden-berries/strawberry-spinach. I was strongly considering buying some a while back, but then decided I have way more than enough seeds to plant, and I have to draw the line somewhere. I think I may have also gotten scared off because the listing said the seeds can be toxic in large quantities, so I would need to do more research into that. If my kids liked them, they'd be very prone to eating them in large quantities, and I just don't need the extra stress right now, haha. I find this plant really intriguing, though, because it is supposed to be heat-tolerant. I might try it next year.
Ah, ok, I was just going off the info in the description on the Baker Creek website. I don't really have a need for dye, but I'm sure my kids would like if we made some natural dyes someday. I still might try it someday and see how it does as a cooked green.
I know you can eat them. I'd have to imagine that the plant probably wasn't immensely important in the diet, as, when the land was still in pristine condition, the range of this plant was actually far more restricted than it would be, today.
So, what kind of dye did it make? Red? Purple? All I know about that is the use of Red Puccoon root for red & orange dyes, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they didn't use more than one plant for the same purpose, for reasons of seasonality, or even just liking slight variance in the color.
Oh... well, most of the French who were here in the days of Illinois country were military who were posted here & didn't intend to stay.
The first permanent white settlers in Ohio were Dutch, who came here with the Lenape to escape persecution from different kinds of Christians, after the English conquered the New Netherland Colony.
What's going on! I've just found out my Potawatomi use the plant for dye and medicine as I looked up. You all looked up any other indigenous use for the strawberry blite?
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