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Ahwahnee Village

California Buckeye
Aesculus californica
'unno (Southern Miwok)
siwü (Central Miwok)

California Buckeye
[click to enlarge]
California Buckeye
Miwok people made tea from buckeye leaves and drank it to treat lung congestion. Buckeye nuts were crushed and applied as a poultice for hemorrhoids. While the nuts are poisonous, in times of scarcity they were put through a protracted process of roasting or boiling, mashing, and leaching. The resulting mush was eaten for sustenance.

A few Miwok people occasionally peeled and dried buckeye nuts and added several of them to black oak acorns. They were then pounded into flour, leached, cooked, and eaten.

Since buckeye was a less-desirable food for most miwok people, few have prepared it as food since the 1920s.


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