Plants at the centre of the diet
Accounts of Apache life often focus on hunting, but wild plants made up a large part of the food supply for many groups, and gathering knowledge was a major body of expertise. The details differ across the Western Apache, Chiricahua, Mescalero, Jicarilla and Lipan, and across regions, so what follows is a general picture. The meat side of the story is covered in the separate article on Apache hunting.
Agave, or mescal
The agave, often called mescal, is one of the best-known Apache foods in the Southwest. People harvested the heart of the plant, cutting it from the base with a digging tool, and roasted it in a pit lined with hot stones. The cooked heart is sweet and can be eaten fresh or pressed and dried into cakes for storage and travel. Roasting was typically a communal task that took many hours or days, which meant it brought groups together. The Mescalero nation’s name is connected with this food: it is generally understood to derive from a Spanish term for people who used mescal.
Details of the roasting process differ in descriptions, and some communities continue the practice today. Specific ceremonial associations are not shared publicly and are not covered here. More on preparation is found in the article on Apache cooking methods.
Acorns, nuts and seeds
Acorns from oak trees were collected in the autumn in many mountain areas. Bitter compounds in some kinds needed to be leached out with water before the meal was eaten, and the processed acorn could be boiled in a stew or made into a type of bread. Piñon nuts, the seeds of piñon pines, are another seasonal food, gathered where the trees grow, especially in northern New Mexico and Arizona. Some years bring a large crop and others little, so groups had to be flexible about where they went.
Other seeds and nuts, such as those of walnuts, sunflowers and various grasses, were also gathered. Seeds were often ground on stone surfaces into meal, a method discussed with other equipment in the article on Apache tools.
Fruits, pods and greens
The list of gathered plants is long. Mesquite pods, which are sweet and can be ground into flour, were important in lower country. Cactus fruits, including prickly pear, and the fruit of the saguaro in the Sonoran Desert region (used by the San Carlos and some other Western Apache groups), were seasonal foods. Juniper berries, wild grapes, currants, wild onions, yucca fruit and numerous greens added variety, depending on where a family lived. Some plants were also used as medicines; this subject is discussed in general terms in the articles on traditional Apache medicine.
Plants were not used only as food. Bear grass, willow and other materials were collected for baskets, and yucca fibre had many uses, as covered in the article on Apache basket makers.
Following the seasons
Because ripening happens at different times and places, gathering followed a calendar. Families might move to lower areas for one harvest and higher ones for another, camping where food was ready. The pattern is often described as an Apache seasonal round, and it varied between nations, partly because their homelands differ. A spring and early summer of greens and shoots, a summer of fruits, and an autumn of nuts and seeds is a common general outline, though not a rule for every community.
Gathering was shared work. Women are commonly described as having major responsibility for plant harvest and processing among many Apache groups, though roles could overlap and varied, and children learned by taking part. The knowledge of what to pick, where, when and how to prepare it was passed on through experience and teaching.
Change and continuity
Settlement, ranching, mining, logging and the reservation system reduced access to many gathering areas, and fire suppression, water diversion and grazing changed plant communities. Some Apache people continue to gather foods today, and community programmes in some places support this knowledge. Access to land for gathering and the condition of the plants are concerns for many nations. The topic of broader Apache traditional food sources is covered by neighbouring articles. As always, the official websites of the nations are the best sources for current programmes.