Grasshoppers
Grasshoppers,
ko'djo (P, N), añuto (C), ko'tco (C, S), were
much esteemed as food and were taken in systematic drives, usually in June. An
entire village, or several villages, assembled in an open grassy area, where
the insects were abundant. A grassy area, surrounded by a strip of bare ground,
was preferred. Each family dug one or more holes, a foot in diameter and three
feet deep. These were the focal point of the drive. Quantities of dry grass
were piled on the ground among these holes, to be used as a smudge. If
available, pine branches were set up for the insects to alight on.
The
people then formed a large circle, the diameter depending on the number
participating, and drove the grasshoppers toward these pits. Men, women, and
children swung bunches of grass back and forth like brooms. The narrowness of
the pits contributed greatly to the capture of the insects, making it difficult
for them to jump out. When the insects had been corralled in the pits and in
the area immediately surrounding them, the dry grass was lighted. This singed
the wings of those that tried to fly and smothered most of the remainder. The grasshoppers
were in part immediately eaten and in part dried for winter use. In either case
they were cooked further. When all was ready the chief of the group would say:
“Let us eat and have a good time.”
John
Powell explained to Edward Gifford that when the new grasshoppers come they do not eat them immediately. They are not eaten until four days after they
are caught. People in the vicinity
participate, but no sutila is sent out. Uwetum gotcoi, eating new grasshoppers it is called in Northern
Miwok. No dances are held at the eating
of first grasshoppers. At this time a
shaman presses each individual and utters a prayer. After the pressing, seed is burned in the hangi fire. Kotca, a black
seed, is burned. It is from short meadow
plant with blue flower. Tokobu another seed, round like mustard seed, pops open
with a noise when burned. Sitila is another seed burned as offering. Sitila is a
flattish seed. It grows on a meadow
plant, sitila, which reaches a foot in height. Tokobu grows in a
low place, has single stem with pretty light blue flower. It reaches 2 feet in height.
There
were two methods of cooking grasshoppers, parching in an openwork basket, and
cooking in the earth oven. This oven was circular, twelve to eighteen inches
deep, six feet in diameter. A layer of hot stones was put in it. These were
covered with green tule (puya, N), then grasshoppers.
The grasshoppers were in turn covered with green tule. Hot stones were put on
the pile above the tule covering. The cooking took less than half a day.
Several families cooked in the same oven. The grasshoppers belonging to each
were segregated by layers or partitions of tule. Women made and tended the
oven, although sometimes old men dug the pit.
A
Northern Miwok informant participated in an unusual drive at Jackson, Amador
County. A vineyardist invited the Indians to rid his vines of grasshoppers,
paying them in flour, sugar, and other commodities. In the very early morning,
the old women (grandmothers) beat the vines, so that the grasshoppers fell into
burden baskets (dülma, N) held below. Seed-beaters (tcama, N),
of second-growth chaparral, were used to knock the insects off. With dew on the
leaves the grasshoppers did not fly. The grasshoppers were transferred to
acorn-soup baskets (wilûka, N), covered with basket
plaques (ulita, N). After scalding, the grasshoppers
were spread on basket plaques to dry. [Barrett & Gifford]
The above account in
Jackson appeared in Miwok Material Culture.
This account appears in Edward Gifford’s Northern Miwok Fieldnotes (BANC
FILM 2216). Gifford’s notes for December
29, 1917 with John Powell provide the following:
“Driving grasshoppers into a grass circle
which as a ring of clear ground around it.
After the grasshoppers have been driven into this enclosure, it is
fired. In a grasshopper drive, men,
women, and children participate; each swings a bunch of brush back and forth in
front of him like a broom. Pine branches
are set up in the enclosure and upon these the grasshoppers alight. Frank, who is 46 years old, participated in
such a drive at Jackson as a small boy.
This was in a white man’s vineyard.
The vineyardist feared that the grasshoppers would destroy his vines so
he invited the Indians to rid him of them, paying them in sugar, flour,
etc. In the very early morning the old ladies (grandmothers) went out and beat the
vines so that the grasshoppers fell off into baskets held below. The basket in which the grasshoppers were
gathered is called dülma. Tcama is the name of
the one with which the beating is done.
It is made of second-growth chaparral and shaped like a seed-beater, in fact it is a seed-beater. The dülma is a
burden basket, also used for gathering acorns.
The grasshoppers do not fly when there is dew on the leaves. At camp the grasshoppers are transferred to a
wilûka, or acorn-soup basket, these are covered with ulita, basket trays, until they are ready to pour boiling
water over them. Then they are spread
out on basket trays to dry. There are
two methods of cooking: parching is called yatcu. Ulup, the earth
oven, is used. This oven is about six
feet in diameter, round. A layer of hot
rocks is put in; then this is covered with green tule. Tule is called puya. The oven is about 1 ½ feet deep. Several families cook in the same oven. The grasshoppers are covered with green tule. Each family’s lot of grasshoppers was
separated from the next by a layer of tule.
Women did the cooking and made the oven, although sometimes old men dug
the hole. Hot stones are put on top of
the pile above the tule covering. The
cooking takes less than half a day.”
This same account
is possibly documented by the Amador Ledger on July 11, 1885 as follows:
“Gathering
Them In. – A band of Indians has been engaged catching grasshoppers around
Froelich’s place, between Jackson and Sutter Creek. The insects commenced to attack the vineyard,
and realizing that something had to be done to save the crop, Mr. Froelich got
the Indians after the varmints. Their
mode of procedure is novel. They scrape
the grass off a small space, and pile the dry grass on the edge of the plat in
the shape of a semi circle. Towards evening they commence to drive the
grasshoppers toward this bare spot, and they naturally accumulate in the grassy
hillock. When it is pretty well loaded
up with live stock, the Indians set fire to it, and the hoppers in attempting
to escape, get their wings scorched, and fall, and are gathered up in
sacks. In a few days they accumulated
nearly two large sacks full in this way, and the pests have been so far
diminished that no further danger of the destruction of the grape crop is
apprehended. The Indians make use of the
hoppers as food, and say they taste like shrimps.”
Part of the
Froelich place is still owned by descendants of the family today.
Just a few months
earlier in the same year a grasshopper gathering was documented in the Camanche
area of Calaveras County. The Stockton
Evening Mail on May 21, 1885 reported the following account:
“The
grasshoppers are reported to be within two miles of this place. The grasshoppers are no detriment to the
Indians. The other day I saw about
twenty Indians making a grasshopper drive near Comanche. In the middle of the field
they had a spot cleared, and within this clearing I counted thirty holes about
two feet deep and about eight inches in diameter. The Indians drove the grasshoppers from all
sides with brooms and brush into the cleared place, where the hoppers jumped
into the holes and could not get out.
The holes were then covered with sacks and the grasshoppers taken
out. Thence they were taken to the
Indian camp and roasted in hot ashes.
The process after roasting is to expose them to the sun for a few days,
and then grind them to a powder. The
powder, or flour, is made into cakes and is considered a great delicacy by the
Indians.
W.K.”
In 1885, the Mokelumne
Indians were living in the Camanche area with Chief Maximo. It is likely the Mokelumne Indians were
participants in the grasshopper gathering near Camanche in 1885. By 1900, the remnant Mokelumne Indians had
moved to Jackson Valley just a few miles south of Ione.
Casus Oliver
provided Samuel Barrett the following about gathering grasshoppers:
“Drive
held by several villages. All go out and
camp where they know there are grass hoppers (out on plains). Select some locality and all make holes 3
feet or so deep and foot or so diameter.
Each family has hole of its own all in this small area. Then all, big little old and young, go out to
drive hoppers to this area. They go in
the holes and are captured. They had
before the drive piled grass all around among holes and when drive is over
light the grass and smoke and burn the hoppers to death. Then take hoppers out into baskets. Dry for winter or bake in hole in ground same
as baking bread etc. They were cooked
this way before drying. This hopper
drive was occasion of great time. They
gambled at night in old fashioned way.”
In discussions
with Myra Hobart in 2021, Myra remembered eating grasshoppers with her grandpa
William Walloupe Jr. when she was young most likely
in the 1950s. William had already caught
the grasshoppers and had killed them by pinching their heads, which Myra
witnessed on some occasions. William
would roast them on top of the wood stove inside his house. Once roasted he would pick one up and eat
it. As a little girl, Myra remembered
eating grasshoppers with him.
The
Contra Costa Gazette reported the following account on June 8, 1861:
“Grasshoppers.
– The people of Huntsville, at the western extremity of Calaveras
county, are complaining of a grasshopper scourge. The insects have become so numerous on the
plains, that they are eating up every green plant and all the leaves from the
fruit trees in the gardens and vineyards of that neighborhood. A few days since a gentleman from that place
hired a lot of Indians to kill the grasshoppers that were approaching his
garden. They worked away for six hours,
at the end of which time he gathered up what he could of the slain insects and
weighing them, found the net proceeds to be forty-two pounds.”
Other Related
Accounts of Gathering Grasshoppers
Empire County
Argus March 18, 1854:
“A
GRASSHOPPER ROAST,
Among
the choice delicacies with which the “digger'’ Indians regale themselves during
the summer season, is the grasshopper roast.
Having
been an eye-witness to the preparation and discussion of one of their feasts of
grasshoppers, we can describe it truthfully. There are districts of California,
as well as portions of the plains between the Sierra Nevadas
and the Rocky Mountains, that literally swarm with grasshoppers and in such
astonishing numbers that a man cannot place his foot to the ground while
walking among them, without crushing great numbers. To the Indian they are a
delicacy, and are caught and cooked in the following manner:
A
piece of ground is sought where they most abound, in the centre
of which an excavation is made, large and deep enough to prevent the insect
from hopping out when once in. The entire party of Diggers, old and young, male
and female, then surround as much of the adjoining grounds as they can, and
with each a green' bough in hand, whipping and thrashing on every side,
gradually approach the centre, driving the insects
before them in countless multitudes, until at last all or nearly all are
secured in the pit. In the mean time smaller
excavations are made, answering the purpose of ovens, in which fires are
kindled and kept up till the surrounding earth, for a short distance, becomes
sufficiently heated, together with a flat stone, large enough to cover the
oven.
The
grasshoppers are now taken in coarse bags, and after being thoroughly soaked in
salt water for a few moments, are emptied into the ovens and closed in. Ten or
fifteen minutes suffices to roast them, when they are taken out and eaten
without further preparation and with much apparent relish, or as is sometimes
the case, reduced to powder and made into a soup.
And
having from curiosity tasted, not of the soup, but of the roast, really if one
could but divest himself of the idea of eating an insect as we do an oyster or
a shrimp, without other preparation than simple roasting, they would not be
considered very bad eating even by more refined epicures than the Digger
Indians.”
Stanislaus
County Weekly News July 25, 1873:
“Riding through the foothills, near
Rocklin, I saw a curious and unexpected sight.
There are still a few wretched Digger Indians in this part of California;
and what I saw was a party of these engaged in catching grasshoppers, which
they boil and eat. They dig a number of
funnel-shaped holes, wide at the top, and eighteen inches deep, on a cleared
space, and then, with rags and brush drive the grasshoppers toward these holes,
forming for the purpose a wide circle.
It is slow work, but they seem to delight in it; and their excitement
was great as they neared the circle of holes, and the insects begin to hop and
fall into them. At last
there was close and rapid rally and a half a dozen bushels of grasshoppers were
driven into the holes; whereupon hats, aprons, bags and rags were stuffed in to
prevent the multitudes from dispersing; and then began the work of picking them
out by handfuls, crushing them roughly in the hand to keep them quiet and
crowding them into bags in which they were to be carried to their
rancheria. “Sweet, all ame pudding.” Cried an old woman to me, as I stood looking
on. It is not a good year for
grasshoppers this year; no they like the year of which
an inhabitant of Roseville spoke to me later in the day when he said they ate
up every bit of his garden truck and then sat on the fence and asked him for a
chew of tobacco. –New York Tribune.”
Sources Consulted:
Amador Ledger July
11, 1885
Barrett, Samuel
Fieldnotes
Barrett, Samuel A.
and Gifford, Edward W.. Miwok Material Culture
Empire
County Argus March 18, 1854
Gifford, Edward
W. Northern Miwok Fieldnotes. Ethnological Documents of the Department and
Museum of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley, 1875-1958. Collection number: BANC FILM 2216. Northern and Central Sierra Miwok field
notes. 1917 BANC FILM 2216: 203. The
Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. Berkeley, CA 94720-6000
Hobart,
Myra Personal Communication 2021
Stanislaus
County Weekly News July 25, 1873
Stockton Evening
Mail. May 21, 1885.