Tonkawa Indians

The Tonkawa Indians lived in Edward's Plateau which is now modern day Austin.  They  lived in tribes and had a peaceful relationship with other tribes.  The Tonkawa diet was mostly things they could hunt and gather because they were not farmers.  The meat eaten was deer, buffalo, bison and fish.  They gathered pecans, acorns, prickly pears, fruits and nuts.  Even though they were not farmers, they still got corn from trading with neighborhood farms. 

I thought it would be interesting to try some of the foods that they ate.  However, much of the meats are not available easily at the grocery store.  Since they did not have refrigerators, if they traveled they had to bring dried meat, like jerky.  I did buy some beef jerky to copy something they may have eaten on a trip.  For fruits, I did bought some prickly pears. 

Prickly pears grow off a cactus and can be covered in spikes.  There were two types I found, white and red.  To eat it, I cut the ends off and made a slice down.  The skin is thick but you can peel it off.  When I tasted it raw, I liked it but the seeds make it tough to eat.  I decided to make a prickly pear sauce. 

 

 Here are the prickly pears untouched and the two types white and red.

I had to carefully take out the spines of the cactus using tweezers. 

This is what it would look like when prickly pears grow on the cactus.

I am cutting the pears and slicing the ends off.

 

Now I can put the prickly pears in the bowl and wait until it cooks.

 

We had to separate the seeds from the juice by using the strainer. 

Now we had to do the exact same thing to the green prickly pears.

Then pour the sauce over the ice cream to make a delicious combination. 

 

I don't know if the Tonkawa Indians cooked with the prickly pears, but I thought this sauce was really good.  I liked knowing that I was eating something that the Tonkawa Indians may have eaten too. 

 

Gabriel's Prickly Pear Sauce

 

Ingredients: 6 prickly pears

2 spoons sugar

water

 

Directions:

Cut and peel prickly pears.  Chop them into small pieces and add to the pot.  Add a small amount of water and 2 teaspoons of sugar.  Let it cook and stir occasionally.  When it's soft blend the fruit into the food processor until smooth.  Pour the mix over a strainer and push a spoon to help push the sauce through.  Don't let the seeds get in.  Let it cool a little and pour over ice cream.