America the Bountiful

[woman] As Indigenous people, corn in general is very sacred.

[Capri] In Arizona, indigenous corn has provided sustenance to Native Americans for millennia.

[woman] Sixty-day corn has been keeping us alive for more than 5,000 years.

[Capri] Its diversity is surprising.

We have over 500 different accessions or varieties of corn.

That's a lot of corn.

It's a lot of corn.

Right.

[Capri] There have been successful efforts to resurrect ancient varieties.

Where did you get this?

It was pretty close to extinct.

[Capri] And there's a passion here for combining new practices with the old.

Hmm.

Oh, my gosh.

I don't even know how to describe it.

Such an important story in one bowl.

I'm Capri Cafaro and I'm on a mission to uncover the incredible stories of the foods we grow... ...harvest, create... ...and celebrate.

Beautiful, amazing meal.

So, I'm traveling America's backroads to learn our cherished food traditions from those who make them possible... Look at that.

...and are helping keep them alive.

There is so much more to learn.

[man] It's just a tradition here in this area.

-[gunshot] -[woman] Mmm hmm.

[Capri] On "America the Bountiful."

[announcer] America's farmers have nourished us for generations, but today they face unprecedented challenges.

American Farmland Trust works with farmers to help save the land that sustains us.

Together we can work to keep America bountiful.

[Capri] Corn is a sacred food for all indigenous tribes of Arizona, Tohono O'odham, Yeome, Navajo and Hopi.

Many of the original varieties these tribes once thrived on were lost since the time of colonization.

But a handful of dedicated farmers and organizations are carrying on these traditions and creating memorable, ancient and modern foods from the versatile flour-making maize.

Gardener and educator, Maegan Lopez, as a member of the Tohono O'odham Nation, she helps operate Mission Garden, a diverse collection of crops and plants representing each era here in Tucson's birthplace, situated on land considered sacred to the Tohono O'odham.

So, this is our timeline garden.

We call it the post contact O'odham Garden, or the O'odham Oidak.

That's how we say it in our language.

[Capri] What does that mean?

[Maegan] It means "The People's Garden."

In this particular timeline garden, we are standing in the 1400s to the 1690s.

This is called the 60-day corn, or Huuni.

Huuni is the word for corn.

Let's see what we have.

We have some hairs.

We have some beautiful kernels.

It's so beautiful.

Each individual hair represents a kernel and a potential to be Huuni.

[Capri] I have learned something new.

You think about those fibers when you look at corn.

Now I'm going to see them totally differently as a potential kernel.

Yes Now, 60-day corn makes me think that it takes 60 days to grow, right?

[Maegan] That's absolutely right.

And with very little water.

So, it's considered drought tolerant and grows exponentially well.

Tohono O'odham Is our tribal name.

In English, it translates to "desert people."

We live in a very biodiverse region.

We call ourselves based on how we've cultivated the land, how we've lived on the land, how the land has taken care of us.

These are summer crops.

They start growing at the earliest part of summer through summer's very harsh conditions with full sun, very little water.

It does very well.

It gives us so much food and it gives us sustenance.

It gives our body what it needs.

And it's reliable every year.

There's a lot to be said about our connection to the land, to ourselves as people, our identity and our spirit.

I feel like that's captured in these plants.

That kind of sentiment, that almost sacred relationship between the people and the land.

The 60-day corn, is that something that has been here with people the whole time?

Yes.

Sixty-day corn has been keeping us surviving for more than 5,000 years.

It's been cultivated for a very, very, very long time.

And we still continue that story so that we can keep passing it on to the new generation.

You use the 60-day corn as part of your diet.

How do you get it from cob to the table?

There's a lot of different processes that we do now in modern times, but I can show you one method that we use here at the Garden to interpret what my ancestors and a lot of the people that still live here, how they still process their corn.

[Capri] The metate is that Tohono O'odham word for their traditional corn stone grinder.

The corn is traditionally roasted in a fire pit before de-cobbing and grinding.

You use all of that energy in your shoulders and in your arms, and you break it down into broken kernels.

-Can I give this a shot?

-Please.

I'm going to get my elbow grease into it.

Okay.

You know, I can actually start to smell this differently as you're breaking up the kernels.

It's almost like a sweetness.

Yes.

What would folks be eating 5,000 years ago made with this corn?

There's a traditional O'odham dish that we call gyoza.

Gyoza is the soup that its named for it.

Very simple, but very old dish that's been a part of the O'odham culture as long as the corn has existed.

We're going to put this corn that we just ground to good use.

Yes.

We're going to add it to our already ground garlic salt and then we're going to take it over to this pot of boiling water.

And we're going to let it sit on the fire for about 45 minutes until it's soft.

This is the traditional O'odham dish.

It's been here for a very long time, and so it's very basic, basic nutrition that you need.

[Capri] Contact with the Europeans led t o a decline of these ancient practices and meals.

Maegan and others' efforts to share seeds, grow, and prepare these foods are helping bring them back.

Doing this today with you and sharing this dish with others is like, breathing life back into this dish.

So, it looks pretty good.

[Capri] It is looking good.

[Maegan] It's nice and soft, and it's gone from the tiny little kernels to now full on Gyoza.

[Capri] I'm going to be thinking about your family, your ancestors, as I eat this.

Oh, my goodness.

You know, when we think about soup from a Western perspective, we think about broth.

There's no broth in here.

But from the taste, you wouldn't know it, actually.

It is soft.

You can really taste those kernels and feel those kernels.

I wanted to show you another dish that we created, and is still created in kitchens on O'odham Nation and throughout the community here in Tucson.

What's that called?

It's called Chico?

Chico has chili sauce, and it also has tomatoes, garlic and onions.

[Capri] I can smell the chili.

[Maegan] And you can add in the limes, the Chiltepins, cilantro and-- What's Chiltepins?

Chiltepins are the mama of all chilies, and they've been growing in this part of the world for longer than 5,000 years.

[Capri] Chiltepins, okay.

In our language, we call it a'al kokoli.

-These are teeny.

-Yes.

So, this little teeny thing is known as the mother of chili?

-Okay.

-That's right.

It starts out mild.

There it is.

There's the kick.

I bet from what I can see here, this is going to be an incredible topping-- [Maegan] That's right.

[Capri] --to the Chico.

It's topped with cilantro, a little lime and a few more Chiltepins for the heat.

All right, Chico.

What do you think?

So, each one of those individual fresh ingredients totally stands out.

Yes.

That corn is a great canvas for those other ingredients.

It's so delicious.

Such an important story just in one bowl.

-Yes.

-Thank you for sharing.

And I will definitely carry on that memory of the Chiltepin with me, or at least my mouth will.

I'm still on fire.

Corn varieties from this diverse and arid region are coming back as a result of seed saving, a practice followed by dedicated individuals, and also places like Native Seed Search, a seed conservation organization that collects and preserves species of seeds.

Agronomist and educator Andrea Carter works as a link between the seed bank and small scale farmers in the Southwest.

Welcome into the seed lab.

[Capri] You've got a very extensive collection, and it smells incredible in here.

[Andrea] It sure does.

[Capri] Native Seeds maintains nearly 2,000 varieties of crops that have adapted to this landscape thoroughly representing a cultural and farming legacy of the region.

So, you are really covering the gamut.

I see a lot of corn here.

I want to understand a little bit more about the mission.

Why even keep seeds?

Why catalog them?

Good question.

Why do we do this?

The mission of Native Seeds is to conserve the beautiful and great diversity of agricultural crops of the Southwest.

Often folks think of the Southwest, it's the desert, it's an arid landscape, and there is a lack, potentially, of realization of the immense diversity and rich agricultural history here that's largely rooted in the indigenous communities of the region.

And by growing them, you're adapting them.

Our goal is that these seeds are actively being grown, saved and shared, and in doing so you're adapting them to the climate of today.

You're reinvesting them into the communities so they can be grown today and kind of repopulate.

And then we do partner farmer exchanges where we provide seeds to growers and do exchanges or contracts with them.

Our gardens here are growing, but they're small.

So we work with small scale growers throughout the region.

We'll work on what they're interested in growing, what they might have a cultural connection to, what they have experience growing, and then we will send them seeds at no cost, and we ask for a portion of their final harvest to come back to us at the end of the season.

And the farmers can retain the majority of their harvest.

[Capri] They have a native access program that ensures seeds remain accessible to the communities of origin and native individuals of the region, with corn playing a major part.

I didn't realize just how many different types of corn there are.

A popular one is the Yoeme blue corn.

That was donated to Native Seed Search in the 80s by a woman from Salt River.

But she was actually Yoeme and she had 12 ears of this corn that were donated to this organization, and since grown out by some of our partners.

So, we've been trying to steward that seed, increase its availability and health.

Where can you find that?

If I wanted to go find Yoeme blue corn, who would I go talk to?

Well, we've got different partner farmers, but one of our favorites is Bill Robinson up in Casa Grande.

[Capri] Bill Robinson operates the Crazy Chile Farm, a nonprofit enterprise on a stretch of land owned by the Episcopal Diocese of Arizona.

Reverend Canon Debbie Royals is a Yoeme tribal member and priest in the diocese.

We're all holding some really special corn.

And this corn brought the two of you together.

How did that happen?

We started the Crazy Chile Farm in 2014.

Had our first crop in 2015, so we started growing independently some varieties of different native maize or corn.

One of them was Yoeme Blue.

After we'd had about two crops of Yoeme blue, it was very successful for us, I ran into Debbie at an Episcopal convention.

I found out that she was a Native American Yaqui.

I brought her back some corn meal of the Yoeme blue, and she hadn't had any of that in quite a while, was it Deb?

Our people's name is Yoeme in our language.

We grew up with the blue corn as part of our tradition, so when Bill and I bumped into each other, he brought me the Yoeme blue corn.

I was like, "Where did you get this?"

Because it was pretty close to extinct.

[Capri] Turns out it was through a partnership with Native Seeds.

[Bill] What we have done is we've grown enough of it that we have been able to return the seed ten times over to Native Seed Search to increase the size of their seed bank.

Okay.

That triggered an idea for us and it changed the whole format of what we do at the Crazy Chile Farm.

Right now we do about 90% of our business growing and redistributing different varieties of native seeds to tribes in four different states Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona.

[Capri] Debbie leads the diocesan Council for Native American Ministry.

Historically, the church had strained relations with the Native people here due to the legacy of the Zionist nation.

And the whole goal of our Council for Native American Ministry in this diocese is now looking at ways to build relationships.

The whole movement of seed sovereignty is empowerment, is bringing back the traditions to the people.

So you really get an experience when you're eating our traditional ways of what is going on in the land that you're living in at that time.

So, you're really taking in that life and giving that life back.

[Capri] Debbie chases a childhood memory of her grandmother's blue corn cakes, which she tries to recreate using this corn.

To get there, it must be processed first.

How are we going to get these kernels off the cob?

We use a process called shelling, and these two instruments here are called corn shells.

The one that we're using was made in 1901 by the Little Giant corn company.

And we're going to turn it in a clockwise direction.

Okay.

If it works absolutely perfectly, the cob should spit out here.

[spinning] Ha!

You know what?

Pretty much all of the kernels came off the cob.

so in 1901, you're good to go.

Absolutely.

Here we go.

[spinning] [Capri] Oh, hey.

Hey, there it is.

Let me give this a shot.

[spinning] -Yay!

-All right.

I feel accomplished.

I feel accomplished.

So, what happens now once you get the kernels off the cob?

We package it in jars until we ship it.

[Capri] Bill's operation works by sending out seeds for free to people who request them and want to grow the ancient varieties.

He covers all the costs with his profitable chili crop.

There is product left over.

We process it ourselves and we make blue cornmeal.

[Capri] And blue cornmeal can be used for a lot of things.

It can be used in cooking.

Bill processes the cornmeal by grinding the kernels in a commercial food processor, so that cooks like Debbie can use it to cook a wide variety of traditional dishes.

Thanks for letting me help you make these blue corn cakes.

What's already in this bowl?

So, I put some butter, some milk and some eggs, and a little bit of almond flour.

I'm trying to get back to being as close to what my grandmother's bread looked like and tasted and like.

Not having her here with me means that we're always experimenting.

[Capri] When Debbie was a child, her family grew, harvested and processed their own corn.

[Debbie] So, we're going to use this to make some corn cakes.

We want it to be a little bit thick, but we want it to also be loose enough that it will pour.

[Capri] Okay.

You can definitely start to smell that earthy tone.

Right.

That's my grandmother's kitchen.

And I'm so convinced that if we can get our people to start eating more traditionally and to deassimilate their way of cooking, go more natural, that we are going to see better health.

These are perfect.

So, now you have to taste it.

[Capri] I am ready.

Twist my arm.

I cannot wait to try these.

These are so good.

I'm going to get at the scraps first.

That's the best part, right?

The little crunchy ends.

And crunchy it is.

And the nuttiness, right?

There's a different, consistency to it because of the cornmeal.

Right.

But it's rich.

And you can tell how it could change its flavor profile depending on whether it was paired with something sweet or something savory.

Or if you just wanted to put a little bit of butter on top of it.

I think these are great plain.

Right.

Well, yeah.

-You don't save the seed.

-Right.

You don't have that quintessential ingredient to continue to make this food that reminds you of your grandmother.

Right.

This is really like just being in the kitchen with her again all over again.

There have been times that I thought to myself, "I wonder what my grandmother would do."

Remembering the flavor.

Remembering the smell.

Remembering the texture and consistency.

So, I hope you enjoy these.

I absolutely enjoyed them.

And you know, you brought up on very good point.

Always ask yourself, "What would grandma do?"

I think that's a very good lesson to learn in the kitchen and in life.

All the time.

Let's respect our elders.

Absolutely.

And carry on their traditions.

Amen.

Amen.

[Capri] Blue corn cakes have a long tradition in this region, and they've evolved into some playful modern recipes, like the blue corn cookies from Rochelle Garcia, who runs Blue Corn Custom Designs outside of Phenix.

[Rochelle] Today we're making blue corn cookies.

It's a wonderful spinoff from the more traditional one that you see here, which is the blue corn cake.

With us as indigenous people, corn in general is a very sacred.

A lot of these foods are more commonly seen during ceremonies, during celebrations as well.

So you're bringing those roots of the ancestors back for today's indigenous communities?

Oh, yes.

And we feel like it's a really important time to be able to do that today.

This is something that you would more commonly see your grandmother making.

But how can we begin to talk about that and also put a spin on it, so that it's interesting for the younger generation?

[Capri] I'd love to see these cookies.

First of all, how do you make these?

Well, what makes this different compared to the traditional is this does require butter.

[Capri] And a whole stick of butter?

A whole stick of butter, yes, yes.

We use the brown sugar as well as the regular sugar cane here.

If you can go ahead and grab one cup of flour and then you can just add it to this bowl.

I'm going to add a half a teaspoon of the sugar cane, and then I'm going to add some brown sugar.

And then we're going to begin to mix it here.

We're going to add an egg.

You know, we're just inspired by blue corn in general in the sense that it's good for us.

Right.

But also the fact that it connects us to our roots.

It connects us to our elders.

It connects us to our grandparents who who used to prepare this.

So, now that we mix the flour here, the next step is to add the blue cornmeal.

We have two types of blue cornmeal and we're going to add one cup.

And then if you want to go ahead and grab the juniper ash, we're going to add two teaspoons.

I can smell it.

It's kind of fragrant.

I mean, when you think about Juniper Berry and it is kind of fragrant.

Interesting.

Juniper Ash was traditionally added to enhance the rich blue color and also provide calcium in pre-contact days.

We're going to go ahead and give those a nice mix.

Tell me about the stirring sticks.

[Rochelle] When I think of these stirring sticks, I like to remember my grandmother.

I like to remember my mom.

I like to remember the ceremonies we participated in and how it was really community based.

These stirring sticks came from my grandmother.

You know, you're almost communicating that intergenerational experience and bringing those sentiments directly into the food.

Oh, yes, definitely.

You really have to have a very clear mindset.

Your energy has to be in the right stages in order to prepare foods.

[Capri] She always uses her stirring sticks in a clockwise motion, simulating the cycle of life.

So, what's next?

This is baking soda, so we're going to put half a teaspoon.

-There you go.

-Perfect.

Two pinches of cinnamon.

And now once we have all our dry ingredients together, we're going to begin to add it here.

[Capri] Rochelle bakes for clients often for ceremonies and special occasions.

She believes strongly in the importance of the energy she puts into her creations and begins each day with an offering that includes corn.

[Rochelle] I find the morning to be best, especially after I do my offerings in the morning.

It allows me that time to be in the kitchen, putting forth the right energy.

So, now we're just going to flatten it out.

What you see is the beautiful color in this.

It's gorgeous.

It's that juniper ash.

You get this beautiful blue color.

[Capri] I'm so inspired by what you're describing and the role that corn has in your community and in your life and how you're able to capture that and pass that on.

A lot of times I don't consider this a business.

It really just is a passion and really community driven.

How long do you put these in the oven for?

For about 15 minutes.

325 degrees.

In the oven it goes.

I know you have some tea over here.

[Rochelle] Oh, yes, the tea pairs very well, and we're going to go ahead and get some brewed.

Once the water boils, we're going to go ahead and put one of these bundles in there.

And what what is in here?

Dandelions.

They're very beautiful.

And that's the first of the harvest for this season.

So, this one grew on the Navajo Nation.

Okay.

When we think the Navajo tea, Hopi tea, we think of our grandmothers.

[Capri] The strength of spirituality comes from her grandfather, the medicine man who came from a long line of healers.

The goal of his was to really share and let us know how important plants are.

Every plant has an indigenous name, so when you're gathering it, again, going back to being in that state of mind where you're respecting enough because again, it's returning, and it's going to do good for you.

Tea is ready.

[Capri] It's a really rich red.

Mmm.

I could see how that could definitely settle the stomach.

Mmm-hmm.

Kind of a sleepy time tea as well.

Like, very relaxing.

You unwind from the day.

You have a minute to yourself to sort of reflect.

I get all of that just in this cup of tea.

Yeah, I mean, you're right.

You're right.

This is something you definitely can relax to.

I do have some cookies here that are done cooling.

Mmm.

It's just sweet enough.

And it's tastes even better when you dip it in the tea.

Hmm.

Oh, my gosh.

That is really interesting.

It brings out a different flavor.

A little bit sweeter.

I feel the powerfulness of all of this coming together, mixing the importance of the corn, the importance of this tea.

What it means to you and your family and the generations.

You can taste it.

You can feel it.

And I'm so honored that you would share this with me.

You do a great job bringing it all together and educating young people, which is so important because that's how tradition lives on.

That's how culture continues.

And that's why it's really important for me to share that with our youth, within our own family and our community, so everybody's able to experience this and to be connected.

So, you're rediscovering your roots> I am.

One dunk at a time.

Oh, yes.

[Capri] Reconnecting with roots and reestablishing nearly lost traditions is a theme found throughout the indigenous communities of Arizona.

And it's no better demonstrated than through the modern revitalization of indigenous core.

This most sacred of ancient crops.

But why take my word for it, when you can come experience it for yourself.

"America The Bountiful" is waiting for you and me.

For more information visit Americathebountifulshow.com.

[announcer] America's farmers have nourished us for generations, but today they face unprecedented challenges.

American Farmland Trust works with farmers to help save the land that sustains us.

Together we can work to keep America bountiful.