A Culinary Fusion

Enslaved Africans continued their culinary traditions through growing plants in gardens around their living quarters that came from West Africa as well as new plants available to them in the Americas. Click on the plants below to explore their connection to enslaved Africans and their descendants.

Black-eyed Pea

Vigna unguiculata

African Rice

Oryza glaberrima

Hibiscus

Hibiscus sabdariffa

Taro

Colocasia esculentis

Sorghum

Sorghum bicolor

Pearl Millet

Pennisetum glaucum

Sesame

Sesamum indicum

Gilo Eggplant

Solanum aethiopicum

Sweet potato

Ipomoea batatas

African Bird’s-eye pepper

Capsicum frutescens ‘African Bird’s Eye’

Fish Pepper

Capsicum annuum ‘Fish Pepper’

Peanuts

Arachis hypogaea

Onion

Allium cepa

Pumpkin Squash

Cucurbita moschata

Tomato

Solanum lycopersicum

Food as Medicine

Enslaved Africans continued their traditional medicinal practices of holistic healing through the use of medicinal plants, including food plants.

Okra

Abelmoschus esculentus

Collard Greens

Brassica oleracea

Watermelon

Citrullus lanatus

Corn

Zea mays 'Orchard baby sweet corn'

Cayenne Pepper

Capsicum annuum

Potato

Solanum tuberosum

Rhubarb

Rheum rhabarbarum

Sorghum

Sorghum bicolor

Holistic Healing Herbs

Enslaved Africans continued their traditional medicinal practices of holistic healing using plants from Africa and plants available to them in the Americas.

Castor Bean

Ricinus communis

Sweet Basil

Ocimum basilicum

African Basil

Ocimum gratissimum

Elderberry

Sambucus canadensis

Turtlehead

Chelone glabra

Butterfly weed

Asclepias tuberosa

Spotted Bee Balm

Monarda punctata

Catnip

Nepeta cataria

Poppy

Papaver somniferum

Wild Sage

Salvia lyrata

Mullein

Verbascum thapsus

Jerusalem Oak

Dysphania ambrosioides

Plants for Material Uses

Some plants were grown for material uses including bottle gourds for containers and flax for making fabrics and fibers.

Bottle Gourd

Lagenaria siceraria

Flax

Linum ussitatissimum

Muhly Grass

Muhlenbergia sericea

Cash Crops

Enslaved Africans and their descendants were forced to cultivate and harvest these five main cash crops in the Americas.

Sugar cane

Saccharum officinarum

Cotton

Gossypium hirsutum

Tobacco

Nicotiana tabacum

Carolina Gold Rice

Oryza sativa 'Carolina Gold'

Indigo

Indigofera tinctoria