Native Foods
Berries:Sweetbrush berries. Small, waxy yellow berries with tiny black seeds, sweet and often used in baking and preserves. From the sweetbrush bush, southern borderlands and eastern seacoast.
Bitterstar stones. Small, round, tough black berries with tiny seeds. Bitter and slightly spicy, frequently used in sauces or dried and powdered to mix with flour. From the bitterstar plant, everywhere.
Fruit:Flower Eggs. Pinkish, egg-shaped, fleshy fruits with oblong black seeds, up to two inches long. Tart and only slightly sweet, can be eaten raw but more commonly prepared or candied. From the flowering eggvine, found in most temperate and subarctic areas and commonly used as garden decoration.
Kalcha. Fleshy, fist-sized yellow fruit with smooth mottled skin. Very juicy and easily split into two halves, each bearing a small pit near the joining. From the kalcha tree, found in coastal and swampy tropics and subtropical areas.
Rainers. Fist-sized sour/tart yellow-green fruits. Tough, thick rind with softer, juicy yellow innards. From the rainbowwood tree, southern Heartlands area.
Cholits. Globular smooth-skinned red-orange fruits that can grow from fist-sized up to the size of a child's head. The skins are soft and edible, and the pulp within is extremely juicy and full of tiny, also-edible white seeds. From the cholit tree, tropical climates in Yezadra and southward.
Blood apples. Firm, shiny red-skinned apples with white flesh that shades into gooey though sweet red centers, with brittle white core-sections and reddish seeds. From the blood appletree, in Haaraka only.
Achani fruit (white/green). Small, slightly ruddy bulbs with juicy pulp; the white tastes crisp and sweet when fresh, and the green tastes strongly bittersweet. From the achani cactus, in arid near-desert areas.
Rinces. Small, hard-rinded, unsegmented citrus fruits ranging in color from pink to yellow-green (skipping red and orange shades). Citrusy innards without the inner segmenting membrane, including small rugged brown seeds with slick tan covers. The fruit is very sour and acidic, with some varieties being mildly toxic when not fully ripe. Pink, golden and green are the main types, though the motley rince grown in the Brother Nations is sweeter and entirely nontoxic. Found in hot, dry areas in the tropic zone.
Mero. Vine fruit native to Padras.
Aramero. Larger, sweeter variant of the merom, native to Padras and Hjaltar.
Grains:Veirum. Red grass seed. Often called 'blood grain' or 'battlefield grain' for its rusty color and tendency to invade disrupted soil. Considered bad luck to be eaten by soldiers. Small seeds, quick-cooking, easy to disperse. Found throughout the world.
Atharum. Sun grass seed. Long-seeded, tough, pale grain that grows in tall, bushy stalks. Very robust, storm-hardy, heat-tolerant but not drought-tolerant. Cultivated throughout Jernizan, Illane and the southlands.
Vaukrum. Razor grass seed. Medium-sized thin grains, wide stiff leaves, seen as a weed in many places. Drought-tolerant, found in the western and south lands.
Kytharum. Brine grass seed. Small spherical grains, heat-tolerant but not drought- or cold-tolerant. Salt-loving. Grows throughout brackish swamps and on coastlines, around islands.
Selrum. Golden or basket-grass seed. Short, thick, bright yellow grains, thin stalks in dense clusters. Needs ample water and sun, mild weather. Grows well in the Imperial Heartlands.
Skiliorum. Needle grass seed. Thin sharp-ended leaves, shiny dark pill-shaped/oblong seeds. Slow-cooking, needs to be well-ground. Found throughout the world.
Rhirum. Cold grass seed. Fibrous seed-coating over oblong, dense, dark seed. Long, slightly blue-green tubular leaves. Common in the northlands and at high altitude, as in Kerrindryr.
Nuts and Beans:Indigo nuts. Small round nuts with hard black shells and bluish-brown nutmeats, which are quite bitter until boiled. From the indigo tree, sub-arctic scrub.
Soren nuts. Round nuts initially covered in silvery fuzz. Pliable but tough shells cover a papery tan membrane, which in turn covers white nutmeat that is bitter until boiled or roasted. From the soren tree, temperate to subarctic.
Darop. A legume, also called 'daro bean', native to Padras.
Zynrop. A legume, also called 'zyn bean', native to Padras.
Pradop. A legume, also called 'par bean', native to Hjaltar.
Sickle bean. A curved green pod-bean.
Bag bean. A heavy, pendular pod-bean.
Climbing bean. An extremely fast-growing bean vine.
Scorch bean. A type of bean with a flammable, woody vine and a pod that opens best when partially burnt. Known to easily propagate in fire zones; often found with firebells.
Vegetables:Achani pads (white/green). The pads of these cacti can be stripped to get at the water-keeping white flesh, which is crisp when fresh though faintly bitter in the case of green achani. From the achani cactus, in arid near-desert areas.
Heartroot. Thick, short root vegetable, deep red on the outer layer and nearly purple in the center. Hard, slightly sweet and watery.
Charot. Long, finger-thin, sharp-tasting white root vegetable.
Icicle pepper. Narrow, pale mint-green peppers with juicy bodies and dry clusters of white seeds within. Mild and sweet. Found in the border area between Krovichanka and Gejara.
Colinto pepper. Hand-length, narrow red-orange pepper, sweet but very spicy. Found in Mayorca.
Dinoka. A thick, greenish-brown, salty seaweed that grows in long flat strands and is edible when raw, though very strong-tasting and somewhat bitter. Usually dried or steamed.
Soren buds. Leafbuds about an inch long and covered in greyish fuzz. When boiled, they are edible and taste a bit like young fern-buds or sprouts. From the soren tree, temperate and subarctic.
Wrackweed. Flat, ribbonlike bright-green seaweed found in the Atharenix.
Tennomel. A salad green.
Spenivel. A salad green.
Kerrel. A salad green.
Vettich. A reddish-purple salad leaf.
Kech. A common root vegetable with spicy green leaves.
Kemzenoc. A hot pepper, native to Padras.
Melioc. A hot pepper, native to Padras.
Dzairoc. A hot pepper, native to Padras.
Tindzairoc. A very hot pepper, native to Padras.
Sugars:
Sugar cane (brown sugar): Southern Illane, western Padras, Yezadra, Hjaltar, northern Zhangi-Uru, northern Ciritheen, the Brother Islands.Sugar beets (white sugar): Amandon, Trivestes, northern Illane, Baedor (red sugar), northern Jernizan.
Indigo trees (blue sugar): Gejara, Gherenoch, Krovichanka, Riddian, northern Garnet Mountain Territory, northern Darronwy.
Molasses and syrup:
Sugar cane: Cane molasses. As listed above.Sugar beets: Beet molasses. As listed above.
Indigo trees: Blue molasses/ink syrup. As listed above.
Alcohols:
Rums: Black (southwestern Padras, Yezadra), golden (southern Illane, northwestern Padras), crystal (northern Ciritheen), isle (Ycinth and Graviena).Whiskeys: Cwyll/red (Cwynaith), gorohne (Gejara), tanner (Amandon), bale (Amandon: corn), blood rye (Amandon: rye), tawny (Jernizan: corn).
Chanas/Chanai: adsalah (Hjaltar: white achani), taanru (Hjaltar: green achani), mimizir (Yezadra: white), irumi (Yezadra: green), tsisai (Ciritheen: white), ne'tsisai (Ciritheen: green), kiolie/feral (Aervach: white), kamwaie/venom (Aervach: green).
Iels/Ieli: messereh (Yezadra), iquirin/sweet (Aervach).
Kistalas/Kistalai: sanakistala (Hjaltar: honeyed fruit-wine mixed with kistoia), kistala (Hjaltar: plain sour kistoia-wine).
Candy:
Hjaltar: Spice drops (brown-sugar candies flavored with spices -- bitterweed, colinto, firebell, ka'ef, kistoia, etc), syrup drops (fruit- and alcohol-flavored syrups in beeswax shells -- also used for medicine), honey drops (same as syrup but with flavored honey), candied insects, candied nuts.