For centuries, Cahuilla men scoured the mountains above the Coachella Valley, harvesting a plant they would eat, weave into sandals and even into baby cradles.
The traditional quest for the sweet-tasting agave continues today and next weekend during the Malki Museum's 12th annual harvest and tasting.
The harvest will be led at 10 a.m. today by U.S. Forest Service archaeologist Daniel McCarthy along Highway 74, depending on weather conditions.
On April 22, agave will be prepared at the museum on the Morongo Indian Reservation.
Both events are open to the public. Each costs $10.
Historic accounts hold that the plants were buried in a hand-dug dirt pit for three days.
Logs burned under rocks covered with agave, leaves and grass, allowing the stalks to steam, according to Temalpakh, a 1972 book by Palm Springs-based anthropologist Lowell Bean and Cahuilla elder Katherine Siva Saubel.
"It's symbol of a lot of the cultural revival that's going on," said Bean, a Cahuilla scholar. "It brings people back to the past."
The plant is also an ingredient of tequila, said Jacob Ritchey, a publications manager for the museum.
As many as a dozen native American tribes will be at the roast, Bean said.The Press-Enterprise
