This Article written by a hubpages.com Expert Writer.

Many foods are native to the North American region, with grapes, cranberries, and blueberries three of the most well known, however, eco-friendly gardeners are rediscovering a renewed interest in several more of these locally grown foods that are sustainable and tend to be more valued by Locavores.

Native Americans, in the Eastern United States, domesticated sunflower and grassfoot. Sunflower seeds are sold as a snack food after being roasted in ovens, and can either be salted or no salt added. Sunflower oil is used for cooking and to produce margarine. Grassfoot is experiencing an increase in interest because the seeds are suitable as part of a gluten-free diet.

Ancient American crops such as maize, a cereal grain, and the most widely grown crop in the Country, (corn), legumes, (beans), are popular both dry and as a green bean (bush and pole beans), with the leaf's accessibility as a vegetable. Yucca fruits, seeds, flowers, stems, and roots are all edible. Black Walnuts are popular in ice cream, baking, and confections, while salads, fish, pork, chicken, vegetables, and pasta dishes can also contain uses for these nuts and their strong nutritional profile.

Biscuits, puddings, jellies, cakes, and hot sauces can all contain Arrowweed, the power herb, naturalized in Florida. These are all examples of the many varieties, and some of the uses, of native North American foods found in cereals, pulses, fibers, roots, tubers, fruits, melons, nuts, and others.

The US is the fourth largest grape producer in the world. Grapes can be crimson, black, dark blue, yellow, green, or pink. White grapes are actually green and derived from red grapes. Grapes can be used for jams, juices, jellies, vinegars, grape extracts, raisins, grape seed oils, eaten raw, or several other uses. Approximately 98% of commercially grown table grapes are from California.

A list of some other locally grown native North American foods include:

Mayapple - fruit taste is lemon. Also known as Hagapple, Indian Apple, Wild Mandrake, and American Mandrake.

American Persimmon - traditional for desserts and as a dried fruit.

Beach Plum - grown commercially to be used as a jam and a sweet snack.

Black Cherry - bitter, and yet sweet, when eaten fresh. Suitable for jams, cherry pies, sodas, and ice creams. Also known as the Wild Black Cherry, the Rum Cherry, and the Mountain Black Cherry.

Black Raspberry - good source of ellagic acid and anthocyanidins, (a sugar source).

Buffaloberries - bitter berries that can be used to make jams, jellies, and syrups.

Choke Cherry - often mistakenly called Chokeberry. Contains anthocyanidins.

Coroplum - used to make jams.

Cranberries - a major US crop used for such things as juices, sauces, dried cranberries, and fresh cranberries.

Huckleberry - Idaho State Fruit. A tart, to sweet, tasting berry that has ten large seeds that makes eating them more difficult.

Maypop - a Traditional Summer treat. Also known as Wild Apricot, May Apple, and Purple Passionflower. Used for jams, jellies, and teas.

Pawpaw - has a similar taste to bananas and mangos. Provides more protein than most fruits. Some common local names of this fruit are Prairie Banana, Hoosier Banana, West Virginia Banana, Kentucky Banana, Michigan Banana, Missouri Banana, Poor Man's Banana, and Ozark Banana.

Prickly Pear - used as a fruit or vegetable. Must be peeled carefully to remove the outer spikes. Commonly called Cactus Figs and Indian Figs. Candies, jellies, and drinks are made from them.

Salal - a mild and sweet berry. Often combined with Oregon grapes to be used in jams, preserves, and pies because Oregon grapes are tart and make up for the mild sweetness of Salals.

Salmonberry - incorporated into pemmison, which is a concentrated mixture of fat and protein, used as nutritious emergency foodstuff.

Saskatoonberry - used in pies, jams, cereals, trail mixes, and snack foods. A preservative with a sweet taste.

Saw Palmetto - fruit is highly enriched with fatty acids and phytosterals. Extracts of this fruit are the subjects of intensive research for medical purposes.

Thimbleberry - can be eaten fresh or made into jams. A local delicacy in parts of Upper Michigan, in the Keweenaw Peninsula.

Tayonberry - acidic and made into jellies or teas.

Strawberry - can be consumed fresh, or in such products as preserves, cereal bars, dairy, pies, eaten dried, and many others. US is world's largest producer of strawberries.