the many Indian uses for Corn (rituals, spiritual, Articles)

[t3gah]

Baked Corn

Corn on the cob can be baked Indian fashion very easily. Break off the silk tassels and twist the shucks or husks tightly around that end. Dig a shallow hole in the ground, and build a good hardwood fire in the hole.

When the fire has burned down, rake out the coals and put the corn in the hole. Cover with the live coals heaped on top. Cooking time depends on the freshness of the corn.

Roasted Corn

Although roasted corn is not nearly as good as baked corn, it can be prepared in an emergency. Cut the ear at the butt so that you can see the core of the cob. Stick a sharp stick securely into the butt. The shucks are left on because they protect the corn from being burned as it is held over the fire. Keep turning the cob over the hardwood coals until the corn is done.

Corn Ash Cakes

This recipe probably goes back to prehistoric times. Mix 1/2 tsp. of salt with 1 cup of corn meal and add hot water until the swollen corn meal can be worked into a ball. The ball is buried in the hot ashes of the campfire until it is done, usually about 15-20 minutes. Rake out the ashes and brush it clean, and it is ready to eat.

Corn Coffee

Many Indian tribes used corn for coffee. It tastes something like coffee and is good if not too strong. Take the whole ears of shucked corn, dry them real good, and roast them on hot coals. Then pound the kernels and boil them. Maple sugar was used to sweeten this rather strong drink.

Zuni Corn Soup

2 cops lamb or mutton
8 ears green corn
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon red chili powder
6 cups water

Dice bones meat into small cubes, simmer until tender in 3 cups of water. Cut the corn from the cob, add 3 cups of boiling water and the chili powder and simmer until the corn is soft.

Indian Corn Pudding

1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 cups milk
2 tablespoon honey
6 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 scant teaspoon connamon
1/2 cup raisins

Heat the milk to scalding. Mix cornmeal and salt and stir slowly into hot milk until smooth. Add honey-sugar mixture, stir in raisins and cinnamon. Bake at 300 degrees for 1 and 3/4 hours. Serve hot with cream.

Navajo Roasted Corn

One Navajo woman began this recipe... "Take three pickups of corn ...."

This is how the Navajo would roast their corn. They would build a fire in the adobe ovens and keep them going all day. They would clean out all of the ashes, and put the corn (in their husks) in a half bucket of water. Next they would seal the ovens with mud and water and let the corn cook over night. In the morning, they would scrape the kernels off and then dry them in the sun.

The Apaches roasted their corn in underground ovens. No one who had been struck by lighting was allowed to participate however because they thought that might spoil the batch. They dug a huge hole, and made a layer of wood, a layer of rocks, and another layer of wood. The fire was lit sometime in mid-afternoon.

When the fire had died down, it was covered with a layer of corn husks and corn leaves. The pit was then filled with corn still in its husks. A stove pipe was then inserted into the pile. The stalks were then piled on and that was covered by canvas all the while allowing the stove pipe to protrude. For each 100 pounds of corn, 5 gallons of water was poured down the pipe and the pipe was plugged from the top. Everything was then left until the morning when the corn was ready.

Use a crock pot as a sort of modernized method. Put the corn in the husks in my crock pot with NO water, cover and set on high heat. After about four - six hours, the corn is done.

[t3gah]

Corn Soup (Ogala Sioux)

2 cups dried sweet corn
1 large soup bone or stew meat
24 dried turnips

Soak dried corn and turnips overnight. Cook all ingredients in large pot and cook slowly until corn and turnips are soft.

(This recipe should be good as a diuretic)

[t3gah]

Source for all posts on this thread are from an old newsletter I subscribed to years ago, 1995/96. The files are text files and I've compiled these posts from multiple text files. The list says 105.txt as the last one but the archive is corrupt and is missing a few newsletters. The actual number of articles in only 100.

http://www.powersource.com/talkingleaf/

[painted wolf]

Corn wasn't just food. It was used as fuel for fires, husks were woven into mats, dolls, sandles, rugs and so on. The pollen was used for rituals and healing as well as food.

Selu (aniyunwia/Cherokee for corn) was a very vital part of the spirituality and everyday life of agricultural Nations.
She was the most revered of the edible plants. And one of the most revered of all plants in general.

wa:do

[kreeden]

What ? No Succotash ? { Msiquatash }

[painted wolf]

or hominy, grits... corn bread, the list goes on and on.

Corn incidently has become the number one staple food for most of the world.

It is also used in the production not only of most foods (thanks to corn syrup and corn starch) but also in feul (ethanol) corn starch is used in production of spark plugs and tires, it is in cosmetics, toothpaste, paint, pharmasuticles, paper products, alchohols and so on.

Corn is the most important crop grown in the world today thanks to its versitility.
Selu truely gave us a wonderful gift!

wa:do

[kreeden]

Sorry , couldn't help myself . Truth is , I just tried succotash for the first time last week . Had always figured it was just a term from " Loony Toons " until my friend in Seattle was telling me about it . Don't think that it was as common in ther north , but could be mistaken . I have to ask around . { a friend always serves beans with rice though } .

Yes , maize is a wonderfull gift .

[painted wolf]

Corn and soy are neck and neck in terms of 'importance'
corn is actually the most grown crop in the world beating eaven soy and wheat.

One reason is that corn produces more food per stalk than other foods. Modern corn produces about 800 kernals per cob and a corn stalk can have up to 5 stalks, though 3 is more normal.

In my small corn patch last summer planted a traditional style corn garden. (on a small scale)
We had four rows of corn with seven hills each, each hill had four corn stalks. When harvest time came we ended up with a lot of corn. If we had been using a high yeld type of modern corn rather than an older traditional variety we would have had at least 268,800 kernals of corn. As it was we had corn coming out our ears!

Selu was honored for giving her life to feed her children so they would not starve. She has kept this promice to her children in spades.

wa:do

[kreeden]

If I'm not mistaken , corn also replaces nitrogen into the soil , making it a great crop to rotate with other crops .

[painted wolf]

sadly just the opposite, Corn is very nitrogen hungry and leaches it quickly from the soil. This is why when the Nations planted corn they ususally planted it with the other two sisters.
Beans (like soy) give back a lot of nitrogen and fix it into the soil, thus planting them together helps both.
The corn gets nitrogen from the beans and the beans have the corn to grow up like a trellis.
The third sister, squash, was often planted along with, next to her other sisters, she provided ground cover to help keep 'pests' away and attracted more polinators. Some squash also loved to climb up corn, like my gourds who were planted well away but managed to make it and take over the corn. lol.

It is a good crop to rotate, infact it is nessisary to rotate. A trick that the European settlers had a hard time figuring out.

wa:do