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An excerpt from “Movable Feasts: Rockhominy”, by Charles R. Blair, Backpacker Magazine, Spring 1974, page 48.
Recently,
I was googling through some old magazines online when I stumbled across an
article about rockhominy in the Spring 1974, Backpacker Magazine, and it got me
to thinking...
This
article can be used by experimental archaeologists, re-enactors
or historical trekkers of the late 18th and early 19th
centuries, and by anyone who is interested in wilderness survival and trekking
food.
For
a video, watch “How to Make Parched Corn
©”, HERE. – Author’s note.
Nocake,
pinole, rockahominy...what’s that?
All
of these are simply different names for parched and crushed or milled corn, or
for my European readers, maize. Parched
and powdered corn was the original Native American traveling food.
Parching,
or browning the corn kernels, both dehydrates and pre-cooks the corn and helps
to preserve it, while grinding or crushing the kernels makes the parched corn
easier to carry and easier to eat.
Native Americans, and later Euro-American woodsmen, who travelled in the
wilderness of North America carried parched corn with them on their journeys. If a traveler hadn’t been able to find fresh
meat for a meal, he or she would eat a spoonful or two of parched corn and wash
it down with a cup or bowl of water and would have had a “good meal”1, especially if they had combined it with some jerky,
dried fruit, maple sugar, chocolate or portable soup2.
Parched
corn is not only nutritious, but when taken with water, instead of being cooked
in a pot, it swells in your stomach and makes you feel full.
 |
From “Generic – Corn, Parched”, HERE.
When
Europeans first came to North America, and came upon corn, or maize as it came
to be known in Europe, for the first time; they had no word for it or for the
food products that were made from it,
Usually, they used the local Native American word for that food, and
that is why there are different regional names for parched corn.
 |
An excerpt from Wood's New-England's Prospect, by William Wood, page 76, Part Two.
In
the New England states, according to William Wood, who wrote Wood's New-England's Prospect in 1634, parched corn was called “nocake”, an
anglicized version of the Narragansett word “nókehick”4, which
apparently sounds like “nookik”5. In Virginia, parched corn was “rockahominy”,
according to The Westover Manuscript, by William Byrd, which detailed an
expedition along the line between Virginia and North Carolina in 1728 to
1729. John Gottlieb Ernestus
Heckewelder, a Moravian missionary who was active in the frontier areas of
Pennsylvania and Ohio during the late 18th century, wrote in History, Manners and Customs of the Indian Nations,
about the Lenni Lenape6, who called parched corn “Psindamócan or
Tassmanáne”. And according to Horace
Kephart, writing in The Book of Camping and Woodcraft,
Vol. II on page 153, that in Louisiana parched corn was known as “gofio”
and in Mexico it was called “pinole”.
 |
An excerpt from History, Manners and
Customs of the Indian Nations, by John Heckewelder, page 195
“So,
how do your make parched corn”, you ask.
That is a good question, so let’s dive into it. For more information on making parched corn
watch my video, “How to Make Parched Corn ©”, HERE.
 |
Step One: assemble your ingredients and tools.
Photograph by the Author.
The
first step is to assemble your ingredients and tools. I used Indian Head: Old Fashioned Stone
Ground Yellow Corn Meal, a course ground corn flour made of “yellow dent
corn”. Indian Head, and for that
matter the majority of corn meal today, is made of “yellow dent corn”, zea
mays var. indentata.
Historically, parched corn was made from “flint corn”, zea mays
var. indurata, which is also known as “indian corn”.
 |
If
you choose to use corn meal, make sure that it is NOT degerminated. Many mills remove the germ portion and the
hull of the kernel, which allows the grain to be stored for a much longer time
without refrigeration. Unfortunately,
removing the germ and the hull also removes much of the fats and vitamins,
particularly niacin (vitamin B3), from the corn meal. Always read the package to make sure, that
your corn meal is whole grain and is not degerminated.
 |
Photograph by the Author.
You
could also parch whole corn kernels, form either yellow dent or flint
corn. I chose to use corn meal so I
wouldn’t have to take the extra step of crushing or grinding the kernels, after
I parched them. If you use whole
kernels, after you parch them, you can either grind them in a coffee mill or hand
grinder or crush them in a mortar and pestle.
 |
A hand grinder, photograph by the Author.
 |
Step Two: parching the corn. Note how the corn meal is a bright yellow
color, photograph by the Author.
I
didn’t grease the cast iron pot that I used before I put the corn meal into
it. Some recipes that you find online
will tell you to lightly grease the cast iron pot or skillet before you parch
the corn. However, since historically
Native Americans parched their corn kernels in hot ashes, obviously without
grease or oil, I chose to parch my corn meal in ungreased pot.
I
set the heat of my stove between low and medium heat and stirred the corn meal
constantly. It took about ten minutes to
parch one cup, 8 ounces or 120 grams, of corn meal. As the corn meal becomes parched, it changes
from a bright yellow color to a light brown color and begins to slightly smoke.
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The corn meal is now parched, note how it is now a
light brown color, photograph by the Author.
 |
A side-by-side comparison between corn meal and
parched corn, note the difference in color, photograph by the Author.
Historically,
Native Americans sometimes added maple sugar to their parched corn, mixing it
into the corn after it was parched and ground or crushed. In the past, I have added brown sugar,
instead of maple sugar, to my parched corn and it is very tasty. I added a ¼ cup (48 grams) of light brown
sugar to each cup of parched corn. I
know that brown sugar isn’t very authentic, but I was out of maple sugar that
day.
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According to the Indian Head corn meal package,
one ¼ cup (1 ounce or 30 grams) of corn meal is a meal and ¼ cup equals three
tablespoonfuls. Photograph by the
Author.
After
I finished parching my corn meal, since I hadn’t had any lunch and I was
famished, I took a tablespoonful of parched corn (10 grams) with a cup of water
(eight ounces or approximately ¼ liter).
I felt full for at more than two hours, as the corn meal expanded in my
stomach.
Historically,
authors suggested that “Two heaping tablespoonfuls was the usual ‘sup’...”7,
although William Wood’s wrote that three tablespoonfuls were a meal and John
Heckewelder suggested that you only needed one tablespoonful of parched corn
(with 16 ounces or ½ half a liter of water) for a meal.
 |
An excerpt from Wood's New-England's Prospect, by William Wood, page 76, Part Two.
You
can also make cakes out of parched corn, by wetting it with water and baking
it, , as the author Daniel Neal suggests, or you can make porridge or mush by
boiling it in water, as the John Heckewelder says the Lenni Lenape did at their
camps.
 |
An excerpt from History, Manners and Customs of the Indian
Nations, by John Heckewelder,
page 195
 |
An excerpt from the The History of New-England,
by Daniel Neal, page 200.
Don’t
eat too much dry, uncooked parched corn and always drink water with it, remember
it swells in your stomach! Follow John
Heckewelder’s advice.
 |
An excerpt from History, Manners and
Customs of the Indian Nations, by John Heckewelder, page 195
So,
during this long Thanksgiving Day weekend, I hope that you get a chance to make
some accurate and historic Native American travelling food. Have fun and enjoy!
Don’t forget to come back next week and read “Fuzzy Wuzzy was a ...
Weatherman!? ©”, where we will talk about Wooly Bear caterpillars and whether or
not they can forecast the weather.
I
hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me
on YouTube at Bandanaman Productions for other related videos, HERE. Don’t forget to follow me on both The
Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE,
and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube. If you have questions, as always, feel free
to leave a comment on either site. I
announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at
bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.
That
is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!
Notes
1
William Wood, 1634, as reported in The Book of Camping and Woodcraft, by
Horace Kephart, page 151
2
Todays bouillon, which during the 18th and early 19th
centuries was known as “cake soup”, “Veal Glue” (The Lady’s
Companion, 1743) or “glue-broth” (The Westover Manuscripts, 1841).
Hmm...
that sounds appetizing doesn’t it.
William
Byrd, who wrote The Westover Manuscript, which described a trip along
the dividing line of Virginia and North Carolina in the years of 1728 to 1729,
noted that “...two to three drachms [one drachma is about 4.3 grams or
.15 ounces – Author’s note], dissolved in boiling water with a little salt,
will make half a pint of good broth...this broth will be still more heartening,
if you thicken every mess with half a spoonful of rockahominy...”.
William
Byrd, The Westover Manuscripts, page 70
4
From “Nocake” by List of Nouns
5 Horace
Kephart, in The Book of Camping and Woodcraft, Vol. II, on page 150,
wrote that in “New England it went by the name ‘nocake’, a corruption of the
Indian word nookik”, possibly because that is how it sounded to him when it
was pronounced.
6
The Lenni Lenape, were also called the Delaware by chroniclers during the 18th,
19th and even up through most of the 20th centuries.
7 Horace
Kephart, in The Book of Camping and Woodcraft, Vol. II, on page 154.
Sources
Blair, Charles R.;
“Movable Feasts: Rockhominy”, Backpacker, Spring 1974, Vol. 6, No. 4, page 48, https://books.google.com/books?id=7eMDAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=backpacker+magazine&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiS4LD5k5rtAhWzsDEKHQijBY44oAEQ6AEwA3oECAUQAg#v=onepage&q=backpacker%20magazine&f=false, accessed October 29, 2020
Byrd,
William; The Westover Manuscripts: Containing the History of the Dividing
Line, [Printed by Edmund and Julian C. Ruffin, Petersburg, 1841] p. 70 to 71,
https://books.google.com/books?id=TMLpBsVTdWIC&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22The+Westover+Manuscripts%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjSpYu266jlAhWlUt8KHXpeAXIQ6AEwAHoECAQQAg#v=onepage&q=%22The%20Westover%20Manuscripts%22&f=false,
accessed 10/19/19
Earle, Alice Morse; Home
Life In Colonial Days, [The Macmillan Company, New York, 1898], page 137, https://books.googleusercontent.com/books/content?req=AKW5Qaft6BzI649tDdpTAJX9k_SdpFzpmGPlJCJtvo51qUTzd0Frq0l3pq8aVoZs_Un0nubzWgPF1Efl9QStp5cVszVx7nWiChTTfnezGnBg5xTajAtZr8lT_pCDbw29ArWXvRnfPCJdn82cJ431m9tK54pP57BLouVYCnIt4doPHLLsicQfN_WNghx-LP8zEnYPjdfmg6_TnhZyjQC75DTrg_sWG-1cN1__xLD71_Ku_ARL_yDQZfSRn1AGenMDo4p_XnotovzBr7vWwC606KtOgfOq3UJxIw, accessed November 23, 2020
“Generic – Corn,
Parched”, [© 2020 Under
Armour, Inc.], https://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/calories/454623218, accessed November 23, 2020
Heckewelder, John; History,
Manners and Customs of the Indian Nations, [The Historical Society of
Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1876], page 195,
https://www.google.com/books/edition/History_Manners_and_Customs_of_the_India/F8wLAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%E2%80%9CHistory,+Manners+and+Customs+of+the+Indian+Nations%E2%80%9D&printsec=frontcover, accessed November
24, 2020
Kephart,
Horace; The Book of Camping and Woodcraft, Vol. II, [The Macmillan
Company, New York, 1947] page 150 to 155
List of Nouns, “Nocake”, [© 2017 List of Nouns], https://listofnouns.net/noun-nocake-definition-and-examples, accessed
November 24, 2020
Neal, Daniel; The
History of New-England, Volume II, [Printed for A. Ward, in Little-Britain,
London, 1747], page 200, https://books.google.com/books?id=u3opAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA200&dq=%22NOCAKE%22&hl=en&ei=y2X5TPbvIY6cOqvizdUK&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=%22NOCAKE%22&f=false, accessed November 21, 2020
Waugh, F. W.; Iroquis
Foods and Food Preparation, Memoir 86, No. 12, Anthropological Series,
[Government Printing Office, Department of Mines, Ottawa, Canada, 1916], pages
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Wood, William; Wood's New-England's Prospect, [Prince Society, published by John Wilson and Son,
Boston, 1865], Part Two, page 76, https://www.google.com/books/edition/Wood_s_New_England_s_Prospect/ZWoFAAAAQAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22william+wood%22+nocake&pg=PA76&printsec=frontcover, accessed 11/24/20
