Native Americans of New England planted corn in household gardens and in more extensive fields adjacent to their villages. Fields were often cleared by controlled burning which enriched not only the soil but the plant and animal communities as well. Slash and burn agriculture also helped create an open forest environment, free of underbrush, which made plant collecting and hunting easier.
Agricultural fields consisted of small mounds of tilled earth, placed a meter or two apart sometimes in rows and other times randomly placed. Kernels of corn and beans were planted in the raised piles of soil to provide the support of the cornstalk for the bean vine to grow around. The spaces in between the mounds were planted with squash or mellon seeds. The three crops complemented each other both in the field and in their combined nutrition.
Native Americans discovered that, unlike wild plants and animals, a surplus of maize could be grown and harvested. Tribes in southern New England harvested great amounts of maize and dried them in heaps upon mats. The drying piles of maize, usually two or three for each Narragansett family, often contained from 12 to 20 bushels of the grain. Surplus maize would be stored in underground storage pits, ingeniously constructed and lined with grasses to prevent mildew or spoiling, for winter consumption of the grain.
The European accounts of Josselyn in 1674, indicate Native Americans used bags and sacks to store powdered cornmeal, "which they make use of when stormie weather or the likewill not suffer them to look out for their food". Parched cornmeal made an excellent food for traveling. Roger Williams in 1643, describes small traveling baskets: "I have travelled with neere 200. of them at once, neere 100. milesthrough the woods, every man carrying a little Basket of this [Nokehick] at his back, andsometimes in a hollow Leather Girdle about his middle, sufficient for a man three or fouredaies".
Source
So we now know American Indians traveled up to four days with a corn husk basket or pouch with roasted and/or parched Maize. They also used Pemmican and/or Jerky for their travels. Roasted Parch Maize, delivered high starches that could easily be transported while hiking. They used the stalks to weave intricate bed mats similar to what we use for pads inside tents. Click on the source above for further reading. Oh that trail they were using the the Great Trail (also called the Great Path) was a network of footpaths created by Algonquian and Iroquoian-speaking indigenous peoples prior to the arrival of European colonists in North America. It connected the areas of New England and eastern Canada, and the mid-Atlantic regions to each other and to the Great Lakes region. Many major highways in the Northeastern United States were later constructed to follow the routes established thousands of years ago by Native Americans moving along these trails. One of the Great Trails was today's 202 West Chester PA to Wilmington De
Source
OK so how do we make this at home, because its better than gorp.
Source
When the first European settlers arrived as colonists along the New England coast, they nearly starved to death until they were taught to plant corn in the Native American fashion. Corn sustained the Plymouth colony in its early years, and it became the staple of the American back country for almost 400 years. Even when I was a kid, a breakfast of either johnnycakes or fried cornmeal mush was commonplace in the more rural areas of New England.
Corn was used in a variety of forms on the American frontier, but for life on the trail, the most useful form of corn was parched corn. That is as true today as it was in the 18th century. I would rather have a bag of parched corn with me on a hike or campout than granola or trail mix. Parched corn keeps well, and it has a great flavor—lots of corn flavor, but with a nutty overlay. As an added benefit, the longer you chew it, the more flavor it releases.
Parching Orders
There are basically two ways of starting the process of parching corn, and each method yields a slightly different product. Classic parched corn starts with shelled corn, which are the dried corn kernels after they have been removed from the cob. If you grow your own corn, this is the way to go.
The second method starts with frozen sweet corn. Let the corn thaw and then dry it thoroughly in a food dehydrator. If you don’t want to spring for a dehydrator, you can dry corn in an oven set to 150 to 180 degrees Fahrenheit. Leave the oven door ajar, and periodically stir the corn as it dries. Once the previously frozen corn is completely dry, you can get to parching it.
Whether you start with shelled corn or dehydrated corn, the parching process is the same. Lightly oil a heavyweight frying pan by rubbing it with a paper towel moistened with cooking oil. Set your burner to low-medium heat and let your pan come up to temperature. When the pan is hot, pour in a layer of shelled corn or dehydrated corn. The corn should be just one level deep in the pan. Every kernel should be touching the surface of the pan.
When it is on the heat, you have to keep the corn moving or it will scorch. I use a wooden spatula to keep the corn moving around the pan. Within five minutes, you’ll see the corn changing color; it will get darker. With shelled corn, some of the kernels will pop in the pan, like popcorn but without the fluff. The longer the corn stays in the hot pan, the darker it will get, and the more flavor it will have, up to a point. You don’t want to burn it, and that can happen quickly. When the corn is as dark as you like it, dump it onto a bed of paper towels to cool. While it is still hot, you can salt it or sugar it if you like. I like to hit it with just a tiny bit of salt to bring out the flavor.
Once it’s cool, you can bag it up and you’ve got parched corn. If it is made from frozen corn, I usually use the parched corn just as it comes from the pan as a trail food. You can eat it by the handful while walking on the trail, or you can add it to soups and stews as they cook over the campfire. Parched frozen corn is a wonderful thickener for soup. Parched corn made from shelled corn also travels well, and it is a great trail food. It is something like corn nuts but easier to chew. Whole-kernel parched corn doesn’t work well as an ingredient in other dishes until you process it a little bit further.
Grind Your Own
If you have ever heard the words “pinole” or “rockahominy,” they both refer to coarsely ground corn meal made from parched corn, rather than meal milled from dried corn. Pinole is the term you’ll encounter in the Southwest, while rockahominy is more prevalent in the eastern states. I make rockahominy by running parched corn through a coffee grinder. Sift the ground meal then run the bigger pieces through the grinder again. The resulting meal is a little coarser than regular corn meal. I store rockahominy in a zip-top plastic bag in our pantry. Rockahominy is the form of parched corn that was probably most used by both Native Americans and colonists. The flour is even lighter than regular corn meal, and it keeps better because it has a lower moisture content. It has more flavor than standard corn meal thanks to the toasting process. It also takes longer to digest than regular corn meal, so it satisfies your hunger for a longer period of time.
Thoughts?
Agricultural fields consisted of small mounds of tilled earth, placed a meter or two apart sometimes in rows and other times randomly placed. Kernels of corn and beans were planted in the raised piles of soil to provide the support of the cornstalk for the bean vine to grow around. The spaces in between the mounds were planted with squash or mellon seeds. The three crops complemented each other both in the field and in their combined nutrition.
Native Americans discovered that, unlike wild plants and animals, a surplus of maize could be grown and harvested. Tribes in southern New England harvested great amounts of maize and dried them in heaps upon mats. The drying piles of maize, usually two or three for each Narragansett family, often contained from 12 to 20 bushels of the grain. Surplus maize would be stored in underground storage pits, ingeniously constructed and lined with grasses to prevent mildew or spoiling, for winter consumption of the grain.
The European accounts of Josselyn in 1674, indicate Native Americans used bags and sacks to store powdered cornmeal, "which they make use of when stormie weather or the likewill not suffer them to look out for their food". Parched cornmeal made an excellent food for traveling. Roger Williams in 1643, describes small traveling baskets: "I have travelled with neere 200. of them at once, neere 100. milesthrough the woods, every man carrying a little Basket of this [Nokehick] at his back, andsometimes in a hollow Leather Girdle about his middle, sufficient for a man three or fouredaies".
Source
So we now know American Indians traveled up to four days with a corn husk basket or pouch with roasted and/or parched Maize. They also used Pemmican and/or Jerky for their travels. Roasted Parch Maize, delivered high starches that could easily be transported while hiking. They used the stalks to weave intricate bed mats similar to what we use for pads inside tents. Click on the source above for further reading. Oh that trail they were using the the Great Trail (also called the Great Path) was a network of footpaths created by Algonquian and Iroquoian-speaking indigenous peoples prior to the arrival of European colonists in North America. It connected the areas of New England and eastern Canada, and the mid-Atlantic regions to each other and to the Great Lakes region. Many major highways in the Northeastern United States were later constructed to follow the routes established thousands of years ago by Native Americans moving along these trails. One of the Great Trails was today's 202 West Chester PA to Wilmington De
Source
OK so how do we make this at home, because its better than gorp.
Source
When the first European settlers arrived as colonists along the New England coast, they nearly starved to death until they were taught to plant corn in the Native American fashion. Corn sustained the Plymouth colony in its early years, and it became the staple of the American back country for almost 400 years. Even when I was a kid, a breakfast of either johnnycakes or fried cornmeal mush was commonplace in the more rural areas of New England.
Corn was used in a variety of forms on the American frontier, but for life on the trail, the most useful form of corn was parched corn. That is as true today as it was in the 18th century. I would rather have a bag of parched corn with me on a hike or campout than granola or trail mix. Parched corn keeps well, and it has a great flavor—lots of corn flavor, but with a nutty overlay. As an added benefit, the longer you chew it, the more flavor it releases.
Parching Orders
There are basically two ways of starting the process of parching corn, and each method yields a slightly different product. Classic parched corn starts with shelled corn, which are the dried corn kernels after they have been removed from the cob. If you grow your own corn, this is the way to go.
The second method starts with frozen sweet corn. Let the corn thaw and then dry it thoroughly in a food dehydrator. If you don’t want to spring for a dehydrator, you can dry corn in an oven set to 150 to 180 degrees Fahrenheit. Leave the oven door ajar, and periodically stir the corn as it dries. Once the previously frozen corn is completely dry, you can get to parching it.
Whether you start with shelled corn or dehydrated corn, the parching process is the same. Lightly oil a heavyweight frying pan by rubbing it with a paper towel moistened with cooking oil. Set your burner to low-medium heat and let your pan come up to temperature. When the pan is hot, pour in a layer of shelled corn or dehydrated corn. The corn should be just one level deep in the pan. Every kernel should be touching the surface of the pan.
When it is on the heat, you have to keep the corn moving or it will scorch. I use a wooden spatula to keep the corn moving around the pan. Within five minutes, you’ll see the corn changing color; it will get darker. With shelled corn, some of the kernels will pop in the pan, like popcorn but without the fluff. The longer the corn stays in the hot pan, the darker it will get, and the more flavor it will have, up to a point. You don’t want to burn it, and that can happen quickly. When the corn is as dark as you like it, dump it onto a bed of paper towels to cool. While it is still hot, you can salt it or sugar it if you like. I like to hit it with just a tiny bit of salt to bring out the flavor.
Once it’s cool, you can bag it up and you’ve got parched corn. If it is made from frozen corn, I usually use the parched corn just as it comes from the pan as a trail food. You can eat it by the handful while walking on the trail, or you can add it to soups and stews as they cook over the campfire. Parched frozen corn is a wonderful thickener for soup. Parched corn made from shelled corn also travels well, and it is a great trail food. It is something like corn nuts but easier to chew. Whole-kernel parched corn doesn’t work well as an ingredient in other dishes until you process it a little bit further.
Grind Your Own
If you have ever heard the words “pinole” or “rockahominy,” they both refer to coarsely ground corn meal made from parched corn, rather than meal milled from dried corn. Pinole is the term you’ll encounter in the Southwest, while rockahominy is more prevalent in the eastern states. I make rockahominy by running parched corn through a coffee grinder. Sift the ground meal then run the bigger pieces through the grinder again. The resulting meal is a little coarser than regular corn meal. I store rockahominy in a zip-top plastic bag in our pantry. Rockahominy is the form of parched corn that was probably most used by both Native Americans and colonists. The flour is even lighter than regular corn meal, and it keeps better because it has a lower moisture content. It has more flavor than standard corn meal thanks to the toasting process. It also takes longer to digest than regular corn meal, so it satisfies your hunger for a longer period of time.
Thoughts?
Be wise enough to walk away from the nonsense around you!
The post was edited 2 times, last by Wise Old Owl ().