Also, anyone know anything more about this bread, "....saw some Indians approaching; and as soon as they saw us they ran off and threw their sacks and bags away, and fled down a valley behind the underwood, so that we could not see them. We looked at their goods and bags, and took therefrom a small bread. It was baked with beans,,,,"?
archive.org/stream/cu31924101546921/cu31924101546921_djvu.txt80
Boiled Corn Bread — gahd'^gu'^gwa' {On.).
After the corn has been hulled and washed (Plates XVII
and XVI), it is placed in the mortar and pounded to a meal or
flour. As the pounding progresses the fine sifting basket is
frequently brought into requisition (Plate XIX). The hand
is used to dip the meal out of the mortar into the sifter. The
large bread pan is often set on top of the mortar and the sifter
shaken in both hands. The coarser particles are thrown into a
second bowl or tray and are finally dumped back into the mortar
to be repounded.
A hollow is next made in the flour and enough boiling water
poured into it to make a stiff paste. Usage differs somewhat
in this respect, cold water being used by some for mixing. The
stirring paddle is often employed at first, after which the paste
is kneaded with the hands. Dried huckleberries, blackberries,
elderberries, strawberries, or beans may be incorporated in the
mixture, beans apparently enjoying the greatest favour. The
latter are previously cooked just so that they will remain whole
or nearly so. Currants or raisins are sometimes used at present
Formerly the kernels of walnuts and butternuts were employed
in the same way.
A lump of paste is next broken off, or about a double hand-
ful. This is tossed in the hands, which are kept moistened with
cold water, until it becomes rounded in form ; the surplus material
forms a core at one side, usually the right, and is finally broken
off. The lump is now slapped back and forth between the palms,
though resting rather more on the left hand ; and is at the same
time given a rotary motion until a disk is formed about 1| to 1|
inches thick and about 7 inches in diameter. ^ Boiling water
for mixing is stated to make the cakes firmer and better to
handle. No salt nor other such ingredients are used.
The loaves are immediately slid into a pot of boiling water
from the paddle or from between the hands and are supported
1 Informants, Mrs. Peter John and others.
Bartram, Observations, pp. 60, 61, in describing a t'epast eaten at a con-
ference held at Onondaga Castle, N.Y., in 1743, states that the cakes of boiled
bread were 6 or 7 inches in diameter and about 2 thick.
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\
on edge by placing the paddle against them until all are in.
The bread paddle, or sometimes a special circular turning paddle,
is used to rotate the cakes a little when partly done, so as to
cook all parts alike.
An hour is usually required for cooking, though the comple-
tion of the operation is indicated when the cakes show a tendency
to float, or when the steam is given out equally all over when a
cake is lifted out. The bread paddle is also employed in remov-
ing the bread from the pot. When a batch is too large for the
pot, some of the cakes are boiled for five or six minutes, then
removed and baked in a pan in the oven.
Boiled corn bread, while not light in the ordinary sense, is
decidedly tasty when newly made. It may be sliced and eaten
either hot or cold with butter, gravy, or maple syrup. An
Oneidatown informant states that it is often sliced and fried in
butter as we fry cornmeal or oatmeal mush.
Lafitau remarks of corn bread that "nothing is heavier or
more insipid; it is a mass of flour kneaded without regard to
cleanliness, without either leaven or salt. They cover it with
corn leaves and cook it in the ashes or in the kettle. They
often also, add oil, grease, beans and fruits. It is then still
more disagreeable." He admits, however, that it is best when
freshly cooked.^
The boiling of the corn in ashes, in bread-making, was some-
times omitted. A kettleful of water was brought to the boiling
point, according to a Cayuga informant." The ripe corn was
added and boiled until softened a little. It was then drained in
the washing basket, allowed to dry slightly, then pounded, sifted,
and made into flour. This kind of flour is called gan^hana*-
w?''di' (On.). A similar omission is found in the Huron process
of bread-making as recorded by Sagard.'
Loaves of corn bread* were frequently carried along while
travelling, though parched corn flour sweetened with maple sugar
' Lafitau, Moeurs, vol. II, p. 94.
'Mrs. Peter John.
' Sagard, Voyage, vol. I, p. 94.
<Champlain, Voyages, vol. Ill, p. 118, states that corn, corn bread
squashes, and fish were in common use among the Hurons and that meat of
other kinds was scarce.
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was a more popular material. The use of corn bread for this
purpose is indicated in the word "johnny-cake" from "journey-
cake." The ash-cake, hoe-cake, and pone are other European
adoptions.
Boiled bread, according to Chief Gibson, was frequently
used as wedding bread. A girl cooked twenty cakes of corn
bread with berries in them. These were taken to the house of
the young man, where they were cut up and given to friends and
relatives who were assembled.
Bread was sometimes made of other materials, such as beans
and acorns, the latter being boiled in lye to remove the bitter
taste; also of roots, such as those of the yellow pond lily and
others. Loskiel remarks that the Iroquois made use of many
wild herbs and roots, including parsnips, of which they made a
kind of bread.^
It is likely that other roots, s^eds, and fruits were formerly
used in bread-making. A suggestion of the former use of haws
in this connexion is found in the name djtgahe"dis (On.)^ which
is applied to such species as Crataegus pruinosa and Crataegus
submolUs.
The corn preferred for bread is almost invariably of the
starchy or "bread corn" variety, which includes the white or
Tuscarora, also the red, purple, and calico or variegated varieties.
The flint or hominy corns are said to be sometimes employed,
but are considered to be less suitable. An Onondaga informant
furnishes the information that a long-eared flint corn called
unaha'ij'wt" uw^we'idji's, makes a good, sweet bread. The corn
is pounded, sifted, and winnowed without being boiled in cishes.'
Baked Corn Bread — ogqhagg'wa' •wata'^ggda''g^a' (On.).
The name signifies "under the ashes cooked," and is applied
to bread baked in the embers, or on flat stones placed over the
* Loskiel, History of Missions, pt. I, p. 68.
' The name is said to signify "use for bread."
' Peter John.
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fire. This seems to have been formerly in much favour,* Its
disuse is probably owing to the abandonment of the open fire-
place and to the general adoption of European foods.
The mixture used was practically the same as for boiled
bread. About three-quarters of an hour was required for cook-
ing. As the loaves baked somewhat more quickly on top, they
were turned over to be evenly done. To tell when they were
finished, the cakes were tapped with the finger. If not sufficiently
cooked, they felt heavy to the touch, and when done, felt
lighter and more spongy. The last part of the operation was to
wash them in cold water to free them from ashes or cinders.*
The Senecas are said to have omitted the beans or berries.
On the other hand, several informants at Grand River, Ontario,
state specifically that beans, berries, and sometimes maple sugar
were included in the baked corn bread mixture. Adair remarks
the use of a similar food among the Choctaw and Chickasaw.*
Mrs. John Williams (Mo.) of Caughnawaga states that red
beans used to be mixed with the paste for baked corn bread, and
the whole covered with cabbage leaves or corn husks. Boiled
bread' is the only kind made there now.
Peter John, Grand River, Ontario, relates that some fifty
or sixty years ago a fire was frequently made in the open field,
while they were harvesting or husking corn, and bread baked in
the ashes in the old-fashioned manner.
A single cake of this bread was said by John Echo (On.)
to have formerly been placed in the coffin with a corpse.*
' Champlain, Voyages, vol. Ill, pp. 162-164, furnishes one of the earliest
descriptions of the process.
" Mr. and Mrs. Peter John.
' Adair, History of the American Indians, p. 407.
* Besides the food which is set aside for the dead at wakes and which
they are supposed to require for their own consumption, a little is sometimes
put into the hand. This is to be thrown to a savage cat and dog which guard
a bridge over which the dead have to pass. While the animals are devouring
the food the dead person slips over in safety. Informant, Peter Atkins
(Mo.) and others. Grand River, Ontario.
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Other Terms Used.
Corn bread, gana'daluk (Oneida).
Washed corn bread, ganasto'hal' gana'daluk (Oneida).
Hulled corn bread, gage^ho'tcq oha"gwa' (On.).
Boiled bread, yena'deros ganadarokywe' (Mo.).
Baked corn bread, o'ggro'gy ygdena'dary'ta' (Mo.).
Corn flour or meal, ote'tsha' (On.).
Indian meal (modern yellow meal), djitgwai'agg ote'tsha'
(On.).
Nut meats (general term), u'nie'e' (On.).
(The first term given is general. The three following are
synonymous).
Soup from Corn Bread Liquor — uha'gwa'gei' (On.).
Soup is often made from the liquor left after boiling corn
bread. The coarser particles left after grinding and sifting the
bread meal may be added. ^ The mixture may be sweetened
with maple sugar, or it may be seasoned with salt cind butter.
The name une'sda' (On.), or une'sda' onp'daa', is applied to the
preparation, a term which is sometimes translated as "Indian
rice." Still another variant is made by adding sweet milk or
buttermilk and sweetening with maple or granulated sugar.
It is then called uha'gwa'gei' unQ'daa' (On.). The liquor is
also drunk as a beverage along with the corn bread.^
Another use to which the liquor is put is in the preparation
of food for infants. The latter are said to have been sometimes
put to death by the Onondagas, when the mother died, by way
of making sure that they should not suffer from neglect. The
breast was the usual method of feeding until the child became
large enough to eat the ordinary fare, which the mother chewed
first. When the mother died, the father sometimes took corn
meal gruel in his mouth and let the baby suck it out.'
' A Mohawk name is waden4ag5'st(j, or "what is left.'
' Adair, History, p. 416.
'Sagard, Voyages, vol. I, p. 118.