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6. Corn for the Voyageurs
- The University of Alabama Press
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6 Corn for the Voyageurs Leonard W. Blake Washington University (Written in 1994) Leonard Blake’s Comments, 1999 ManagersofthetouristfacilitiesatthepartlyreconstructedFortMichilimackinac , in Mackinaw City, Michigan, were considering construction of drying racks for corn, such as were mentioned in some of the historic accounts, but no one knew what they looked like. Blake was asked to find out what he could about the processingofcornforusebythevoyageurs.Thispaperistheresult.Unfortunately, he was not able to find any precise specifications for the reconstruction of drying racks, like those used at the fort. The race of corn (Zea mays) grown in the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada was called Northern Flint by Brown and Anderson (1947). More recently, it has been called Maiz de Ocho by Galinat (Upham et al. 1987) and Eastern Eight Row by Cutler and Blake (1976). The race was present in most of the eastern United States at the time of first European contact. The ears usually have eight rows of kernels. These are often flint, but sometimes may be flour or sweet corn. Flint kernels have soft starch in the center surrounded by a layer of hard, flinty starch. Recent studies have demonstrated that this is a most unusual race of corn, which evolved rapidly (Doebley, Goodman, and Stuber 1986). It is early maturing (Brown and Anderson 1947) and drought and cold resistant (Will and Hyde 1968:73). These characteristics enabled the Indians to grow it as far north as North Dakota and the lower St. Lawrence River Valley (Yarnell 1964:128). The hard starch of the flint kernels makes the ears resistant to rot and insect damage, but causes some problems in efforts to convert the kernels into food for human beings. Waugh (1916:79) quotes LeJeune, a seventeenth-century Jesuit observer, who said that he had seen twenty ways of cooking corn by the Hurons and added that many more had been reported by others. However, there appear to have been a limited number of basic ways of preparing the hard flint corn for use on journeys. Henry Ellsworth (1937:36) described a method used by the Osage: “The corn is taken up before quite ripe and boiled—it is then dried and hung up until wanted. [After being shelled] it is finally pounded or ground and sifted—it will keep for a long time and no article can be packed for a long journey, containing so much sustenance in so little weight.” Sometimes green corn or mature corn was parched rather than boiled and treated, in a similar manner with pounding and sifting, to make a lightweight, nourishing trail food. There is a good description of the method of processing mature corn in Heckwelder (1971:195). Parker (1910:69), an authority on the Iroquois, has described another way of preparing corn for a long journey, more suitable for mass production. He reported that after flint corn was shelled “it was boiled for 15 to 30 minutes in a weak lye made of hardwood ashes.” The result was a form of hominy. Research has demonstrated that the use of an alkali such as wood ash or lime decreases the total nutritional value of corn but increases its nutritional quality by increasing the ratio of essential amino acids (Katz, Hediger, and Valleroy 1974). It thereby avoids the dietary deficiencies of an exclusive diet of corn, not processed in this manner, which can lead to the development of diseases such as pellagra. Parker (1910:69) continues, When the hulls and outer skins had been loosened looking white and swelled, the corn was put in a hulling basket then taken to a brook or large tub, where it was thoroughly rinsed to free the kernels of any trace of lye and to wash off the loosened hulls and skins. The granules were sifted through the meal sieve to make the meal fine and light. After this process, the meal was mixed with boiling water and quickly molded into a flattened cake. . . . The cake was then plunged into boiling water and cooked for nearly an hour. . . . sometimes the molded loaf is baked instead of boiled, especially for long journeys. The baked loaf, if not wet, will not become moldy like boiled bread, and it is the approved form for hunting and war parties. White fur traders adopted a similar method of processing corn, but divided the procedure. Part was completed before setting out and part daily before consumption. Alexander Henry, a fur trader, wrote in 1761: “This species of corn [that is, Indian...