Hominy

[Tom A Hawk]

I grow oneh.o, ( Seneca white corn ). Some of which is ground into meal for use in a special non yeast bread recipe ( more on that later ) and the rest turned into hominy. I use the traditional method of boiling the dried kernels in hardwood ashes to remove the outer skin, then dry the resulting hominy on horizontal window screens in the sun. The dried hominy lasts pretty much indefinitely and can is added to bean and soup dishes, ground to make grits or masa harina for tortillas. The process of boiling in ashes is called nixtamalization and has many benefits for the processing of corn. Hard to imagine how this was discovered in ancient times.

 

[BillinOregon]

They sell a right smart o' hominy in the grocery stores here in southern New Mexico -- the big, industrial-sized cans. I've always liked the stuff, but never tried making my own. Great in posole.

 

[Poboy]

I grow oneh.o, ( Seneca white corn ). Some of which is ground into meal for use in a special non yeast bread recipe ( more on that later ) and the rest turned into hominy. I use the traditional method of boiling the dried kernels in hardwood ashes to remove the outer skin, then dry the resulting hominy on horizontal window screens in the sun. The dried hominy lasts pretty much indefinitely and can is added to bean and soup dishes, ground to make grits or masa harina for tortillas. The process of boiling in ashes is called nixtamalization and has many benefits for the processing of corn. Hard to imagine how this was discovered in ancient times.

Yeah, like who figured out to eat oysters or artichokes?

 

[Carbon 6]

The process of boiling in ashes is called nixtamalization and has many benefits for the processing of corn. Hard to imagine how this was discovered in ancient times.

It's only difficult to imagine because we don't live like they did back then. if you imagine what it was like to live and cook by an open fire daily, trying to eat maize, it's pretty easy to connect the dots.

 

[Tom A Hawk]

The thing is, one must boil the dried corn kernels with an equal volume of wood ashes for an extended period of time, then rinse for an extended period of time. Its not like the corn falls into the fire pit and comes out as hominy.

And this process migrated from South America along with the maize as far north as maize will grow. As a student of archaeology I find this rather interesting.

 

[Carbon 6]

The things is, one must boil the dried corn kernels with an equal volume of wood ashes for an extended period of time, then rinse for an extended period of time. Its not like the corn falls into the fire pit and comes out as hominy.

Right! The fire is where the ash comes from. Ever try to eat a dried ear of corn without any tools? Now imagine pre-columbian dental hygine. Ever get the pericarp stuck down between your teeth and gums?
Have fun.

Necessity is the mother of all invention.

 

[tenngun]

Necessity is a mother for sure. So many things our ancestors learned that wouldn’t have worked half done. Braintanning, making hominy, eating blowfish or barracuda.
Almonds are poisonous in the wild, except for one tree that was deformed and produced an human edible almond. All our almonds descend from that one tree.
So.... after Bob,Joe,Bill,Tom and Doris died trying almond, what made Jack look at that one lucky tree and say ‘I bet almonds can’t kill me’ .

 

[Carbon 6]

Necessity is a mother for sure. So many things our ancestors learned that wouldn’t have worked half done. Braintanning, making hominy, eating blowfish or barracuda.
Almonds are poisonous in the wild, except for one tree that was deformed and produced an human edible almond. All our almonds descend from that one tree.
So.... after Bob,Joe,Bill,Tom and Doris died trying almond, what made Jack look at that one lucky tree and say ‘I bet almonds can’t kill me’ .

Only two of those things are related.

 

[tenngun]

Related to what? To me it seemed to fit in to the thread.

 

[Carbon 6]

Related to what? To me it seemed to fit in to the thread.

I'll rephrase it. Only two are connected. only two are connected to ashes.

 

[Carbon 6]

What do hominy and tanning hides have in common?

 

[Poboy]

Hominy? Oh wait....misread, in the day....it was 3 women.

 

[tenngun]

It's only difficult to imagine because we don't live like they did back then. if you imagine what it was like to live and cook by an open fire daily, trying to eat maize, it's pretty easy to connect the dots.

Yeah, like who figured out to eat oysters or artichokes?

I saw it as a logical progression of ideas, sorry you dont agree. But feel free to skip anything I post that you don’t think is related to the topic.

 

[Carbon 6]

Very well then.

 

[Poboy]

I saw it as a logical progression of ideas, sorry you dont agree. But feel free to skip anything I post that you don’t think is related to the topic.

Hey, I don't have a problem with what you posted. It's all good. I know what both of you guys were saying, and it's just a bit of disconnect....."can't we all just get along?"

'suze me while I eat some cactus....

 

[tenngun]

Peeled and fried I hope. When I was a teen I got a survivalbook. It mentioned prickly pear in it. I gave it a try. Pointed it out to my mother a few days after I had tried it. Somegrew in a field behind our house and she decided to give it a try and picked and bit one....without peeling.

 

[Griz44Mag]

Peeled and fried I hope. When I was a teen I got a survivalbook. It mentioned prickly pear in it. I gave it a try. Pointed it out to my mother a few days after I had tried it. Somegrew in a field behind our house and she decided to give it a try and picked and bit one....without peeling.

MMMMMMMmmmmm My grandmother would make the most delectable jelly from the purple pear of the prickly....
I would spend hours collecting and processing them for her.
She also made hominy that made the best grits you could imagine. I never mastered her process, but got pretty close.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Yeah, like who figured out to eat oysters or artichokes?

OYSTERS?
Had to be a bet between two paleolithic hunters around a fire near the sea. 'Cause tech changes, but people don't change much

Picture this...they build a fire circle gathering rocks at low tide, BUT a couple of the rocks are actually oysters, which cook from the heat, and open....

One guys says to the other, "I bet you one spearpoint, you won't eat that.".....and the guy lost the bet as his buddy did eat it, liked it, and didn't die.... IF there was more than one hunter present, that's when they invented "dibs" as another hunter when he heard the bet probably said, "Dibs on his stuff if he eats that and dies!"

OK OK so the paleolithic guys had to know that building a fire circle with rocks from the sea would probably make one or more of the rocks explode....it's more of a scenario of how men haven't changed much...I mean if you've seen teenage males, they would totally bet on something like that today, so why not then?

I actually think somebody saw a sea otter eating oysters and other shellfish, and went from there. Of course the first few folks who tried bashing open the oysters by placing them on their stomachs and bashing them with a rock, probably rethought that technique pretty fast!

LD

 

[tenngun]

OYSTERS?
Had to be a bet between two paleolithic hunters around a fire near the sea. 'Cause tech changes, but people don't change much

Picture this...they build a fire circle gathering rocks at low tide, BUT a couple of the rocks are actually oysters, which cook from the heat, and open....

One guys says to the other, "I bet you one spearpoint, you won't eat that.".....and the guy lost the bet as his buddy did eat it, liked it, and didn't die.... IF there was more than one hunter present, that's when they invented "dibs" as another hunter when he heard the bet probably said, "Dibs on his stuff if he eats that and dies!"

OK OK so the paleolithic guys had to know that building a fire circle with rocks from the sea would probably make one or more of the rocks explode....it's more of a scenario of how men haven't changed much...I mean if you've seen teenage males, they would totally bet on something like that today, so why not then?

I actually think somebody saw a sea otter eating oysters and other shellfish, and went from there. Of course the first few folks who tried bashing open the oysters by placing them on their stomachs and bashing them with a rock, probably rethought that technique pretty fast!

LD

They were sitting around the fire and Ugh tries the oyster and says ‘Wow, that’s good, you know what it needs? Lemon juice or Tabasco sauce’ Goop answered he had never heard of lemon juice or Tabasco sauce, so Ugh said’ I’ll just have to figure out away to invent them’ and hence civilization was born.
Although that’s a joke in a book called ‘The Fighting kings of Wessex’ the author said Iron Age history of Europe was a contest between beer drinkers and wine drinkers.
We all know the late unpleasantness started when Lee said ‘I believe this is less filling’ and Grant jumped to his feet to yell ‘No sir, it taste great’ ant the fight was on.

 

[Vaino]

I imagine that way back when if one was starving, one could sample many unknown foods....in an attempt to survive.

Of course many food processes were done as a nistake.....Fred