Post by Okwes on Aug 26, 2006 12:55:00 GMT -5
Du-ya Di-su-yi-ga-du Bean Bread
The Cherokee people made bread before the white man came along with his grist mills for gringing corn into meal or his soda for making the bread rise. To prepare meal to make Bean Bread one uses flour
corn. This corn is skinned with wood ashes. Sieve the ashes, put these ashes into an iron pot (tsu-la-s-gi) or well-made pottery over the fire. When the water begins to boil put in the corn, stir once in a while to make sure that the corn does not stick. Let this boil until it is thick enough to bubble. Take the corn off the fire. Go to the branch, or whatever source of water that is nearby, wash the corn in the running water by placing it in a sieve and letting the water run through it until it is clean. The sieve is a basket that is made so that there will be little holes in the bottom to let the
water go through. After washing the corn let it drip until all extra water is dropped off it. While the corn is still damp pound it into meal by using the old homemade corn beater (Ka-no-na). This beater
is made by hollowing out a log or stump and beating with a pole with the piece the size of the tree left at the top to give it weight.To make the Bean Bread, boil dry beans in plain water until tender. Pour boiling beans and some of the soup into the cornmeal and stir until mixed. Have pot of plain water on the fire boiling. If you want bean dumplings, just make mixture out in balls and cook in the pot of plain water, uncovered, until done. Eat these dumplings plain, with butter, meat grease (the Indian's favorite), wild game, hot or cold, as suits one's fancy. If you want broadswords you should mold the dumplings flat in the hand and wrap in corn blades, cured corn fodder, or hickory, oak or cucumber tree leaves. Tie with a stout reed unless able to tie the wrappings. Drop this into the boiling water, cover, and boil until done. Do not put any salt in Bean Bread or it will crumble.
The Cherokee people made bread before the white man came along with his grist mills for gringing corn into meal or his soda for making the bread rise. To prepare meal to make Bean Bread one uses flour
corn. This corn is skinned with wood ashes. Sieve the ashes, put these ashes into an iron pot (tsu-la-s-gi) or well-made pottery over the fire. When the water begins to boil put in the corn, stir once in a while to make sure that the corn does not stick. Let this boil until it is thick enough to bubble. Take the corn off the fire. Go to the branch, or whatever source of water that is nearby, wash the corn in the running water by placing it in a sieve and letting the water run through it until it is clean. The sieve is a basket that is made so that there will be little holes in the bottom to let the
water go through. After washing the corn let it drip until all extra water is dropped off it. While the corn is still damp pound it into meal by using the old homemade corn beater (Ka-no-na). This beater
is made by hollowing out a log or stump and beating with a pole with the piece the size of the tree left at the top to give it weight.To make the Bean Bread, boil dry beans in plain water until tender. Pour boiling beans and some of the soup into the cornmeal and stir until mixed. Have pot of plain water on the fire boiling. If you want bean dumplings, just make mixture out in balls and cook in the pot of plain water, uncovered, until done. Eat these dumplings plain, with butter, meat grease (the Indian's favorite), wild game, hot or cold, as suits one's fancy. If you want broadswords you should mold the dumplings flat in the hand and wrap in corn blades, cured corn fodder, or hickory, oak or cucumber tree leaves. Tie with a stout reed unless able to tie the wrappings. Drop this into the boiling water, cover, and boil until done. Do not put any salt in Bean Bread or it will crumble.