Post by blackcrowheart on Sept 5, 2007 14:55:56 GMT -5
Kanuchi (Cherokee)
* 1 gal. hickory nuts
* 1/2 gal. water
* 2 to 3 cups precooked rice or hominy
* sugar, if desired
Begin by pulverizing the entire nut, shell and meat, continue to smash the
nut until it can be worked into a paste, for a ball about the size of a
baseball. This ball can be stored for long periods of time or kept frozen or very
cold.
To use, bring water to hard boil, put the kanuchi in a strainer, pour boiling
water over the kanuchi slowly. Stir the kanuchi to break up the ball and
make sure the shell part stays in the strainer. Makes about ½ gallon soup. Add
cooked rice or hominy. Add sugar if desired.
About Kanuchi
Kanuchi is considered to be a real delicacy. The nuts are gathered in the
fall and allowed to dry for a few weeks before the kanuchi making begins. It is
a simple process, but that does not necessarily mean that is easy. The
hickory nuts are cracked and the largest pieces of shell removed either by shaking
the pieces through a loosely woven basket, or picking them out by hand.
Traditionally, a log was hollowed out on one end into a bowl like shape. The
shelled hickory nuts are placed in the hollowed log and pounded with a long
heavy stick with the end rounded to have the same contour, more or less, as
the cavity in the log. The nuts are pounded until they are of a consistency
that can be formed into a ball that will hold its shape. Kanuchi balls are
usually about three inches in diameter and must be stored in a cold place. Today
kanuchi is usually preserved by freezing.
To prepare kanuchi for the table, place a kanuchi ball in a saucepan with
about a quart of water and bring it to a boil to dissolve the ball. Allow the
kanuchi to simmer about ten minutes and then poor it through a fine sieve. (A
colander lined with cheese cloth works very well for this.) All the remaining
shells are left in the sieve. If you have the time and patience you can pick
the larger bits of nut meat from the shells in the sieve and add them to the
liquid kanuchi. The kanuchi should be about as thick as light cream. Most
traditional cooks will add about two cups of homemade hominy to a quart of
kanuchi. Some cooks prefer hominy grits, which are prepared according to package
directions and added to the kanuchi. Others add cooked rice. Such things as
consistency and how much hominy or hominy grits to add are, of course a matter
of taste, as is the addition of salt or sugar.
Serve kanuchi hot as soup.
The John Howard Payne papers, a document from 1835 where elders were
interviewed for their knowledge, states that a thick drink was made from hickory
nuts which had been pounded, but it was made with cold water and allowed to
thicken without the addition of hominy or rice.
* 1 gal. hickory nuts
* 1/2 gal. water
* 2 to 3 cups precooked rice or hominy
* sugar, if desired
Begin by pulverizing the entire nut, shell and meat, continue to smash the
nut until it can be worked into a paste, for a ball about the size of a
baseball. This ball can be stored for long periods of time or kept frozen or very
cold.
To use, bring water to hard boil, put the kanuchi in a strainer, pour boiling
water over the kanuchi slowly. Stir the kanuchi to break up the ball and
make sure the shell part stays in the strainer. Makes about ½ gallon soup. Add
cooked rice or hominy. Add sugar if desired.
About Kanuchi
Kanuchi is considered to be a real delicacy. The nuts are gathered in the
fall and allowed to dry for a few weeks before the kanuchi making begins. It is
a simple process, but that does not necessarily mean that is easy. The
hickory nuts are cracked and the largest pieces of shell removed either by shaking
the pieces through a loosely woven basket, or picking them out by hand.
Traditionally, a log was hollowed out on one end into a bowl like shape. The
shelled hickory nuts are placed in the hollowed log and pounded with a long
heavy stick with the end rounded to have the same contour, more or less, as
the cavity in the log. The nuts are pounded until they are of a consistency
that can be formed into a ball that will hold its shape. Kanuchi balls are
usually about three inches in diameter and must be stored in a cold place. Today
kanuchi is usually preserved by freezing.
To prepare kanuchi for the table, place a kanuchi ball in a saucepan with
about a quart of water and bring it to a boil to dissolve the ball. Allow the
kanuchi to simmer about ten minutes and then poor it through a fine sieve. (A
colander lined with cheese cloth works very well for this.) All the remaining
shells are left in the sieve. If you have the time and patience you can pick
the larger bits of nut meat from the shells in the sieve and add them to the
liquid kanuchi. The kanuchi should be about as thick as light cream. Most
traditional cooks will add about two cups of homemade hominy to a quart of
kanuchi. Some cooks prefer hominy grits, which are prepared according to package
directions and added to the kanuchi. Others add cooked rice. Such things as
consistency and how much hominy or hominy grits to add are, of course a matter
of taste, as is the addition of salt or sugar.
Serve kanuchi hot as soup.
The John Howard Payne papers, a document from 1835 where elders were
interviewed for their knowledge, states that a thick drink was made from hickory
nuts which had been pounded, but it was made with cold water and allowed to
thicken without the addition of hominy or rice.