68 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



eaten on the cob or scraped off and eaten in dishes. Sometimes the 

 kernels were cut from the cob and boiled as a soup. 



The Seneca name means delicious corn food, from o'nius^ta, 

 corn, and oga"'o", delicious food. 



Fried green corn, Gagon's'a ge'^da. This dish was prepared by 

 scraping the green corn, in the milk, from the cob, mashing it in 

 a mortar and either patting it into cakes or tossing it in a basket to 

 make a loose light mass. The corn was then ready for frying. The 

 older Indians say that the frying could be done in a clay kettle and 

 that corn so prepared was especially good if cooked in bear oil.^ 



Succotash, Ogon'sa' ganon'da.^ Iroquois succotash was pre- 

 pared much as is the modern form made by white people. The 

 green corn cut or scraped from the cob was thrown in a pot of 

 beans which had nearly been cooked and the mass cooked together 

 until both ingredients were done. A sufficient quantity of salt and 

 grease or oil was added for seasoning and flavor. The favorite 

 corn for this dish was Tuscarora or sweet corn. 



Baked cob-corn in the husk, Wades'konduk o'nis'ta. This was 

 a popular way of preparing green corn on the cob. The ashes 

 from the camp or hearth fire were brushed aside and a row of un- 

 husked ears laid in the hot stones or ground. These were then 

 covered .with cold ashes. Embers were now heaped over and a hot 

 fire built and continued until the corn beneath was thought suffi- 

 ciently baked. Corn baked in this manner has a fine flavor and 

 never becomes scorched. 



Baked scraped corn, Ogon'sa' ohon'sta*.^ The green corn is 

 scraped from the cob with a deer's jaw or knife, pounded in a 

 mortar or mashed in a wooden bowl with a stone, patted into cakes, 

 sprinkled with dry meai and baked in small dishes. For baking in 

 the ashes the cakes are wrapped in husk and covered with ashes. 

 Embers are heaped over and a brisk fire built, this being kept going 

 until the cakes were considered baked. 



Carver, the British traveler, in writing of his experiences among 

 the aboriginal Americans, says of this dish ''. . . better flavored 

 bread I never ate in this country." In describing the preparation 



1 Carr, quoting Carver's Travels (London 1778), notes, "We . . . cook 

 our vegetables by themselves though formerly this was not the case for 

 according to an old writer (Carver), when made with bear oil 'the fat 

 moistens the pulse and renders it beyond comparison delicious.' " 



2 Onon'darha is the Mohawk name for succotash. 



3 O'gaserho'da is the Mohawk name. 



