IROQUOIS USES OF MAIZE "J^J 



than one or two spoonfuls at most at any one time or at one meal 

 is dangerous ; for it is apt to swell in the stomach or bowels, as when 

 heated over a fire." ; 



A handful of the parched meal, 2 or 3 ounces, was considered a 

 rather large meal if eaten out of hand and this quantity was even 

 considered dangerous unless cooked in a pot. 



Most of the old writers refer to this dish^ and agree that it is 

 a most sustaining food. Sugar was often mixed with the meal to 

 give it flavor and dried cherries were sometimes pulverized with 

 the parched corn. In this form the Mohawk call it O'hogvv^it// 

 orha. 



Beverly^ in describing traveling customs says, ''. . . each man 

 takes with him a Pint or Quart of Rockahomonie, that is, the finest 

 Indian corn, parched and beaten to powder. When they find their 

 Stomach empty, (and can not stay the tedious Cookery of other 

 things) they, put about a spoonful of this into their Mouths, 

 and drink a Draught of Water upon it, which stays in their 

 'Stomachs. . ." 



Roasted corn hominy, Odjis'tanonda'. The ripe corn was 

 husked by the harvesters and stood " nose " upward against the 

 top pole of a roasting pit. This pit was a long narrow trench a 

 foot or more deep with Y-shaped sticks at either end as supporters 

 for the top pole, which was placed horizontally in the crotches, after 

 a fire of saplings and sticks had been reduced to a mass of glowing 

 embers \see pi. 21]. The ears were then leaned at an angle against 

 the pole, drawn out and roasted. Watchers turned them as they 

 were parched sufficiently while other helpers gathered them up when 

 done and shelled the kernels into a bark barrel. 



The meal from this roasted corn was called odjis'tanonda'. If 

 the parched corn was boiled it was called ona"da'ono"'kwa'. 



It should be noted that this dish is prepared from roasted green 

 corn and not from ripe dried corn as is ©"so'^'wa. 



Parched corn coffee, O^nis'tagi'. Corn . was well burnt and 

 parched on the coals, scraped from the co'b and thrown in a dish. 

 Upon this boiling water was thrown and the dish or kettle placed 

 over the fire again. To produce the burnt corn drink the boiling 

 was continued for about five minutes. 



1 Heckewelder. History, Manners and Customs of the Indian Nations. 

 Hist. Soc. Pa. 12:195. 



2 This is the Nocake or rockahominy of the New England Indians. See 

 Williams. Key. Narragansett Club Reprint, i :40. 



3 History of Virginia, p. 155. 



