Putting Food By, part 6

There are two methods for making hominy. One calls for using baking soda, while the other uses lye created from wood ashes. As a kid down on the farm in Missouri I recall my mother making hominy and she used lye so that is the method I'll tell you about.

When Mom got out her big black kettle, that looked like a witch's caldron, and set it over a fire in the back yard, we knew it was either time to make soap or hominy. Both were made in the fall of the year.

The soap was made after butchering time when Mom had a good supply of animal fat saved up. If the folks hadn't just butchered a pig or cow it was a safe bet we'd be eating fresh hominy real soon.

To make lye you will need a large granite kettle. Don't use an aluminum kettle. Fill the granite kettle half full of hardwood ashes, such as the ashes from oak, maple or poplar wood fires. Nearly fill the kettle, with the ashes, with water. Now here the instructions become a matter of choice, and probably a lot of experience. One source says to boil this ash-water mixture for 10 minutes. The other instructions say to boil it for 1 hour.

After the boiling time, which ever you choose, the instructions differ again but I like this one best: Leave the ash-mixture to set over night to let the ashes settle to the bottom of the kettle. The other instructions tell you to immediately drain off the liquid into another granite kettle. I wouldn't think you'd have nearly as clear a product by draining it right after boiling.

So now you can let the lye-water set and go hoe the garden, milk the cows or goats, bring in the eggs, kill a chicken or two and clean and pluck them for frying up for supper. Or, you can try that thing we talked about previously of having the kids clean the kitchen and your husband cook supper. You know-the dream thing.

So now it is the following day. Time to make hominy. You still have to drain the lye-water off of the ash that has sunk to the bottom of the kettle. And you still need to use a granite kettle.

First a word or two about the corn you are going to use. Probably the best corn to use for making hominy is the Yellow Dent corn, which is the regular field corn you planted to have early roasting ears and later feed for the livestock. The corn has to be dried really hard. Probably you have already done this over the late summer as the field corn came ready. Of course, if you haven't shelled the corn this has to be done now.

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