Life of Daniel Boone, the Great Western Hunter and PioneerHartley, Cecil B.
History
Life of Daniel Boone, the Great Western Hunter and Pioneer
Hartley, Cecil B.
Boone, Daniel, 1734-1820; Frontier and pioneer life -- Kentucky; Pioneers -- Kentucky -- Biography
"This grain requires, also, the least care and trouble in preserving
it. It may safely stand all winter upon the stalk without injury from
the weather or apprehension of damage by disease, or the accidents to
which other grains are subject. Neither smut nor rust, nor weavil nor
snow-storm, will hurt it. After its maturity, it is also prepared for
use or the granary with little labor. The husking is a short process,
and is even advantageously delayed till the moment arrives for using
the corn. The machinery for converting it into food is also exceedingly
simple and cheap. As soon as the ear is fully formed, it may be roasted
or boiled, and forms thus an excellent and nourishing diet. At a later
period it may be grated, and furnishes, in this form, the sweetest
bread. The grains boiled in a variety of modes, either whole or broken
in a mortar, or roasted in the ashes, or popped in an oven, are well
relished. If the grain is to be converted into meal, a simple tub-mill
answers the purpose best, as the meal _least perfectly ground_ is
always preferred. A bolting-cloth is not needed, as it diminishes the
sweetness and value of the flour. The catalogue of the advantages of
this meal might be extended further. Boiled in water, it forms the
frontier dish called _mush_, which was eaten with milk, with honey,
molasses, butter or gravy. Mixed with cold water, it is, at once, ready
for the cook; covered with hot ashes, the preparation is called the ash
cake; placed upon a piece of clapboard, and set near the coals, it forms
the journey-cake; or managed in the same way, upon a helveless hoe,
it forms the hoe-cake; put in an oven, and covered over with a heated
lid, it is called, if in a large mass, a pone or loaf; if in smaller
quantities, dodgers. It has the further advantage, over all other flour,
that it requires in its preparation few culinary utensils, and neither
sugar, yeast, eggs, spices, soda, potash, or other _et ceteras_, to
qualify or perfect the bread. To all this, it may be added, that it
is not only cheap and well tasted, but it is unquestionably the most
wholesome and nutritive food. The largest and healthiest people in the
world have lived upon it exclusively. It formed the principal bread of
that robust race of men--giants in miniature--which, half a century
since, was seen on the frontier.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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