Iroquis [Sic] Foods and Food Preparation
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Digitized by Microsoft®. Huntington Free Library Native American Collection %.:c f CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Digitized by Microsoft® This book was digitized by Microsoft Corporation in cooperation witli Cornell University Libraries, 2007. You may use and print this copy in limited quantity for your personal purposes, but may not distribute or provide access to it (or modified or partial versions of it) for revenue-generating or other commercial purposes. Digitized by Microsoft® Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archi^g,g^p^J^t§feM31924101546921 3 1924 101 546 921 Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® CANADA DEPARTMENT OF MINES Hon. p. E. Blondin, Minister; R. G. McConnell, Deputy Minister. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY I MEMOIR 86 I No. 12, Anthropological Series Iroquis Foods and Food Preparation BY F. W. Waugh OTTAWA Government Printing Bureau 1916 No. 1612 Digitized by Microsoft® ^£«^ w ^CA^ Digitized by Microsoft® .. CONTENTS. Pagb Introduction , j Phonetic key 2 Agricultural methods and customs , 3 The Iroquois as horticulturists > ; 3 Corn culture in eastern North America S Communal customs , 6 Making the clearing 7 Division of labour 8 Co-operative customs 10 "All the females" 12 Implements employed 14 Early descriptions of corn culture 16 Corn "medicines" 18 Planting of the corn 20 Thanksgiving after planting 22 Cultivation ceremonials 22 Rain-making 23 Other planting time customs and beliefs ; . 29 Weather-lore 29 Iroquois calendars 32 Protection of crops 36 End of season ceremony 38 Harvesting and storage 39 Abnormal ears 44 Cookery and eating customs 46 Eating customs 46 Household conveniences 48 General characteristics 49 Methods of fire-making SO The gathering of wood S3 Utensils used in the gathering, preparation, and eating of food S4 Cookery methods and utensils 54 Mortars and pestles 58 The pack basket 61 Hulling or washing basket 61 The sifting basket 63 Bread bowls (bark and wood) 64 Dishes used in eating 66 Spoons or ladles ..;.;;.... 67 Forks or eating-sticks ; ^ 69 The paddle 70 The knife 71 Digitized by Microsoft® ii Page Food materials and recipes 71 Corn as a food plant ' 1 Iroquois corn varieties '2 Onondaga names for corn varieties, by Chief Gibson 75 Seneca names for corn varieties, by Alex. Snider, Tonawanda, N.Y 77 Caughnawaga (Mohawk) names for corn varieties, by Mr. Stacey 77 Cayuga names for corn varieties, by Wm. Harris 77 Other terms used in corn culture 77 Other seeds and grains 78 Corn recipes 79 Boiled corn bread 80 Baked corn bread 82 Other terms used 84 Soup from corn bread liquor 84 Early bread 85 '. Dumplings -. ; 85 Wedding bread 85 Corn and pumpkin bread 87 Corn and pumpkin pudding 88 Parched corn travelling food , 88 Hulled corn soup 90 Corn soup with nut meats 90 Corn soup with sunflower seeds 90 Hominy 91 Coarse hominy 93 Dried pumpkin hominy > 93 Early hominy 93 Early corn pudding 94 Popcorn mush or pudding 94 Popcorn soup or hominy 94 Green corn on the cob 95 Succotash 95 Parched green corn soup 96 Green corn soup 97 Green corn baked 97 Dried corn soup 98 Roasted corn in the ear 98 Green corn leaf bread 99 Obsolete corn foods 100 Ceremonial corn foods 101 Bear's pudding 101 Buffalo dance pudding 102 Ball players' pudding 102 False-face pudding 103 Digitized by Microsoft® Page Beans and bean foods 103 Green beans in the pod 108 Green beans shelled 108 Fried beans 108 Beans with corn 108 Soup of dried beans 108 Beans and squash 109 Green beans with meat 109 Sweet soup '. 109 Mashed beans 109 Beans mixed with bread 109 Bean soup 110 Cucurbitaceae or vine foods Ill Boiled squash 114 Squash baked in ashes 114 Mashed squash 114 Squash used in bread-making 114 Dried squash 114 Pumpkin sauce 115 Pumpkin with beans 115 Preserved cucumbers 115 Fried squash 115 Dried pumpkin sauce 116 Baked pumpkin 116 Cornmeal and pumpkin 116 Historical foods 116 Leaf, stem, and bark foods 117 Root foods 119 General botanical terms 121 Edible fungi 121 Fried mushroom 122 Mushroom soup 122 Nuts as food 122 Nuts used in bread-making 123 Nut-meat gravy 124 Nut-meat with potatoes 124 Nut-meats in hominy and corn soup 124 Fruits used as foods 125 Principal varieties 127 General folk-lore items 130 Animal foods .' 130 Kinds prohibited or avoided 131 Other ceremonial usages 133 Mammals 134 Birds 135 Batrachians and reptiles 135 Digitized by Microsoft® IV Page Fish 136 Boiled fish 137 Fish soup 137 Fish and potato soup 137 Fried fish 137 Roasted fish 137 Dried fish -. 137 Crustacea 138 Insect foods. 138 Historical mention 139 Mollusca 139 Saccharine foods 140 Maple syrup and sugar 140 Honey 143 Beverages 144 Salt as a food material ISO Bibliography ISS ILLUSTRATIONS. Page Plate I. (a) Digging stick; (b) corn washing basket; (c) planting basket 159 n. Longhouse, Oneidatown, Ontario 161 ni. A. Onondaga lortghouse, Grand River reserve, Ontario 163 B. Lower Cayuga longhouse, Grand River reserve, Ontario 163 IV. Model of ancient Iroquois house of elm bark 165 V. Husking and braiding corn 167 VI. (a) Husking pin of bear bone; (b) husking pin used by whites; (c) deer's jaw scraper for green corn , 169 VII. Corn crib, Grand River reserve, Ontario 171 VIII. Corn crib. Grand River reserve, Ontario 173 IX. Corn crib of poles, Oneidatown, Ontario 175 X. A. Winter caches for vegetables. Grand River reserve, Ontario 177 B. Method of tapping trees. Grand River reserve^ Ontario 177 XI. Log house, Grand River reserve, Ontario 179 XII. Bow drill for fire-making, Tonawanda, N.Y 181 XIII. Pump drill for fire-making, Grand River reserve, Ontario 183 Digitized by Microsoft® V Page Plate XIV. (a) Heavy pack basket for wood (b) pack basket ; of hickory bark;, (c) stones used in cracking corn or nuts; (d) muller and mealing-slab, as used until recently for grinding corn 185 XV. Mrs. John Williams, Caughnawaga, using mealing stones 187 XVI. Shelling corn for bread-making, Grand River reserve, Ontario 189 XVII. Washing corn to remove the hulls 191 XVIII. Grinding corn with mortar and pestles 193 XIX. Sifting the meal 195 XX. Pack basket and tump-line 197 XXI. Pack basket used at Oneidatown, Ontario 199 XXII. (a, b, c, d) Corn washing baskets; (e) basket for gathering corn 201 XXIII. Basket sieves, various types 203 XXIV. (a, b, d) Sap troughs of bark; (c) elm bark bread tray 205 XXV. Wooden bowls 207 XXVI. Spoons or ladles 209 XXVII. Spoons or ladles 211 XXVIII. Spoons or ladles 213 XXIX. Bread and stirring paddles 215 XXX. Bread paddles 217 XXXI. (a, b, c) Knives of bark and other materials; (d, e) corn-husk utensils for salt 219 XXXII. Some Iroquois corn varieties (in colour) 221 XXXIII. (a) Green corn leaf-package ; (b, c) leaf-bread packages 223 XXXIV. Iroquois bean varieties (in colour) 225 XXXV. (a, b) Evaporating baskets; (c, d, e) berry-picking baskets; (f) pack basket for berries 227 XXXVI. Pack frame for game or provisions 229 XXXVII. Elm bark toboggan 231 XXXVIII. Fishing with wooden spear 233 XXXIX. Fish-trap and dam 235 Figure 1. Eating-stick or fork 85 2. Berry-picking basket of elm bark 126 Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® Iroquois Foods and Food Preparation. INTRODUCTION. Iroquois foods and the customs connected therewith have been the subjects from time to time of ethnological investiga- tion. In most instances, however, such investigations have been concerned with special phases or divisions of the subject, so that a comprehensive treatment of the subject would seem useful. The idea of the author has been, for the greater part, to deal with present-day Iroquois customs, or with those which have been practised within the memory of the older people now living on the reservations, making such references to the litera- ture and archaeology of the subject as may be required to form a connected account. Among the more recent papers or monographs to which the writer wishes to acknowledge his indebtedness are the bulletin by A. C. Parker on "Iroquois uses of maize and other food plants" and M. R. Harrington's "Some Seneca corn foods and their preparation." Of these, the bulletin by Parker is somewhat the more comprehensive. Both are interesting and cover the field more or less thoroughly, with perhaps special reference to the New York State Iroquois. In extenuation of having gone over some of the ground already covered by previous workers the author wishes to state that this was necessitated in the making of more extensive and intensive inquiries into practically all divisions of the subject, as well as in the fixing of a starting-point for a number of ad- ditional topics. There is also to be considered the value of corroborative evidence as to distribution and other facts con- nected with the customs involved. The subject matter as a whole is the result of personal investi- gations conducted by the writer during the years 1912-1915 among the Iroquois of Ontario, Quebec, and New York state, covering a total of about twelve months' research, and will form one of a Digitized by Microsoft® , series in which as thorough a review as possible will be made of Iroquois material culture generally. Among the principal informants interviewed were: Chief John Gibson (Sen.) and wife (Ca.), Chief David Skye (On.), Chief David Key (Sen.), John Echo (On.), Peter John (On.) and wife (Mo.), Thomas Key (On.), John Jamieson, jun.