Those Old-Timey Foods
(Page 2 of 3)
One of the most common dishes bore the colloquial name of
"leather-britches." It was simply green beans, patiently
threaded on a stout string and dried. The rafters of a
well-stocked cabin would be festooned with strands of these
dried beans. When the home-maker wished to prepare a meal
she had to plan well ahead, for the dried beans needed to
be soaked twenty-four hours and longer to soften. They were
then cooked with salt and perhaps a chunk of bear bacon or
fat-back from a home-butchered hog. Dried shelled beans
were, of course, a familiar food, as were cornfield peas
(usually the crowder variety of black-eye peas.) Pumpkins
were peeled, cut into narrow strips and dried for late
winter use beyond the season of cave-stored vegetables and
fruits.
RELATED CONTENT
The year around staple was corn and every family tried to
grow enough to provide meal from one growing season to the
next. Times were hard when the corn ran short and, as soon
as the fresh crop had reached the firm kernel stage, the
pioneer mother used it to make "gritted" or grated bread.
This was a delicious pudding-like bread that much resembled
the familiar spoonbreads.
Corn was also made into hominy, and hominy was often dried
for "grits". Roasting ears were a welcome treat in season
and the pioneers learned to preserve this delicacy by
cutting the cooked kernels from the cob and drying them.
This dried precooked corn could be reconstituted by soaking
in water and cooking. The process yielded a delightfully
different, caramelized flavor unknown to modern homemakers.
Popcorn was also grown, and one old-timer tells of a great
grandmother who used popcorn to prepare a breakfast cereal
long before the days of the patented, packaged puffed
gains. She popped the corn, ground it coarsely and served
it in a bowl with sorghum and rich, spring-cooled cream.
Corn was also the K-ration when game and other foods were
scarce and for hunters on prolonged trips. In the War
between the States it was nearly standard fare for the
hard-fighting Confederates. Corn was (and still is) light,
portable, almost non-perishable and easily prepared. It can
even be eaten raw: Soaked overnight and parched in a
skillet with a bit of bacon or pork fat, this gain made a
nourishing and sustaining battle ration for those with
sound teeth and stout jaw muscles. And when corn gave out,
large sweet acorns were often gathered and parched (see
FOOD WITHOUT FARMING in MOTHER NO. 3) as a
satisfying substitute. Seeds of apple, peach and pear trees
were carried to their new homes by the settlers and soon
grew into flourishing, fruitful trees. Apples were peeled,
cored, sliced into rings and dried; peaches were simply
halved and dried; and pears were similarly treated although
usually an effort was made to remove the seeds.
