Hominy

by Verna Lucas

Hominy is a simple country dish made from dried corn, water and a little lye. Hominy probably originated to
give variety to a diet depending greatly on corn. The lye was made from ashes and water and the corn was dried.
With ingredients at hand it could be made whenever needed because the dried corn would not spoil. Either
yellow or white corn can be used, though white corn was usually preferred because it made such a pretty white
fluffy product. The method and steps have not changed too much over the years, but due to fewer wood-burning
stoves and ash hoppers, canned concentrated lye is usually used now instead of liquid lye.

On the Hough farm one rainy day we helped Elvie and Myrtle and their friend Annie Fike make hominy the
same way their parents and grandparents did.

First shell the corn by rubbing the cobs together so that the kernels come off. Then wash the corn to remove parts
of the cob and silks. Next put it into an iron kettle or other suitable container with enough lye water to cover it.
They used two tablespoons of concentrated lye to a quart of corn. The lye is used to loosen the husk and the
black tip or heart on the corn. Repeated cooking makes the hard corn sort enough to eat. Build a fire under the
kettle and cook it until the husk is loosened, about twenty to twenty-five minutes. Then wash the corn in hot
water to remove the skins and the lye. The lye will cause white corn to turn yellow, but after three or four
washings and boilings, it will return to its natural color. After washing, put the corn in clean water and boil again
about twenty minutes and wash again. This washing and boiling in fresh water is repeated until the corn is tender
enough to be eaten and the husks and black hearts are removed.

Season with salt and pepper and serve.

The ladies both told us that hominy must be pressure cooked if it is to be canned to keep it from spoiling in the
jars. Quart jars should be pressured at 10 pounds for twenty minutes. Hominy may also be frozen, or it can be
cooked fresh as needed.

In the cooking process hominy swells. One gallon of dried corn will make two gallons of hominy.

Hominy is another variation for preparing corn like grits or cornmeal. It has all the nourishment of regular corn
and is often used as a staple in the diet. Old-fashioned homemade hominy is just another part of the good home
cooking of the Ozarks.
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Building up the kettle for a big hot fire.

Shell the corn into a large bowl.

Wash away all the silks and cob pieces before cooking.
Remove from the fire after boiling. (A discarded horseshoe can come in handy.)

"Wash it about 3 times to get the lye out."

"That little film that's on the grain and most of this little heart will come off."
[39] .

Soap Making
by Terry Brandt

"Cleanliness is next to godliness'' is what I have always heard and is what the Ozark people believe. This is
shown in the tradition of soap making. The homemade soap had many uses. Annie Fike, a neighbor of the
Houghs who helped us, said, "That's all we had, a wash board and a bucket of lye soap. We could get things
clean with it but it took lots of backbone." This soap was used for washing dishes, bathing and washing clothes.
There are several variations of soap. One of these is soft soap. Soft soap was made like hard soap, but it was
taken off the fire before it reached the stringly or jelly-like state. Stored in buckets, housewives would dip out
what they heeded and used it much like modern day liquid detergent on dishes and clothes. To be extra elegant
sometimes women added coloring or perfume before pouring out the soap to cool.

To make about nine pounds of lye soap you need:

lye - 1 can
water - 2 1/2 pints
or
ash lye - 2 pints
fat - about 6 pounds
pan wooden spoon or paddle
stove or outside fire

You can use either wood ash lye or concentrated lye. If you use wood ash lye, the lye is already deluted with the
water, but it will need to be strong enough to eat up the fat. If strong enough, about a quart of ash lye for six
pounds of fat would probably be enough. Concentrated lye comes in cans.

The fat can be suet, cooking grease or lard. It should be clean or free of meat to have nicer soap.

[40]

Myrtle used white suet which made beautiful white soap.

The cooking container should be iron or granite and plenty big enough to hold the soap mixture even when
boiling. Use a wooden paddle or large spoon to stir.

Lye soap can be made on a stove inside or traditionally over a fire outside using an iron kettle. Lye is very strong
and dangerous, so use care in preparing the soap.
The first step in making lye soap is combining the lye and water. Mix well to dissolve the lye. Be careful not to
get over the kettle or breathe the fumes. After combining, bring this mixture to a boil before adding the grease.
Stir this mixture as it cooks so it will not boil over. However, allow it to boil enough so the lye will eat the
grease.

To test to see if it has cooked enough, let the soap mixture drip off the spoon. If it is done, it will string or bead
up like jelly. When done, pour it into a container and let cool. Before completely hard, cut into squares.

"This is the way they used to do it."

"The cleaner the grease the nicer the soap."

When done, the soap will cake up on the paddle.

"won't that make pretty soap?"