Historic Treasure of the Week - August 4, 1991
By Jan Buffington
Vigo County Historical Society
Historic Treasure of the Week - August 4, 1991
By Jan Buffington
Vigo County Historical Society
Maize important crop to Colonists
If it weren’t for the Native American tribes, the Pilgrims would not have survived.
Tribal thinking was very different from that of the Puritans. the Native American sees value in a person simply because he is a person. He is a member of the tribe and, therefore, all should be shared with that member.
The Puritans and Europeans believed the value of a person was connected with his ability to produce or manufacture, and that what he produced or manufactured belonged to him. He did not have to share unless he wanted to do so.
The Native Americans gave the Pilgrims food and the knowledge of how to grow, harvest, store, preserve, prepare and use all the food products known to them. Some of these products were corn, pumpkins, cranberries, salmon, oysters, clams, turkeys, herbs, kidney beans, lima beans, squash and wild rice.
One of the most useful crops they shared was "maize," the product we call corn. It became so important to the early Colonists that they used it for money to pay rent, taxes, and so on.
today we have yellow corn, white corn, blue corn, Indian corn, popcorn, red corn, hominy, cornmeal, corn syrup, corn starch, corn oil, corn flakes, corn "squeezin’s," and even a corn product to fuel our automobiles. It is America’s premier crop and it is shipped all over the world.
The historical treasure of the week is the tool with which Native American women made cornmeal. It is a bowl and pestle made of rock, and is known as a corn grinder. It is displayed in the basement at the museum.
I have tried to grind corn using this method, and it is very difficult. Try it sometime and you will get a great appreciation for what those women went through to feed their tribes. The kernels fly all around the bowl, and it takes a long time to grind the corn fine enough to use in any food product.
Some of the things Native American women made from the cornmeal were bread, mush, pudding, and a candy called was-nah.
Was-nah is an interesting candy, made from toasted cornmeal, chokecherries, honey, and buffalo kidney fat. Yum, Yum. I have the recipe if you really want it.
There are several corn grinders of different sizes in the museum’s collection of Native American artifacts. This one was donated by Martin Patterson.
The Historical Museum of the Wabash Valley, 1411 S. Sixth St., is open from 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.