Hulled Corn

Ingredients

• 1 pint clean strong wood ashes
• 1/2 gallon water
• white flint corn, shelled and picked
• 3 parts water
• salt

Instructions

1. Put a pint of clean strong wood ashes into half a gallon of water, and boil twenty minutes — or until the water feels slippery.
2. Let settle, drain off the clear lye, and pour it upon as much white flint corn, shelled and picked, as it will cover.
3. Let stand until the hulls on the grains slip under pressure — commonly twelve to twenty-four hours.
4. Drain off lye, cover with cold water, rubbing and scrubbing the grains between the hands, till all are free of husks.
5. Soak them in clear water, changing it every few hours till no taste of lye remains.
6. Then boil slowly in three times its bulk of water, adding a little salt, but not much, until very tender. A grain should mash between finger and thumb.
7. Fill up as the water boils away, and take care not to scorch.
8. Cool uncovered, and keep cool.
9. To cook, dip out a dishful, fry it in bubbling bacon fat as directed for corn.
10. Or warm in a double boiler, and serve with butter and sugar or cream and sugar, as a cereal.
11. Use also as a vegetable the same as rice or green corn.
12. Hominy pudding, baked brown and highly seasoned, helps out a scant dinner wonderfully, corn being the most heating of grains as well as one of the most nutritious.