Spring 2006

Clay Kettle Popcorn
 - Susan Washington

Before acquiring metal cookware from Europeans, Iroquois and other Native peoples of North America made clay pottery cookware in which they boiled or stewed corn, beans, squash, small game, fish, seeds, nuts, and other foods.(1)

In addition, some used clay pots to pop certain varieties of corn.  “Around the year 1612, early French explorers through the Great Lakes region noted that the Iroquois popped popcorn with heated sand in a pottery vessel and used it to make popcorn soup, among other things.” (2)

For his paper published in 1910, Iroquois Uses of Maize and Other Food Plants, archeologist Arthur Parker “spent 10 years researching material and interviewed Iroquois people in New York, Ontario, and Quebec”.   Parker (1881 – 1955) was a member of the Seneca Iroquois and served in positions with the New York State Museum and Rochester Museum of Science. (3)
 
In his paper, Parker shared information related to several corn based dishes, including the following popcorn based dish with a reference to the use of a “clay kettle”: “Pop Corn Pudding”

“Corn was popped in a metal or clay kettle and then pulverized in a mortar and mixed with oil or syrup. The writer has often seen the modern Iroquois run their corn popped in a modern popper through a chopping machine and eat the light white meal with sugar and milk or cream.” (4)

Since Parker’s “modern popper” of 1910, changes have continued in both the vessels in which corn and other foods are cooked and the methods for heating the food.  Today many of us pop our corn in a special paper “kettle” with heat applied via a microwave oven.  For those of us who prefer the flavor of popcorn popped in a big metal kettle on the stove, it makes one wonder what was lost when metal took the place of clay kettles.

Through its Knowledge Preservation Project, the NSAIE seeks to document not only recipes of traditional and historical foods of the nations Native to the United States, but also the tools and processes of food gathering and preparation.  In addition, information is also sought about present day Native potters who use traditional methods in crafting clay cookware.

How you can Participate
To share such information please contact us at info@nsaie.org or at 602-424-0542.

We are seeking recipes and information on Traditional food preparation methods.

If you would like to contribute information or a recipe, please follow the link to an online form and make sure to include your contact information so that we can reach you if we need additional information.

The information collected may be used to help us produce our Knowledge Preservation Project cookbook.  Recipes selected for inclusion in the national addition will be paid a submission fee. 

Go to our Recipe page.

1. http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/IroquoisVillage/villagethree.html
2. http://www.nal.usda.gov/speccoll/images1/popcorn.html
3. http://www.bioneers.org/programs/food_farming/iwc.php
4.  http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/offices/scullin/Cookbook.129831.html