Nut milk with squash page

[Lewis]

I wanted to see if there were any references online to powhicora—a food made by aboriginal peoples in the American South East. De Soto's expedition, for example, found it being eaten.

The women made it by pounding up hickory nuts and dropping them, shell and all, in water. The bits of shell would sink and then the "milk" could then be skimmed off. Sometimes the drink was flavoured with wood ash but they seem to have used thicker versions for eating with other foodstuffs.

Anyway, I did find a reference—interestingly, to its being cooked down with squash. I wonder what that would be like:

Information from the Powhatans of the Virginia Coastal Plain reveals that, in addition to walnut and bitter pecan, several unidentified species of hickory nut were eaten (Rountree 1989:53). A medicinal oil was derived from one kind of hickory nut while another kind was used to make powhicora, an important drink. In processing the nut for consumption in meals, the nuts were first dried and broken up with stones, after which they were dried again on a mat that was placed over a hurdle. This material was then beaten finer in a mortar. Water was added to make the shell sink to the bottom. The mixture was then boiled until thick and squash was sometimes added (Smith 1986a:152-153; Strachey 1953:121, 129).

http://www.deldot.gov/archaeology/hi...f/pdf/sec5.pdf

Maybe the Virginia Indians just added what they had on hand, but I wonder how that'd go together.

[yodiewan]

Thanks for sharing Lewis. I found some hickory nuts in my neighborhood last fall and cracked open a few and they were the most delicious nut I've ever tasted. They were very difficult to extract from the shell however. Looks like the natives had a much easier method, hehe. I may try using it this fall.

[Dr. Bork Bork]

So I confess to loving acorn squash baked with cinnamon apples & walnuts & butter (I don't eat it all the time. I think we last had it March). I think it would make a fabulous hot breakfast too. Throw in some milky liquid and... wow. Okay, next planned high carb day, I gotta try it!

[Lewis]

Here's an interesting thing. I just googled "nut milk" and guess what the top hit is ... a paleo site.

I'd never have expected that. It shows what a level of interest there is. Incidentally, if I put the word "marks" in Google the top suggestion google throws up is .... "marks daily apple". That's quite some level of penetration of the public consciousness.

[Dr. Bork Bork]

All hail to the Grok Father!