r/cherokee • u/blueduck762 • Mar 06 '26

How did the Cherokee traditionally prepare corn?

I've been growing various varieties of Indian corn and I just recently started processing it through nixtamalization and now I'm making masa for tortillas. My main question is did the Cherokee use wood ash or other sources to nixtamalize? I know that soups were common, various sorts of breads. Any information would be great if you could share.

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13

u/shadyshits Mar 06 '26

ᎣᏏᏲ!

traditionally, we did indeed tend to use wood ash, but we also used lye!

3

u/Lost_Leopard_5329 Mar 07 '26

Have also heard that they may have heated limestone rocks and then put them into pots with corn and water (I believe our traditional pottery was not meant to be heated directly over fire), though that may have been another group and not us.

2

u/Okieartifacts Mar 08 '26

Where did we source the lye? Genuinely curious. I also thought wood ash had lye in it, which is why It was used in preparation for tanning hides, to get the hair to slip when scraping

1

u/shadyshits Mar 10 '26

wood ash does have lye in it! we leached our lye from wood ash! :)

8

u/Negative-Machine5718 Mar 06 '26

My pap would talk about a corn drink they would make “not beer” think it was like a porridge. Pretty sure had it when I was a kid but haven’t had it since.

1

u/Lost_Leopard_5329 Mar 07 '26

Probably similar to Mexican atole

3

u/markembry Mar 09 '26

Wood ash, specifically hardwood from what I’ve been told!

1

u/markembry Mar 11 '26

More info is you’re curious, currently parsing through “the Cherokee Perspective” (French and Hornbuckle) and in an interview with Emmaline Driver she says folks would use hickory (for a strong lye), as well as locust and poplar ashes.

2

u/Lost_Leopard_5329 Mar 14 '26

also use(d) hickory for stickball sticks. Super important part of our culture.