Powhicora

[sixxstringmetal]

Hi, I have a little information and a few questions. There are several types of hickory, each with different purposes. A pecan is a type of hickory nut. And there were at least 8 types of nuts all called Pecan by the Powhatan indians.
There is a type of nut milk called Powhicora.
I am wondering if there is anyone who has any information or knows how to make Powhicora in the old way, and I am looking for instructions on nut harvesting, storing and processing.
Can you use modern walnuts to make it?
Were the black walnuts ever eaten at all raw? Or roasted? How much and how frequently?
The type of pecan eaten today is grown in orchards.
What is the indigenous method for making this type of pecan or one similar to it?
Is there any information on storing, preparing and eating? And in what quantities was it eaten and with what other foods?
Google has been no help at all with this matter and I am attempting to find someone that may have knowledge that was passed down within the family. If you have any information about this that you can share or if you can point me towards another online or other source that may be able to provide me this information, it will be most helpful in my research. Thank you much!

[Hoss]

You can eat Black Walnuts. They are a lot of work though. The husk must be removed as soon as they fall dont let them rot. The oils from the rotting husk will transfer into the nut meat and spoil your harvest. So remove the husk and then let the nuts dry for two or three months. I used a steel cage 1/2" mesh screen to keep the squirrels out of the drying nuts.
Far as your nut milk goes I have no idea. This is the first time I ever heard of Powhicora. Thanks for the post and welcome to Arrowheads.com forums

[sixxstringmetal]

Thank you for your reply and information, Hoss. Very much appreciated. I know this is information that will be very hard to find and I am very grateful for every little bit I can find. Again, thank you.

[Olden]

Some interesting questions there Sixx.
You might try contacting the Piscataway tribe that's based in Waldorf MD.
They're historic Algonquian, and were closely related to the famous VA. chief Powhatan.
American Indian Cultural Center
16816 Country Lane
Waldorf, MD 20601
(240) 432-7878
piscatawayindians@yahoo.com
Piscataway Indians: Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piscataway_tribe

* Recent Official Recognition of Piscataway Tribes
January 9th, 2012

http://www.governor.maryland.gov/blog/?p=3385

Cheers!

[sixxstringmetal]

Thank you much for the information, Olden. I will definitely check with them. Much appreciated.

[rmartin]

I have never heard of this nut milk but sounds interesting. Please keep us informed as you find out details.

[sixxstringmetal]

Thank you. The information is very hard to find but I do appreciate all of your replies. If I do find the information I will post it here. Thanks again.

[rmartin]

http://vegetarian.about.com/od/rawfo...cashewmilk.htm  Doesn't help with your history quest but here is a modern recipe.

[painshill]

Hi James, and welcome to the forum.

There are 22 species of Hickory trees (of the genus Carya) native to North America, of which about a dozen are most commonly found. The name derives from the eastern-Algonquian Powhatan word “pokahichary” (Trumbull 1872), also reported elsewhere as “pawscohicora”. Although they all produce edible nuts, only one of the Hickory species (Carya illinoinensis) is what we would call the “Pecan”, the name deriving from Algonquian, meaning “a nut requiring a stone to crack”.

There are extensive accounts by early European explorers concerning the use of Carya species. Strachey (1612) reported a Powhatan myth of the afterlife which involved hickory; hominy corn and “pokahichary” (a drink made by pounding hickory nuts with water) and served by a goddess to spirits travelling after death to the rising sun. The story implies an ancient and revered place for the nuts in Powhatan tradition.

Early Virginia settlers observed that the Native peoples’ usual drink was water, but didn’t realise that in many cases it was flavoured (Russell, 1980). Native people “were not fond of drinking water and preferred various beverages prepared from herbs and corn”. Broths and stocks, in which foods had previously been cooked, were commonly consumed as beverages – [both hot and cold]. The Iroquois saved the water they boiled cornbread in for beverages, and drank the water that boiled nuts during the oil separating process (Parker, 1968).

A proto/post contact site in Virginia revealed a diet based predominantly on corn and hickory nuts. In order to make the harvesting and processing of large amounts feasible, Native Americans employed an ingenious method of shelling the nuts. The process used by the Delaware (Lenape) was described thus in the 18th century: “They put handfuls of nuts in a mortar [probably a large wooden corn mortar] and with a heavy pestle, cracked the nuts open, all the while adding water. When a sufficient amount of water was added to the cracked nuts, it was stirred so the nut meats separated from the shells, at which point, the meats and shells being different materials in the water, one floated to the top while the other sank to the bottom [this method focuses on making a hickory nut milk while separating]. Another method calls for the cracked, un-separated nuts to be thrown into boiling water, during which the heavy nut meats were suspended in the liquid as the light shells were carried to the top with the current of the boiling water. If the nuts were left longer with no rapid boil, the waterlogged shells fragments sank to the bottom… The water in which the shells were separated was used as soup broths and beverages. If nut oil was desired, the meats were ground and boiled again, to separate the oil and bring it to the top of the water where it was skimmed off…. Hickory and butternut oils were noted by the Iroquois to be especially pleasant in flavor. They also fed the nutritious and fatty hickory oil to their infants. The pulverized boiled meats were dried for later use, or used right away in breads and puddings. The Iroquois took hickory and butternut meal with ground dried bear or deer meat, and boiled the mixed powder to create a liquid baby food. Another well-liked nut, the black walnut, was also used to make liquid baby foods. In New England, Native parents boiled the crushed walnuts, cornmeal, and water to produce the pap. Sometimes, squash was added to this recipe”.

Ancient cultivated fields of hickory were reported by European settlers west of Augusta, Georgia (Bartram, 1792). Bartram goes on to say: “Though these are natives of the forest, yet they thrive better, and are more fruitful, in cultivated plantations, and the fruit is in great estimation with the present generation of Indians, particularly Juglans exaltata, commonly called shell barked hiccory. The Creeks store up the last in their towns. I have seen above an hundred bushels of these nuts belonging to one family. They pound them to pieces, and then cast them into boiling water, which, after passing through fine strainers, preserves the most oily part of the liquid; this they call by a name which signifies hiccory milk; it is as sweet and rich as fresh cream, and is an ingredient in most of their cookery, especially homony and corn cakes”.

He is probably mistaken about the species identification. The genus Juglans relates to walnuts and, for North American Native use, this would most commonly mean the eastern black walnut (Juglans nigra). It is probable that the "Juglans exaltata" referred to by Bartram is a synonym for the hickory Carya ovata (Sargent, 1884).

So, in general, it doesn't look as if there was a recipe as such or preparation that normally went much beyond boiling (with and without the shells) plus sometimes pulverising and straining.

[Much of this information comes from Yahoo! Network Contributor Jessica Diemer-Eaton and the Aggie Horticulture site of the Texas A&M University, together with references that they provide]

[sixxstringmetal]

Thank you for the welcome and for this incredibly informative post, Painshill! This is most helpful in my research and I appreciate it very much!