Hulled Corn
Ingredients
Directions
Make the lye
Boil 3 gallons of water with 6 quarts of hardwood ashes for 5 minutes.
Add 1 pint of cold water to settle the lye.
Strain the lye.
Cook the corn
Put the lye back in an iron kettle.
Add 6 quarts of shelled corn.
Boil for 30 minutes, stirring frequently.
Strain off the lye.
Rinse and soften
Rinse the corn in several waters until clear.
Put the corn back in a clean kettle and cover with water. Boil.
Drain the corn. Repeat the process 3 or 4 times until soft.
Season
Add 2 tablespoons of salt and stir well.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Shelled corn
- Its hulls loosen and its kernels soften and swell as it cooks in the alkaline lye.
- Hardwood ashes (in the method)
- Supplies the alkaline lye that loosens the hulls and softens the kernels.
The step that matters
Rinse and repeat until the corn is soft. The alkali must be fully washed out and the boiling repeated until the kernels are tender. Stopping early leaves hulls stuck and kernels firm, and leftover lye would make the corn taste harsh.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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