FOOD FOR THE TRAIL

 

The following list of food is historically correct and can be varied per trek length and personal taste. Although the list is relatively small it offers a surprising verity of fair. When supplemented with wild game, fowl, and fish it can not only keep you going but can provide an excellent and tasty diet.

1. A cloth or leather sack of Stone Ground Corn Meal Flour (generally carried in the fry pan with the handle folded over it).

2. A sack of Unsweetened Hunks of Chocolate and a Sugar Cone (Sugar Cones are made from the left over or junk sugar remaining after the processing of sugar. It is like brown sugar with a slight taste of molasses) This sack is carried inside my Corn Boiler.

3. A small sack of Ground Coffee (also carried inside the Corn Boiler). Loose leaf tea can be carried in place of the coffee or in addition to it. Roasted Coffee Beans may be carried but must be pounded or ground before use.

4. A sack of dry Split Peas.

5. A sack of Flour Mix ( I make this using brown flour, cornmeal, and brown sugar – see Stick Bread in the recipe list below)

6. A sack of Dry Corn (whole kernels)

7. A sack of Parched Corn (see recipe section below)

8. A cloth sack of Jerk (Jerky was simply called Jerk in the 18th century. If carried in a cloth sack where air can get at it, Jerk will last indefinitely)

9. A greased sack of Smoked Salt Slab Bacon (This type of bacon does not require refrigeration).

10. A sack of Stone Ground Oatmeal (Scottish Oatmeal).

　

 

RECIPES FOR THE TRAIL

 

Corn, corn, and more corn. Corn was the staple diet of the longhunter, backwoodsman, early colonist and Indians alike. Woodland Indians could travel for days on no more then a handful of parched corn a day.

The standard corn ration was a handful a day given to hunters of organized hunting parties, militia groups and some military groups and one pound ( 1 lb) of corn was considered a months ration per man.

True, these hunters supplemented their meager supplies with game meat from the hunt but when traveling in hostel territory where hunting was often out of the question they survived primarily on the supplies carried with them.

Here are some simple and tested recipes for the trail along with preparation tips.

Open your corn meal bag and form a little divot in the corn meal (corn flour, or wheat flour) and add a small amount of water. Mix with you fingers until you have a dough (add more corn meal or water as needed) that can be formed into a round flat cake.

This cake can be cooked in a frypan, on a hot flat rock, or in the hot ashes of a fire. My favorite method is to first fry up a few pieces of bacon, remove the bacon from the skillet and set aside on a piece of bark and cook the cake (or cakes) in the bacon grease until the cakes are lightly browned.. Stick Bread

As in the Johnny Cake above, open your sack, make a small divot in the flour mixture, add a small amount of water and form a dough with your fingers. Because of the natural glutamates in the flour this will form a better and more elastic dough then if made with just cornmeal.

Wrap the dough around the end of a green willow stick and hold or support the stick over the coals until golden brown. Eaten with a cup of coffee or hot chocolate this is a rewarding treat.

Note: On a trek once, we were in a dry camp having only a canteen of water each to get us through the night. One of members of our small party had a small bottle of homemade apricot wine (almost a brandy) and we used this to make our stick bread dough with. The result was a very tasty treat that was enjoyed by all on that cold wet night.

 

Add a few chucks of unsweetened chocolate with equal amounts of sugar carved or hacked from your sugar cone to some water and heat over the coals stirring until the chocolate has melted. While not as rich and thick as homemade hot chocolate it still produces a good hot beverage.

For a thicker hot drink add some cornmeal to your hot chocolate after it is made. Stir in the cornmeal while reheating the chocolate. The will be especially enjoyed on those cold damp nights.

 

Add a handful of dry corn and some pieces of Jerk to water and boil over the coals. Add salt and cyan pepper to taste. The dry corn will reconstitute itself and this makes a tasty soup.

 

Cornmeal mush can be prepared in several ways to provide some variety to the diet.

(A). REGULAR CORNMEAL MUSH

Mix cornmeal with water in your fry pan and heat over the coals stirring until it becomes thick (add more cornmeal or water as needed). Add salt and cyan pepper to taste.

(B). CORNMEAL MUSH AND BACON

Fry up some bacon , set it aside, and to the bacon grease stir in some cornmeal and then some water. Heat until thick stirring occasionally. You can crumble up the bacon and add to the cornmeal mush or eat it separately. The cornmeal mush will be flavored by the bacon grease. Add cyan peeper and salt (if needed) to taste.

(C). CORNMEAL MUSH AND CHOCOLATE

Make your cornmeal mush using some of your hot chocolate drink in place of water to give it a chocolate taste.

 

Place a handful of dry split peas into your boiler and add water. Boil over the coals of you fire stirring frequently until the peas are soft, add some pieces jerk or cut up bacon and continue to cook. Spice with salt and cyan pepper to taste. Depending on the amount of peas used and how well the peas are cooked they can be mashed up with your spoon and can be almost the consistency of porridge.

 

Easy to prepare and makes a great breakfast. A cup of hot oatmeal will stick to the ribs and is a great way to start a new day of trekking.

Add a handful of oatmeal to your boiler. Add water and bring to a boil stirring constantly. You can make your oatmeal as thick or thin as you choose by adding more oatmeal or water while cooking. Stir in some sugar while hot. Lacking milk or cream on treks I like to make my oatmeal a little on the soupy side.

 

To make Parched Corn you will need corn which has been dried on the cob. Dry corn was produced by opening the husks (but not removing them) and hanging the corn in the rafters of the cabin to dry.

Prior to leaving for a trek remove some dry corn from the cobs and place in bowl. There are two methods of making parched corn. The first method is to place no more then a hand full at a time into a hot dry skillet. Stir constantly until the corn pops and becomes a light brown in color. Remove from the pan, separate from any burnt kernels and lightly salt. The trick here is to parch the corn and not let it burn.

The second method is to fry some bacon and while the bacon is frying add a hand full of dry corn stirring constantly as it browns and pops in the bacon grease.

Place the parched corn in a bag for travel. Parched Corn can be used as a trail snack or as a quick meal along with some Jerk. It can be ground to a powder, mixed with water to form a paste and eaten as is until camp is made. The ground parched corn can be used like cornmeal though it has a much smoother consistency

NOTE: If the Parched Corn is to be ground the dry parch method works best. One of the best types of corn to use for this is called Hickory King. This is an Heirloom corn that has been around for over two centuries and it produces large flat white kernels.

From Bills World Gateway to the Past

Basic Bannock Recipe
courtesy Karen Hood

This recipe for bannock will come in handy during a day hike or an overnight camping trip. Mix the ingredients at home and then seal them in a zip-lock bag. The basic mix will stay fresh for up to a month if kept sealed, dry, and reasonably cool. The quantity given will yield four bannock cakes, each approximately 3-1/2 to 4″ in diameter.

Dry Ingredients

1 cup flour
1 tsp. baking powder
2 tbsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
3 tbsp. margarine
2 tbsp. skim milk powder (optional)

Mix the flour, baking powder, salt, and milk powder. Cut in the margarine by hand or with a mixer on low, until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. Seal it in a zip-lock bag. Squeeze out excess air.

Bannock on the Trail

Grease and heat a fry pan or foil. Add enough COLD water to the prepackaged dry mix to make dough. Form the dough into cakes about 1/2″ thick. Lay the bannock cakes in the warm frying pan. Hold them over low heat, rotating the pan a little. Once a bottom crust has formed and the dough has hardened enough to hold together, turn the bannock cakes.

Cooking takes 12-15 minutes. Test readiness by inserting a clean toothpick or wood sliver into the loaf. If it comes out clean, the bannock is ready to eat.

If you don’t have a fry pan …

Roll the dough into a ribbon, no wider than an inch. Wind this around a preheated green hardwood stick and cook over a fire, turning occasionally, until the bannock is cooked.

Cornell Bread

Cornell bread is also a high protein bread, very interesting book. He started out making the first protein bread for low meat diets and tested his theories on mental patients.

http://www.cornell.edu/search/index.cfm?tab=facts&q=&id=188

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/1981-09-01/McCoys-Miracle-Loaf.aspx

http://www.soyinfocenter.com/HSS/mccays_and_ny_state_food_commission.php

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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