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WiNaDeYo · 10-16-2008, 05:01 PM

OK... here goes, but first of all I'd like to explain that my grandmother was born in 1897 in Rutherfordton, NC. Her grandmother was Cherokee and married a 3rd generation American of German discent. My gra'ma was raised on "the farm" but spent most of her life raising 13 children and working in the cotton textile mills. She was sooo wise and I miss her so much. She died in 1992. Such a smart lady... I have always loved her stories and dreamed of living on a farm like she did.

So.... they always made homony (or is it hominy??) when they made soap. They'd set up an iron pot on a fire next to the lye brew. They'd take out some of the lye solution and dilute it (sorry, the audio recording I have of my gra'ma telling this says that her "mama knew how much springwater to put"). While that was warming, gra'ma would go to the corn crib and choose the ears with the biggest grains on them and would shell the corn off the cobs. They'd fill the pot about half full of corn grains. They'd get the pot a'boilin' keeping the fire hot under the pot and "boil it a little while" and the grains would swell. When the skins of the grains would peel off then it was ready to be washed. They'd take the pot to the "branch" (stream) and wash it several times to get the skins off the grains and to remove the lye. After washing out the pot real good, they'd put the homony back in and cook it until it was tender. Sometimes the corn would swell up so much it'd run over and they'd have to take part out. They'd change the water several times while it was cooking by draining some off and putting fresh water in. The best type of corn, according to my gra'ma, for homony was "Hickory King" corn...big old flat grains... a white sweet corn...better than field corn."

I'd love to try this....

10-16-2008, 05:01 PM	#10
WiNaDeYo Avalon Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Lombardy, Italy Posts: 222	Re: How to Make Lye OK... here goes, but first of all I'd like to explain that my grandmother was born in 1897 in Rutherfordton, NC. Her grandmother was Cherokee and married a 3rd generation American of German discent. My gra'ma was raised on "the farm" but spent most of her life raising 13 children and working in the cotton textile mills. She was sooo wise and I miss her so much. She died in 1992. Such a smart lady... I have always loved her stories and dreamed of living on a farm like she did. So.... they always made homony (or is it hominy??) when they made soap. They'd set up an iron pot on a fire next to the lye brew. They'd take out some of the lye solution and dilute it (sorry, the audio recording I have of my gra'ma telling this says that her "mama knew how much springwater to put"). While that was warming, gra'ma would go to the corn crib and choose the ears with the biggest grains on them and would shell the corn off the cobs. They'd fill the pot about half full of corn grains. They'd get the pot a'boilin' keeping the fire hot under the pot and "boil it a little while" and the grains would swell. When the skins of the grains would peel off then it was ready to be washed. They'd take the pot to the "branch" (stream) and wash it several times to get the skins off the grains and to remove the lye. After washing out the pot real good, they'd put the homony back in and cook it until it was tender. Sometimes the corn would swell up so much it'd run over and they'd have to take part out. They'd change the water several times while it was cooking by draining some off and putting fresh water in. The best type of corn, according to my gra'ma, for homony was "Hickory King" corn...big old flat grains... a white sweet corn...better than field corn." I'd love to try this....