Kanuchi (

Cherokee The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...

: ᎧᏅᏥ, ''Ku-nu-che''; or ᎦᎾᏥ, ''ga-na-tsi'') is a hickory nut soup eaten originally by the

Cherokee people The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...

and which consists primarily of ground hickory nuts boiled in water. Hickory was the nut of choice (probably the species ''

Carya ovata ''Carya ovata'', the shagbark hickory, is a common hickory native to eastern North America, with two Variety (botany), varieties. The trees can grow to quite a large size but are unreliable in their fruit output. The nut is consumed by wildlife a ...

'',, s.v. Hickory Nut Soup (Cherokee) known for its natural sweetness), since it is a nut tree endemic to

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

, and is known to grow plentifully in those forested areas settled by the Cherokee.

History

E. Lewis Sturtevant describes in his book, ''Sturtevant's Notes on Edible Plants'', the practice of Florida Indians who made a milky liquor which they called 'milk of nuts' from the Shagbark hickory nuts. Citing

Bernard Romans Bernard Romans ( 1720–1784) was a Dutch-born navigator, surveyor, cartographer, naturalist, engineer, soldier, promoter, and writer who worked in the British American colonies and the United States. His best known work, ''A Concise Natural History ...

, he wrote: "This milk they are very fond of and eat it with

sweet potatoes The sweet potato or sweetpotato (''Ipomoea batatas'') is a dicotyledonous plant in the morning glory family, Convolvulaceae. Its sizeable, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a root vegetable, which is a staple food in parts of the ...

in it."

Nutritional value and historical use

Dried hickory nutmeat is high in both fat and protein, containing 3% water, 18%

carbohydrate A carbohydrate () is a biomolecule composed of carbon (C), hydrogen (H), and oxygen (O) atoms. The typical hydrogen-to-oxygen atomic ratio is 2:1, analogous to that of water, and is represented by the empirical formula (where ''m'' and ''n'' ...

s, 13%

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residue (biochemistry), residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including Enzyme catalysis, catalysing metab ...

, and 64%

fat In nutrition science, nutrition, biology, and chemistry, fat usually means any ester of fatty acids, or a mixture of such chemical compound, compounds, most commonly those that occur in living beings or in food. The term often refers specif ...

s. The nut was generally rendered into oil or made into a kind of nutmeal ball that could be used to make stock for stews and soups. Traditionally, kanuchi was eaten by adding the soup broth to

hominy Hominy is a food item produced from dried maize (corn) kernels that have been treated with an alkali, in a process called nixtamalization ( is the Nahuatl word for "hominy"). "Lye hominy" is a type of hominy made with lye. History The process ...

(

: ''A-ma-ge-i (ᎠᎹᎨᎢ)'') that had been prepared from the

flint corn Flint corn (''Zea mays'' var. ''indurata''; also known as Indian corn or sometimes calico corn) is a variant of maize, the same species as common corn. Because each kernel has a hard outer layer to protect the soft endosperm, it is likened to bein ...

(

: ''Se-lu(ᏎᎷ)''). Hickory King corn is now principally used for making hominy.

Traditional manner of preparation

Kanuchi is made by gathering hickory nuts (

: ''So-hi (ᏐᎯ)'') in the wild, usually in October. The outer hulls are removed, while the nuts, complete with their inner-shells, are then dried on a rack in front of a fire. Since hickory nuts are rarely commercially exported, the hickory nut can be substituted by making use of

pecans The pecan ( , , ; ''Carya illinoinensis'') is a species of hickory native to the Southern United States and northern Mexico in the region of the Mississippi River. The tree is cultivated for its seed primarily in the U.S. states of Georgia, ...

walnuts A walnut is the edible seed of any tree of the genus ''Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, '' Juglans regia''. They are accessory fruit because the outer covering of the fruit is technically an invo ...

, or by using an equal mixture of both walnuts and pecans. The dried hickory nuts with their shells are placed over a large flat rock that has been inserted within a flat basket lined temporarily with a cloth, and are then cracked open by pounding with a smaller rock. After breaking the outer shells and crushing the nut meat, the resulting nutmeat is sifted through a sieve basket (today, modern sieves and strainers are used). The kernels and small pieces of shell that passed through the sieve are taken up and put into a large wooden corn mortar and there pounded with a large wooden pestle (

: ''Ka-no-na (ᎧᏃᎾ)'') until the substance can be made into balls. The crushed nuts were formed by hand into balls, to be stored in this way for several days until ready for use. When soup was desired, an earthenware pot partly filled with water was traditionally used. The water was brought to a boil and the balls inserted into the pot of boiling water. Boiling water can also be poured over the balls while they are laid up in the pot, while stirring constantly. Once the soup reaches the right consistency, usually after cooking for 10 minutes, the soup can be ladled out and served. A thick soup is typically served with any type of bread or dumpling, whereas a thin soup may be used as a drink. Today, most food connoisseurs prefer eating kanuchi soup with

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

, as its main viand, or else with

. Some recipes call for a dash of

maple syrup Maple syrup is a sweet syrup made from the sap of maple trees. In cold climates, these trees store starch in their trunks and roots before winter; the starch is then converted to sugar that rises in the sap in late winter and early spring. Ma ...

to sweeten the soup.

References

External links

Kanuchi and the Search for a Native American Soup
* Osiyo TV, , Edith Knight explains the process of making Kanuchi / Jan 2, 2016, minutes 02:40–05:00. * East Meets Kitchen, , Nov. 2021. *

Cherokee Phoenix The ''Cherokee Phoenix'' () is the first Native_American_newspapers, newspaper published by Native Americans in the United States and the first published in a Native American language. The first issue was published in English and Cherokee on Febr ...

, , as described by Cherokee Nation citizen Roberta Sapp {{Authority control Native American cuisine Vegetarian cuisine North American cuisine Cherokee culture American soups Nut dishes

History

Nutritional value and historical use

Traditional manner of preparation

See also

References

External links