Parched Corn -- an Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving Treat!

Want a very old-fashioned treat you can make yourself and share with your family on Thanksgiving?
Here is a recipe for "Parched Corn" that I found in

"The Little House Cookbook

-- Frontier Foods from Laura Ingalls Wilder's Classic Stories"

by Barbara M. Walker.

      This particular recipe is for the parched corn snack mentioned in Laura's book: "On the Banks of Plum Creek".  Laura and her sister, Mary, were given 3 grains of parched corn (similar to eating 3 salted peanuts), and as they ate, were supposed to remember the Pilgrims and the hardships they (the Pilgrims) had experienced and how thankful they must have been for the Thanksgiving Feast. Laura and Mary were given their parched corn treat after enjoying their own Thanksgiving dinner.

So try something more "old-fashioned" this year when making your Thanksgiving treats!

"For 1 cup of parched corn you will need:
Field corn, 1 ear dried, or sweet corn, 1 cup dried
Butter, 2 tablespoons
Salt
Skillet, 10-inch

If you are using field corn, shell it and remove chaff by tossing handfuls back and forth; do not wash! Heat butter in skillet over high heat. Cover the pan with kernels, reduce heat slightly, and stir constantly as kernels brown, puff up, and crackle. Cook 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat, salt to taste, and serve." (Walker 212)


Walker, Barbara M. The Little House Cookbook. New York: Scholastic Inc, 1979.