George Singleton tells of the bye-gone days of old-timey lye hominy and soap-making get-togethers

A bowl of cooked hominy.

(For decades, local historian and paranormal investigator George “Buster” Singleton published a weekly newspaper column called “Somewhere in Time.” The column below, which was titled “Country style hominy” was originally published in the Aug. 19, 2004 edition of The Monroe Journal in Monroeville, Ala.)

As the hot and sulky days of summer slowly make their way across the face of the sun, the time is at hand for changes for the better.

It won’t be too long before the cool winds of the coming fall will blow across the countryside. With this change will come certain events that were once a time of importance with the country folks. The time will be at hand for the cooking of fresh lye hominy and the canning of certain fruits and vegetables. Preparations that were made during this time in the farming communities around where I grew up were a deciding factor as to whether the coming winter would be easy to live through or whether food and various items used around the farm would be hard to come by.

As the fodder began to dry on the field corn and gathering time approached, the time was at hand to get things ready for cooking lye hominy. The large wash pot was placed out where three or four country ladies could stand around and stir the cooking hominy as it steamed there in the large cook pot. All the local gossip was exchanged there by the cook pot during the time of cooking.

Each family had their turn in using the large cook pot. Most all of the community used the one location for their home cooking. Once in a while a large spoon with a long stick tied to the handle was dipped into the cooking hominy for a sample.

This was done to see that the cooking corn didn’t overcook or was cooked enough. If it was overcooked, the hominy wouldn’t keep after it was put in jars to be kept for the coming winter. If it wasn’t cooked enough, the hominy would get harder as time moved ahead.

The processing of the corn was done at home due to the fact that the corn had to be soaked in water that had been mixed with oak ashes. These ashes had been carefully selected and prepared for the purpose of lye hominy cooking.

After the corn had been soaked in the ashes and water for a period of about 12 hours, then it was taken out of the mixture and washed in clean clear water two or three times. This procedure was supposed to soften the hard grains of corn and make it easier to cook.

Always, there were other things to eat to be found there around the cooking pot for a small boy of five or so. Things like peanut candy, parched peanuts or some grapes or pears from a local orchard.

The fire around the cooking pot sooner or later drew almost all of the local community at one time or another. A large coffee pot always could be found boiling on the hot coals near the large wash pot. Or, perhaps there might be a large cooler of fresh buttermilk sitting in a tub of fresh cool water that came from the large spring nearby, for those who chose not to partake of the strong hot coffee.

Most always, during the closing days of the lye hominy cooking, the community would get together for a hominy supper. These eatings were always fit for a king. There were things like potato pies, blueberry pies and cakes, pear salad and many other goodies too numerous to mention.

And, there just might be a few late watermelons and various other things to find their way to the annual hominy feast. But, never the less, there was always enough food to feed an army there around the cooking fires.

Most times, during the hominy cooking, a period was set aside to make up a large batch of lye soap for the coming winter. The smaller pot used for the soap cooking was located there at the edge of the clearing. This soap cooking post was always placed far enough away from the hominy cooking pot so as not to get anyone confused when stirring the cooking mixture.

After the lye soap mixture was cooked, the boiling liquid was poured out into a very large flat tin pan. Here, the soap would cool and become quite hard. After the cooling was completed, the soap was cut up into bars about the size of a brick. Then, it was stored until the time came to bring it out for the washing of clothing and other things it was used for around farm homes.

Always, there was a soap borrowing going on in the community. For some strange reason or another, we seem to always to have soap to loan. Whether any of the borrowed soap was ever returned I never knew. My darling mother could never say “No.”

As I write this article, I wonder just how many of our womenfolk of today would know how to cook lye hominy or to mix up a batch of soap for a cooking. Probably for the knowledge of cooking hominy and mixing up soap has passed from among us. But the memories of these community get-togethers will always linger with me.

I just wish a few of our youth of today had the opportunity to stand around the cooking fires of long ago and experience some of the times that I have. Then, they too would have something to remember for always.

Before too long, the few who remember the art of cooking hominy and the making of lye soap will have passed into the beyond.

In our idle society we should gather at times around in the various communities and relive those times when community togetherness and friendship was most important. We should not forget. Our youngsters need to know.

(Singleton, the author of the 1991 book “Of Foxfire and Phantom Soldiers,” passed away at the age of 79 on July 19, 2007. A longtime resident of Monroeville, he was born to Vincent William Singleton and Frances Cornelia Faile Singleton, during a late-night thunderstorm, on Dec. 14, 1927 in Marengo County, graduated from Sweet Water High School in 1946, served as a U.S. Marine paratrooper in the Korean War, worked as a riverboat deckhand, lived for a time among Apache Indians, moved to Monroe County on June 28, 1964 and served as the administrator of the Monroeville National Guard unit from June 28, 1964 to Dec. 14, 1987. He was promoted from the enlisted ranks to warrant officer in May 1972. For years, Singleton’s columns, titled “Monroe County history – Did you know?” and “Somewhere in Time” appeared in The Monroe Journal, and he wrote a lengthy series of articles about Monroe County that appeared in Alabama Life magazine. It’s believed that his first column appeared in the March 25, 1971 edition of The Monroe Journal. He also helped organize the Monroe County Museum and Historical Society and was also a past president of that organization. He is buried in Pineville Cemetery in Monroeville. The column above and all of Singleton’s other columns are available to the public through the microfilm records at the Monroe County Public Library in Monroeville. Singleton’s columns are presented here each week for research and scholarship purposes and as part of an effort to keep his work and memory alive.)