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| George Buster Singleton |
(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 “The time of hominy cooking” was
originally published in the Sept. 4, 1997 edition of The Monroe Journal in
Monroeville, Ala.)
As the hot and sulky Dog Star slowly makes its way across
the face of the Sun, the time is at hand for changes for the better. Effective
Sept. 5, the 40 days of the Dog Star will have faded into oblivion. 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 gotten out and 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
hominy 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 at 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 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 kind. Things like potato pies, blueberry pies and cakes,
pear salad and many other goodies too numerous to mention were served. And,
there just might be a few late watermelons and various other things to find
their way to the annual hominy feast. But, nevertheless, 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 pot 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 the farm home.
Always, there was a soap borrowing going on in the
community. For some strange reason or another, we seem to always 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 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 within me. I just wish a few of our youth of today had the
opportunity to stand around the cooking fires and experience some of the times
that I have. Then they too would have something to remember for always.
(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 during a late-night
thunderstorm on Dec. 14, 1927 in Marengo County, graduated from Sweet Water
High School in 1946, served in the Korean War, 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 1964 to 1987. For
years, Singleton’s column “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. Some of his earlier columns also appeared under the
heading of “Monroe County History: Did You Know?” 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.)
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