[Sca-cooks] Corn Bread

[Decker, Terry D.]

You hand the same
> cook a potatoe--or more convincingly, an ear of corn,  and
> poor cook says
> "Prithee, thou cross-gartered Varlet, what manner of object is this?"
> (Add appropriate nose wrinkle as necessary)  Maize looks
> nothing like any
> old world vegetable, and without the Native Americans about
> to show you
> how to use it, it's useless.

The seamen who found the first maize considered it a type of millet (as
recorded in Columbus' diary).  In actual use, millet and maize are not very
different, both being grains.  I would think a cook would have an easier
time deciding what to do with the maize than he would the potato (let's feed
people these lovely greens).

>
>    As far as white potatoes go, there was an Englishman who started
> growing them in 1619, somewhere in the British Isles as a form of
> welfare, both to provide them with work as well as food.  This scheme,
> I'm sure, is related to other schemes at the time involving straw hat
> plaiting and knitting, to help poor people.
>
>    Elizabeth

Sir Walter Raleigh was growing potatoes on his estate in Ireland before his
death in 1618, but it is generally believed that these were sweet potatoes,
although there are some who hold a different view.  Given Sir Walter's
finances, the planting was motivated by profit rather than charity.

In 1663, the Royal Society recommended growing white potatoes as a hedge
against famine.  General acceptance and widespread planting did not begin
until the 18th Century.

Bear