Lenape Wild Blueberry Corn Bread

Wild highbush blueberry and cornmeal flatbread baked on hearthstones, from the New Jersey Pine Barrens tradition

Origin: Lenape homeland, New Jersey Pine Barrens

From the journey of Blueberry.

The Lenape people inhabited the Pine Barrens and the surrounding coastal plain of present-day New Jersey, Delaware, and eastern Pennsylvania for thousands of years before European arrival. In the acid bogs and sandy-soiled forests of the Pinelands, wild highbush blueberries (Vaccinium corymbosum) grew in great abundance, reaching heights of two metres in the wet, iron-stained hollows. The Lenape incorporated these berries into cornmeal preparations: breads and cakes mixed with dried berries and baked on flat stones beside the fire, or on clay griddles, as both everyday food and as provisions for travel. This recipe represents the baking tradition documented in Lenape foodways accounts: a dense, slightly sweet flatbread in which the dried or fresh blueberries are folded into a cornmeal dough, then cooked on a cast-iron skillet or stone until firm. The textures and the flavour are entirely unlike European breads: no yeast, no gluten development, no rising. The result is a dense, crumbling, deeply flavoured bread whose charred exterior and moist, berry-studded interior represent one of the genuinely original baking traditions of North America.

Ingredients

Base

  • 250 g stone-ground yellow cornmeal (fine or medium grind)
  • 200 ml boiling water, approximately

Seasoning

  • 1 tsp sea salt

Blueberries

  • 200 g wild blueberries (fresh) or dried blueberries soaked for 10 minutes in warm water and drained

Sweetening

  • 1 tbsp maple syrup or honey (optional, for a slightly sweeter bread)

Cooking

  • 1 tbsp bear fat, lard, or sunflower oil, for greasing the skillet

Method

  1. Combine the cornmeal and salt in a bowl. Stir in the maple syrup if using. Pour in the boiling water gradually, stirring until the mixture forms a thick, pliable dough that holds together when pressed but is not sticky. You may not need all the water. The dough should be workable, not crumbly.
  2. Fold in the blueberries gently. If using dried berries, the dough will absorb some of their residual moisture. If using fresh berries, fold carefully to avoid crushing them too much — though some crushing is expected and desirable, as the juice permeates the dough.
  3. Divide the dough into 8 equal balls. Flatten each by hand into a round about 1.5 cm thick and 8 cm in diameter.
  4. Heat a dry cast-iron skillet or heavy-based frying pan over medium-low heat. Grease very lightly. Place the breads in the pan and cook for 8 to 10 minutes per side, until firm to the touch and the exterior has dark golden-brown patches.
  5. Cool slightly on a rack. Serve warm. These breads are best eaten the day they are made, plain or with a little honey or nut butter.
The Gastrographer

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