Navajo Blue Corn Mush


Ingredients used: Roasted Blue Corn, Juniper Ash, Water.

With the blue corn ear, all the kernels would be removed to be grinded on a grinding stone until dust like.

Juniper ash would come from juniper trees and burn until enough ash is collected for the dish.


The recipes is as follows:

    1. Bring about 2 to 3 cups of water to boil.
    2. In a bowl mix 3/4 cup of cold water, juniper ash and blue mush until like a watery paste.
    3. While water is still boiling slowly pour and stir mixture into the boiling water.
    4. Depending on preference with consistency, add more cold water if too thick or more blue mush if too watery.
    5. Keep stirring and taste until coarse corn is gone.

    Tip: Do not mix blue mush with hot boiling water or you will have lumps, cold water is best.


The following is some interesting facts regarding farmland especially blue corn grown on the Navajo Reservation.

Shiprock, NM and with the San Juan River running through the landscape provides the community and surrounding area with three main produce of melons, squash and corn both blue and yellow.

The map below is of Shiprock, NM and San Juan River. The highlighted area is of all the farmland from an aerial view.

Shiprock


The following map is of the Navajo Agricultural Products Industry (NAPI).

Their Mission is to continue the legacy of Navajo Farming, producing superior products, practicing stewardship and creating value for our people.

Their Vision is farming sustainably across generations to cultivate a health nation.

Here at NAPI they grow pumpkins, potatoes, squash, corn, wheat, sumac berries, pinto beans and hay for livestock.

San Juan River and Shiprock Farmland-Copy


On the Navajo Reservation there is not much nourishing land for farming and very little water available if any to grow and sustain agriculture in the Southwest. As you can see where we do have the opportunity to farm, certain conditions have to exist like reliable source of water and proper land use. Historically Navajo people were more AGRARIAN instead of HUNTER GATHERS. Locally and in surrounding communities still today Navajo's practice SUSTENCE AGRICULTURE. Much of the blue corn used for Blue Mush is grown in this region but with the COMMERLICAZTION OF AGRICULTURE distant communities are able to buy easy to make recipes off the shelf. For me this is good and bad, the good being readily available and the convince while the bad is going through the process of learning from elders about how to make this simple dish.


References

D. (2018, February 05). Blue Corn Mush. Retrieved November 24, 2020, from http://www.tumbleweednutrition.com/recipe/blue-corn-mush/

Knox, P. L., & Marston, S. A. (2016). Chapter 9 Geographies of Food and Agriculture. In Human geography: Places and regions in global context (pp. 299-341). Boston: Pearson.

Morales, L. (2017, August 21). To Get Calcium, Navajos Burn Juniper Branches To Eat The Ash. Retrieved November 24, 2020, from https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/08/21/544191316/to-get-calcium-navajos-burn-juniper-branches-to-eat-the-ash