WINDOW ROCK — As Char Kruger slowly adds cornmeal to the blue-corn mush on the stove, stirring it clockwise, people begin asking questions. Should they roast cornmeal before making the blue-corn mush? Do they add sugar? How long should it cook?
Kruger recently gave a presentation on how to make blue-corn mush, a traditional Navajo food, at the Navajo Nation Museum as part of activities to encourage cultural teachings. She said this is the perfect time to teach how to make it because it is a healing food.
Ella Silversmith of Tohlakai, N.M., never learned how to make blue-corn mush when she was growing up, so she came to the museum to learn how. She prefers to eat blue corn-mush with a little sugar added, she said as she sampled the mush Kruger handed out after the demonstration.
But Joe Silversmith said he prefers his with a little bit of salt.
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"Try it both ways. See which one you like," he said.
He used to know how to make it from watching his grandmother, but he forgot over the years. The demonstration refreshed his memory.
"I knew the ingredients. It's just putting it together," he said.
Diana DeChilly of Fort Defiance, Ariz., had made blue-corn mush before and learned some tips as she watched.
"Mine came out lumpy because I didn't use cold water," she said.
DeChilly said she came to the demonstration because she was given a lot of cornmeal when her nephew got married. She was planning on going home and trying her hand at the mush and possibly some blue-corn pancakes one day.
Cornmeal and cedar ash are the two main ingredients in the traditional food.
"This is a very important ingredient to the mush," Kruger said of the cedar ash.
One audience member said that if the cedar ash is not used, the mush will taste bitter.
Kruger first showed the audience some of the traditional items that were used in making blue-corn mush, such as a grinding stone and a brush made out of plants. Now, cornmeal can be bought at the store already ground and cedar ash can be purchased at the flea market.
After talking about the traditional process, she took the audience into the kitchen and went through the steps she learned from her grandmother.
"We always say we're from different parts of the reservation. What I'm sharing with you today is what my grandma taught me," she said.
It all begins with a pot of boiling water.
Fill another bowl with cold water and a spoonful of cedar ash and mix it with a stirring stick. Then stir in cornmeal a small handful at a time. It is a good idea to roast the cornmeal first.
Slowly add the mixture of cornmeal and cedar ash to the boiling water. More cornmeal is added by the handful depending on the desired consistency. The mush is stirred constantly as it cooks for 10 to 15 minutes.
Kruger said she plans to do another demonstration on how to make blue-corn bread in the future. As the museum's new education curator, she's trying to hold cultural activities every month.
