WHEAT FLOWER CAKES BAKED IN COALS

One of John Peabody Harrington's Chumash informants described how wheat cakes were made in the rescoldo (coals of the fire). Balls of wheat meal were made into cakes about five inches in diameter and two inches thick. They were then buried in the hot ashes of the fire to bake rather than being cooked on a comal (steatite frying pan).They were called "'ikujash."

Certainly, wheat flour had replaced grass seed, acorn and islay (holly-leaf cherry) flour. However, the method of cooking seems to have remained the same.

                                                                                                Mike Kuhn

12-7-04