The Food of Pioneers

Life on the Prairie was often a difficult one but these hard working breed learned to adapt and use what was available to them.
Game meat was very abundant as was pork but beef was not as readily available. Portions of beef were dried behind the stove or near the fire after it had been smoked and cured. It would become so dry and hard that it would have to be chipped off to use- thus the name of our modern day "chipped beef" gravy. The fat or tallow form the beef was saved and used for candle making.
Fruits & vegetables were seasonal. Crop produce could be stored in root cellars, dried or preserved with other methods.
Turnips, carrots,pumpkins, potatoes, nuts, and berries gave some variety to their diets but cornmeal was the mainstay.
Corn meal was made from whatever color corn was available- white, yellow, even red.
Corn meal mush was started cooking by the noon hour on the days that it was made,
Buckwheat was also used as it was a crop that could be planted late but be ready for harvest by winter. Buckwheat was used to make griddle cakes.