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Carolina Hash: A Taste of South
Carolina
Finding that a stew called
hash was what displaced Brunswick stew as the stew of choice in
South Carolina, Stan, with the support of The Museum in Greenwood,
SC, traveled the Palmetto state learning the story of the popularity
and historical roots of this indigenous-to-South-Carolina-stew
cooked in the black iron pots. This documentary won a CINE
Golden Eagle in Washington and was shown alongside entries from The
Bill Moyers show, "Now" and ABC's Dateline.
"Here
is an example of a custom and a foodway that is so ingrained in the
people and they are so closed to it that they would ask, 'Why are
you doing a film about
hash?'" -
Stan Woodward,Producer/Director
This quirky and lively documentary carries the viewer across
South Carolina to uncover the story of one of the Palmetto state's
most unusual indigenous folk heritage foodways - hash. Hash' in the
folk tradition of South Carolina' is cooked in huge black cast iron
pots, stirred with hand-hewn wooden paddles and
seasoned with secret ingredients that distinguish one
hash-master's hash from a competitor's down the road.
Hash is a foodway that has fed farm folk during good times and
hard times. Made in it's earliest form as one of the
products at hog-killing time, hash is a
historical Low-country foodway first observed cooked in
the Carolina rice kitchens to feed slaves a high-protein, high
energy meal over rice. The African cooks creatively seasoned
hash with peppers and spices from Barbados and made it so tasty that
it soon became a dish served in the 'big
house." After the Civil War, small farms struggled in the Low
country and at hog killing time nothing went to waste. Land-owner
and sharecroppers alike ate hash, and the dish spread into the
midlands and the piedmont.
Because of it's early provenance, this cross between a stew and a
meat gravy became established as the South Carolina stew of
choice long before Brunswick stew made its way down from
Virginia or up from Brunswick - whichever way the migration took
place.
Hash masters became known locally for their hash and began
cooking it on special occasions when farming neighbors were invited
for a social time together and on holidays, when the hash would
be sold to members of the local community. In this way
hash-making began to occur in screened-in "hash
houses", where it was sold to satisfy the local community's taste
for hash and to supplement the farmer's income. Today it is cooked
ritually in black iron pots at family reunions, church gatherings,
on holidays and as fundraisers for volunteer fire departments.
And there are still a few barbecue houses where the traditional farm
recipes for hash are cooked in burbling cast iron pots that are
"grandfathered-in." Hash is traditionally served over rice in
the Low country of South Carolina and with white bread in the
Upstate. It is served as an accompaniment to pit-cooked
barbecue and can be found on most buffet lines.
Purchase Information
Contact us at
info@stanwoodward.com
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