Where can I buy dry corn? Feed stores? any ideas I am trying to avoid the shipping charges. Would the corn for sale for deer be all right for human consumption? thanks
Bump
Pamcat - If you are anywhere near a farming area just go ask a farmer that has the stubble of corn stauks in his field. Field corn (dent corn) is not as flavorful as modern sweet and super sweet corn, but it still beats nothing at all, and is CHEAP. You should be able to fill a 55 gallon barrel with it for $6.
You will want to dry it as much as possible (below 20% moisture, the lower the better.) Once dry, freeze it for 3 days to kill off the bugs. If WELL dried and packed in a vapor-impermiable container it will last several years.
You may want to check on sprouting the corn for higher nutritional yield.
In the interest of educating myself, I’d like to ask what you do with dry corn? Grind it for cornmeal? Or are there other uses?
I am getting my dent (“field”) corn from a local farmer, as soon as it’s dry enough. He’s got it in the silos now, with the machanical dryers going. My problem is finding something to put it in.
With dry field corn, you can grind it for cornmeal, & corn flour.
Make it into hominy…and also can take that hominy, cook it thoughly, then dehydrate it, and do a course-grind for hominy grits !
Use with a can each of black beans, chicken stock, tomatoes and green chilies, add cumin and chili powder. Heat. Add dried sour cream and top with fritos. Yummy.
PBQ --- I’ve used similar combinations with canned, frozen, or fresh corn before. Does it also work with the whole corn you buy at the grain store (like wheat berries)? They seem awfully big and hard, so it must take forever to cook them that way.
Anonymous at 2:59---Sorry for my ignorance, but how do you make it into hominy and what is it used for? I also read somewhere that it could be used for grits? Not being a Southern girl, I actualy don’t know what either of those are. I do vaguely recall making polenta before---I think you grind the corn then cook it with water until it becomes quite mushy. Then put in a pan in the refrigerator until it becomes firm?
Genoa – at 13:37
Hominy recipes are out there…most of the old ways use lye in the first step. It completely changes the make up of the field corn, into something more usable. 1 quart of dry corn will yield 1 GALLON of hominy !
After the final cooking of hominy, you can 1. Eat it that way with butter, salt & pepper, etc. or 2. Dry the hominy out and then grind it into a course grind for grits, (cooked like oatmeal only longer, slower..) 3. Polenta is the same as “corn meal mush” in the South. Good hot, cold or sliced & fried !
Corn Meal Mush
corn meal
boiling water
(1 part corn meal to 4 parts water)
salt to taste
Add to pot of salted boiling water enough cornmeal to thicken. Add slowly, but stir briskly to keep from making lumps. Cook until meal is thoroughly done and mushy.
Microwave Corn Meal Mush (easy to cook in the microwave)
1/2 cup corn meal
2 cups of water
salt to taste
Use a 2 quart round bottomed bowl. Place all ingredients in the bowl and cover top with plastic wrap. Cook on high for 2 minutes. Remove and stir with fork. Replace plastic wrap and cook for 2 more minutes. Remove and stir. Replace plastic wrap and cook for 1 more minute. Hot and ready to eat.
Hot mush is great for dinner, add a little butter and milk. Cold mush can be sliced and fried. Fried mush with syrup makes a delicious breakfast dish.
By the way…the main point of using lye (a decoction of wood ashes will do just fine) to make some of your dried corn into hominy, is to up the quantity of niacin in corn. If you exist on a largely corn diet for a long time you can get pellagra, a disease caused by niacin deficiency. Incidentally, this is something we might all want think about in our preps…nutrient deficiencies in storage foods. We have mostly forgotten about these scourges in todays age of “enriched” everything. Remember that there is a historical reason for the enrichment of our grain food staples. Scurvy from lack of fresh fruit and greens (vitamin C) (think northern winters on storage food alone). Goiters from lack of iodine in rocky mountain soils, and a corresponding deficiency in the produce from that region. etc.
Genoa at 13:37, The corn does not need cooking but it does need time to rehydrate. Corn does not need to be cooked long. Ever- even corn of the cob. I bring water to a boil and drop in cob and turn off water let sit 4–5 minutes and it’s done. Still though dried corn will never be like fresh corn. Nothing you dehydrate will have the texture of fresh. I live to eat now… I fear it will soon (in the next few years) be… eat to live.
Thanks for the answers. I’m getting a clearer idea what to do with the corn. One other question---the whole corn available at the local mill/store consists of HUGE kernels. I’ve never seen any corn kernels that big before---do they get bigger when they are dried, or do they grow some kind of super corn for selling dried?
PBQ – at 19:39 Genoa at 13:37, The corn does not need cooking but it does need time to rehydrate.
PBQ—I believe Genoa was referring to the dried FIELD corn you can get thru the feed stores. This kind of dried corn is NOT the same as dehydrated SWEET corn …that was dried when “green”…( the small “corn on the cob” type kernels ).
Field corn has stayed on the corn stalk until it goes dry & and the stalk brown. This is the “dent, field, or Flint corn”…..this is the one to make hominy out of. Totally different corn. You can not take dry field corn and boil it till done….it won’t do it. It has to be either ground into cornmeal,corn flour, or turned into fresh hominy, hominy dried and ground into grits.
Thanks Madamspinner, You are right, Genoa was talking about field corn. All I can say to that is Yuck, I bet it doesn’t taste good. Genoa- but a few big bags of sweet corn at Sam’s and dry that. Much better.
Genoa - The large corn kernels you are speaking of are a different variety of corn. It is grown with the intention of it being animal feed. It is not the same variety as that grown for human consumption which is smaller and sweeter. I used to live next to a farmer that grew feed corn.
I get my corn from a local farmer. I use it for my corn stove to heat my house. I also grind and combine with flour, salt, baking powder, honey and make it into pancake consistancy for making corn bread. Its grain quality corn, so it was meant to feed to cows and hogs. It came out well and Im saving a ton on my heating bills.
Hmmm … I’m learning a lot here. Thanks!
The corn I’m talking about, although quite large, is definitely for human consumption. It is sold at a local mill which also has a website some of you might be familiar with … Bob’s Red Mill. They sell a number of grains, and because of this thread and some of what I’ve learned, I went ahead and bought some---it’s very cheap. While I wouldn’t want to rely too heavily on this, I did think it would be useful to add some variety and also figured the whole kernels would keep longer/better than the ground cornmeal.
My dad was raised on a farm with a “cheap” father….he KNEW all about home-made hominy….and when he married my mother, he told her….” if you ever bring hominy into this house, you’re FIRED ! “ Apparently; his cheap dad fed them so much of it, my dad couldn’t stand the sight of it ! He said it came from the field corn they raised for the hogs and cattle.
There are many different varieties of corn; each having it’s own use.
Dent, Field, or Flint corn- large dry kernals, used for animal feed, human cornmeal, corn flour, cornstarch, hominy, grits.
Sweet corn- eaten “green” as corn-on-the-cob, frozen, canned, and also can be dehydrated. As dehydrated, this “can” be ground, BUT it’s not the same as the commercial cornmeals…this would have a completely different texture.
Then you’ve got popcorn, blue corn, the indian colored corn…used for ground “colored” cornmeal for those expensive corn chips… Just don’t ask me which one corn flakes come from, cuz I don’t know. ;-)
Wait… `we are talking food for “human” consumption. Make sure what you are getting is fit for human consumption. Will Stewart’s book addresses this issue.
Enough Already----No worries there. Bought from Bob’s Red Mill, definitely for human consumption. Thanks for the warning nonetheless.
I was really trying to clarify what pamcat – at 13:01 said: “Where can I buy dry corn? Feed stores? any ideas I am trying to avoid the shipping charges. Would the corn for sale for deer be all right for human consumption? thanks “
I am lookin for dry field corn to grind and make cornmeal and grits. My post was not very clear at all. I am going to call a local milling company and see if they have any corn avialable. Thanks
“Would the corn for sale for deer be all right for human consumption?”
-No! There is some health issue (something-toxin)
Let me get some coffee, and figure out where I saw that explained.
remember to heat your house with corn. Equivalent to $1.25 per gallon No.2 Fuel oil at $125/ton.
FAO: Mycotoxins in Grain (maize=corn) Aflatoxins -that’s the word I couldn’t think of.
…”Mycotoxins occur, and exert their toxic effects, in extremely small quantities in foodstuffs.”…”The presence of mycotoxins in grains and other staple foods and feedstuffs has serious implications for human and animal health.
Many countries have enacted regulations stipulating maximum amounts of mycotoxins permissible in food and feedstuffs. Most developed countries will not permit the import of commodities containing amounts of mycotoxins above specified limits. Mycotoxins therefore have implications for trade between nations.
Prevention of fungal invasion of commodities is by far the most effective method of avoiding mycotoxin problems.
Mycotoxin considerations should be a component of an integrated commodity management program focusing on the maintenance of commodity quality from the field to the consumer”…
Argh. Crfullmoon, I’d like to know that information, too. I just bought a bag of deer corn; I figure I’d have it to attract critters to 1)feed 2)shoot 3)or to just eat it myself, depending on how bad things get.
I just dehydrated cob corn I got by the bushel at a great price — it looks and smells horrendous, but tastes really good. Now I have to try to get it off the cob. It’s withererd and stuck tight, not at all like feed corn on the cob. Any ideas, anyone?
That stuff is a mess, Northstar. MY SIL threw some in our back pasture hoping to attract deers… sheesh… we can’t get rid of the stuff.
You dehydrated it on the cob? How did you get it in your dehydrater? I guess it would be to late to use one of those corn blade things that you rake the cob across… sorry, don’t know the name. Have you tried that?
recipe for very good Polenta side dish: 5 topped spoons of polenta flour, (enough for 2 adults) Boil it slowly for 5 minuts with a cube of builon, add 1 spoon butter, mix it,( consitense similar with instant potatomash.) Add some cheese, like a strong goat cheese. Mix, put in a deep plate for oven usage, put it cold for 30 minutes, then grill it in a oven for 5 minutes untill it gets crispy on top. or use the barbeqqu grill.
it sure beats instant potatomash! and 1 kg of this stuff is enough for month after month..