Grinding Corn

[FoxTrot]

I have just received 5 gallons of dried corn kernels. I would like to grind it. I'm having trouble using my Vita Mix --dry carafe. Any suggestions?

Thanks

[RIVERWIDOW]

Meat grinder or food processor???

[TofuNinja]

magic bullet?

[cruelpupet]

if your looking to pulverize it...i would think coffee grinder.

[sizemic1]

Morter and pestle? :D

[FoxTrot]

Thank you all for your suggestions. I knew you 'guys' would come through for me. :wavey2:

I continued to work w/ the Vita Mix and it is working at a slow go. I don't want to break the blades and it makes me nervous. I guess I just need more practice and confidence in the machine!

Has anyone ever used a burr grinder before --on a VERY hard kernel of corn? Wheat berries, flax, etc are easy.

Hmmmm... still trying....

[Dave_7]

You could take that sack of corn down to the general store, and ask Ole Pete run it through his grindin' stone.

Sorry for the thickly-laid sarcasm... I have never heard of such a thing. Am I such a city slicker that getting a 5lb sack of dried corn seems so wild? Or any amount of dried corn?

I have used ground corn meal to make grits and such... but never starting from the whole kernel.

From where did you get this corn?


Dave.

[johnnymk]

Shouldn't this be in "The Crunchier Side of Got/Apex" forum?

[FoxTrot]

You could take that sack of corn down to the general store, and ask Ole Pete run it through his grindin' stone.

Sorry for the thickly-laid sarcasm... I have never heard of such a thing. Am I such a city slicker that getting a 5lb sack of dried corn seems so wild? Or any amount of dried corn?

I have used ground corn meal to make grits and such... but never starting from the whole kernel.

From where did you get this corn?


Dave.

Way'll in these thar parts of town we aint got no general store, 'cuz Paw-Pete gone and got his arm cawt in the mills grinder and it gone done broke. Now we just call him Lefty!! :poke:

Well, actually the short story is this: My friend is military and just moved. She had a lot of give aways and this bucket of corn was one of them. I thought since I should be the prudent Mom, I can certainly do SOMETHING with this corn. Grind it for cornbread, polenta, plant it, or whatever would be nice. And it's FREE!! Can't pass up FREE and I get a cool 5 gal water-tight bucket in the end. Not bad.

But... grinding the corn is like grinding rocks.

And, the main reason I wanted it is for a non-medicinal remedy for athletes foot. A little while back I was at a community pool and caught athletes foot. I was told by a grandma that a recipe handed down from her great grandparents (who were probably on the prarie) that if you mix cornmeal and very warm water in a mush and soak your foot in it one hour a week for a few weeks that it'll take care of athletes foot, toenail fungus, and other foot ailments on the skin. I thought I'd give it a try. Supposidly it draws out the bacteria, or whatever is growing, and heals it. Not just treats the symptoms.

Any ideas are greatly appreciated!

Ya'll have done yerselves a dawggone good day!
;)

[WhiskeyPapa]

My wife grinds wheat and bakes bread several times a week in our house. It's very rare we'll have store bought bread (or even store bought flour, for that matter.)

Our wheat grinder won't do corn, though. I do have an electric roller mill out in the barn I used to use for grinding feed for chickens. It'll grind your five gallon pail in about 10 seconds flat. But that probably wouldn't qualify for use with food for humans.

Anyway, a local whole foods store might have a roller mill you can use, but they'd probably prefer you buy their corn for grinding. What you need is a metate and mano, which is the way cooks have been grinding corn in Latin America for 2,500 years. It's basically a flat or curved stone and a round stone. But honestly, for non-food use, an old pillowcase and sledge hammer on the sidewalk would work just fine.

[sizemic1]

I would like to see the look on the neighbors faces seeing their neighbor beat the living crap out of pillowcase on the sidewalk. :heh:

[FoxTrot]

My wife grinds wheat and bakes bread several times a week in our house. It's very rare we'll have store bought bread (or even store bought flour, for that matter.)

Our wheat grinder won't do corn, though. I do have an electric roller mill out in the barn I used to use for grinding feed for chickens. It'll grind your five gallon pail in about 10 seconds flat. But that probably wouldn't qualify for use with food for humans.

Anyway, a local whole foods store might have a roller mill you can use, but they'd probably prefer you buy their corn for grinding. What you need is a metate and mano, which is the way cooks have been grinding corn in Latin America for 2,500 years. It's basically a flat or curved stone and a round stone. But honestly, for non-food use, an old pillowcase and sledge hammer on the sidewalk would work just fine.

Wow, I'd love to learn to bake bread. I've always had this quirky phobia about working w/ yeast!! With a large family I really could do better feeding them whole grain (homemade) bread. We usually eat only fresh foods I cook myself...not much of this pre-packaged stuff. Bread, now that is a challenge worth conquering.

"But honestly, for non-food use, an old pillowcase and sledge hammer on the sidewalk would work just fine."

Hey, with six kids I think the neighbors would understand. Ha Ha!

But seriously, thanks for the feedback.

[sourdough]

Wow, I'd love to learn to bake bread. I've always had this quirky phobia about working w/ yeast!! With a large family I really could do better feeding them whole grain (homemade) bread. We usually eat only fresh foods I cook myself...not much of this pre-packaged stuff. Bread, now that is a challenge worth conquering.

"But honestly, for non-food use, an old pillowcase and sledge hammer on the sidewalk would work just fine."

Hey, with six kids I think the neighbors would understand. Ha Ha!

But seriously, thanks for the feedback.

You can always learn to make sourdough bread. There's a good link in my profile for you to start learning about how easy it is to make nice rounds like me. :)

[WhiskeyPapa]

Wow, I'd love to learn to bake bread. I've always had this quirky phobia about working w/ yeast!! With a large family I really could do better feeding them whole grain (homemade) bread.Ok, that's a weird phobia...

Anyway, I think my wife kind of struggled with baking bread until she got the right tools. She uses a Bosch mixer which really makes it easy. The Bosch is super powerful and handles all the kneeding, so all she has to do is mix the ingredients and then later put the dough into pans and bake it. Baking bread really is an art, my wife's bread is getting better all the time. I guess you just have to find the right recipe.

Whole foods really is the way to go. Our kids are very healthy, and I attibute that to what my wife feeds us.

Six kids? That's a good start. ;)

[Markel]

Six kids? That's a good start. ;)
:heh:

My sister has a Bosch mixer - she really likes it. They are quite expensive new, but my sister said if you watch the ads in a community with a lot of Mormons, you can often find used ones at a pretty reasonable price.

[Kevster]

magic bullet?

:heh: :laugh:

I guess I'm the only one that got that.