Yellow Dent Corn And Cornmeal

[DuppyDo]

I'm looking to buy some whole dryed kernals of corn to mill into cornmeal for cornbread and such.What is a common inexpensive choice for this venture...? I know theres blue corn, a bit pricey. Where i live on Long Island,NY they grow tons of whats called locally, cow corn i guess mostly for live stock feed. It looks and sounds what i've read about online, a corn called yellow dent corn. When the corn kernals are dryed they have a dent in them, hence the name.
Does anyone know if this corn is fit for milling and human consumption..? For making cornmeal for bread and muffins, not grits...
Any help,advice and links would be much appreciated...It's likey the same type whole corn kernals i buy for my chickens.It is abundent and fairly priced where i live..thanks...Kevin

 

[Beekissed]

I don't know about the quality of cornmeal from field corn, as far as cooking goes, but I have heard of gourdseed corn being used for cornmeal.

I guess it all comes down to if you want a cheap source or you want something that will be good when you cook/eat it?

Anyone else know about the different tastes involved with corn for cornmeal?

Here's a link to seeds for dent corn:

http://www.southernexposure.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=DCORN

 

[freemotion]

Can't tell you all the in's and out's, but I can tell you this....my very first grain-grinding project came from reading Carla Emery's Encyclopedia of Country Living one night. I got to the part about raiding the feed sacks for grain to grind in a pinch, so I ran out to the garage and got some wheat and corn, both bought for the chickens, and came back in and made the most delicious cornbread!

So I don't know if that corn would make the BEST cornmeal, but it was my first experience with the fresh taste of freshly ground grain, and it was VERY eye-opening. And mouth-watering.

The big difference seems to be that you have to pick through the feedsack corn. Since the kernels are so big, it is not an issue.

If you don't think you will use that much that you don't want to store so much, you could try a bag of popcorn kernels.

 

[DuppyDo]

Freemotion, is popcorn used alot for making corn meal..? I do want to store some for longer term.
My understanding is that corn has a low fat content , so one wouldn't have to worry about it going rancid.The feed corn i get has allot of small and large kernels. I agree, i'd have to pick through as not all the kernals look fit to use.Thanks for sharing your experience, i have a feeling it would work just fine and store well in mylar bags, but will try to pick some more brains first...

 

[freemotion]

I don't know if popcorn is used a lot, I just read it somewhere and stored that in my brain for later use! We don't eat much corn at all in my household, so I don't buy corn to grind. I feed my chickens whole corn (yes, you can!) so I have it available for the rare cornbread.

I may try tortilla chips one day, but I hate the mess of frying!

Hope someone jumps in with some experience in storing whole corn for grinding.....

 

[DuppyDo]

Freemotion..thanks for sharing your experiences on this topic...

 

[Tallman]

I don't know if popcorn is used a lot, I just read it somewhere and stored that in my brain for later use! We don't eat much corn at all in my household, so I don't buy corn to grind. I feed my chickens whole corn (yes, you can!) so I have it available for the rare cornbread.

I may try tortilla chips one day, but I hate the mess of frying!

Hope someone jumps in with some experience in storing whole corn for grinding.....

While getting ready for Y2K, I bought some whole corn for human consumption. They packaged it in 5 gal. buckets with diatomaceous earth sprinkled on top. I talked to the man in charge, and he said that any bug problems would develop from the top down. He sprinkled about 2 tablespoons on the top, put in a stirring rod about 3 inches deep, simply stirred in a circular motion, and put on an air tight lid. The idea was to get the diatomaceous earth distributed in the first 2 or three inches of the corn.

I can't tell you how it turned out because I haven't used it. You see - the Y2K thing hasn't hit yet!

I would like to know if this corn is still good. Any ideas?

 

[DuppyDo]

Theres only one way to find out Tallman, open the bucket, mill some and give it a try. You can always reseal the bucket again with some more DE and oxygen absorbers.
Do you know what type of corn you have stored...?

 

[Tallman]

Theres only one way to find out Tallman, open the bucket, mill some and give it a try. You can always reseal the bucket again with some more DE and oxygen absorbers.
Do you know what type of corn you have stored...?

It just looks like field corn which is what this thread is calling dent.

If I open it up, I'll let you know what I have found.

 

[mrs.puff]

Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah Iowa sells several different types of heritage corn, and it tells in the description of each one if it is a good type for grinding.

www.seedsavers.org