Processing Flour Corn at Home

June 26, 2018 Jordan Charbonneau 1 Comment

Kentucky Rainbow (Daymon Morgan’s Knt. Butcher) Dent Corn

Today many people grow flour corn solely for decoration. Flour corn varieties certainly are beautiful but they have so much more going for them than their looks! Many Native American cultures relied on these corns as a staple food. Today they’re still an excellent way to produce and eat a more local diet. They really aren’t difficult to process into delicious cornmeal, flour, or grits.

Harvesting

Most flour corns have two numbers listed for “days to maturity.” The first number or set of numbers is when the corn will be ready to harvest in it’s milk stage like you would sweet corn. You’ll know it’s at this stage when the tassels turn brown. It won’t be nearly as sweet as modern hybrid sweetcorn however it’s still quite tasty when roasted with butter. The second number or set is when your corn will be fully mature and ready to harvest for flour. The husk should be papery and dry.

You should harvest your corn on a dry day before your first fall frost. Then you can pull the husk back from the corn and hang them so the kernels can finish drying completely. Traditionally corn husks were sometimes braided or tied together to hang the corn in small bundles. You’ll know when the corn is completely dry because the kernels will crack instead of squishing under pressure.

It should be noted that gourd seed and popcorn varieties can also be processed into flour and Native Americans often used them this way.

Shelling & Winnowing

When your corn is dry it can be processed. The first step is to shell your corn. This can be done by hand or with a corn sheller. Doing it by hand can be time consuming and tiring if your doing anything but a very small quantity. At SESE we offer two handheld corn shellers, one for flour corns (above right) and one for popcorns. You can also sometimes find larger corn shellers like the one pictured above left at antique stores, flea markets, or auctions.

Once your corn has been shelled odds are they’ll be bits of corn cob mixed in which is also called chaff. To remove this you’ll need to winnow your corn. Don’t worry though it’s easy and there’s no special equipment required. Simply place a quantity of your corn into a large bowl or bucket. Then place an empty one in front of a fan. A household box fan will work perfectly. Then slowly pour your corn into the bucket in front of the fan. The fan will blow away the lighter pieces of material while the corn will fall into the other container. You may have to repeat this several times before the corn is clean.

Nixtamalization

It may seem like you should now be able to just grind your corn and eat it there’s actually another step. In order to get the all the available nutrition from corn it needs to be nixtamalized. Traditionally this was done by soaking or boiling the corn in lime water. Native Americans in North America used wood ash for this but today it’s common to use pickling lime which should be easily available with home canning supplies.

Here’s what you’ll need:

1/8 cup of pickling lime
1 1/2 quarts of water
1lb corn

Pickling lime is caustic so rinse it off quickly if it gets on your skin and avoid getting any in your eyes. Be extra careful if there are small children around.

Dissolve your lime in your water and combine the lime water and corn and bring them to a boil. Avoid aluminum pots as they react with the lime. Turn off the heat and let your corn soak overnight. In the morning rinse your corn well in a stainless steel colander. While it’s rinsing rub off some of the corn’s outer layer (this will give you a finer flour).

The corn can then be used whole in soups or stews or ground into flour. Depending on what you’re using to grind your corn you can grind it wet or dry it to grind later by laying it out in a single layer on a screen or using a dehydrator.

For a more in depth look at the history and importance of Nixtamalization check out this article from Cook’s Illustrated.

**For most people this corn isn’t going to make up a large part of your diet so it won’t be harmful to skip this step if you feel you need to.

Grinding

Traditionally corn was ground in a mortar and pestle or with a grinding stone. Thankfully today there are a variety of home grain mills available that are suitable for grinding corn. You can find ones that are hand crank or electric, ones with stone grinding wheels and ones with metal, and mills that can handle wet, oily products and those that can’t. What you choose will depend on your budget and goals.

Depending on what you’re hoping to make with your corn (like fine flour for tortillas or courser corn for grits) you’ll need to set your mill to achieve a specific coarseness.

Some mills may require more passes to produce fine flour. If your mill is taking multiple passes it may be helpful to strain the corn through a wire mesh colander and run the larger pieces back through separately rather than the entire batch.

Storage

If you grow an ample amount of corn your going to want to store some for later. Flour corn is best stored at two stages. First it can be stored on the ear once it’s completely dry. You can even leave it hanging if you want. Alternatively, to save room you can store it in containers after it has been shelled and winnowed. It will stay fresh much longer as whole kernels than if you grind it into flour.

Adding flour corn to your backyard garden is a great way to produce more than just fresh produce for yourself. It’s easy to grow and store for use throughout the year and making your own grits or tortillas can be a great family activity.

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Garden Advice

Heirloom Fibers: Growing Colored Cotton

June 19, 2018 Jordan Charbonneau Leave a comment

In the United States cotton is deeply tied to its role in slavery and the atrocities committed against African slaves. Gardeners growing cotton today get an important piece of living history. Slaves were forced to cultivate acres of cotton and harvest the fiber from sharp bolls all day long in the hot sun. While no one can truly imagine the horrors African slaves went through growing cotton can help keep their story alive.

It’s also worth noting that before cotton was ever grown in the United States it was cultivated for thousands of years in Africa, Asia, and South and Central America where different varieties were first domesticated. We tend to think of Europeans and their descendants who colonized North America as having bred this important important fiber crop when in fact they’ve played a relatively small role in cultivating different cotton varieties. It was instead Africans, Asians, and Native Americans that were the original cultivators of cotton including many colored varieties.

Colored Cotton

Thanks to commercial farming operations if you ask most people what color cotton is they’ll say white. In reality cotton cultivars come in many colors including brown, blue, pink, green, red, and tan. At Southern Exposure we offer 6 cotton varieties including green, brown, tan, and white varieties. In the United States these colored varieties were sometimes grown by slaves prior to the Civil War for use in their own clothing as they were not allowed to grow the same white cotton as their masters.

While these older, colored varieties are certainly beautiful most of them have a shorter staple length than most modern varieties making them less than ideal for industrial spinning operations. For this reason commercial growers solely grow white cotton and colored cotton varieties are now relatively rare.

This doesn’t mean that colored and heirloom varieties don’t have benefits though. First many of these heirlooms are more drought tolerant and pest resistant than their modern cousins and even though they cannot be spun on an industrial scale they can be used by home spinners and small crafts people. Their natural color also means there’s no need to dye them. Today chemical dyes used for clothing are a major source of water pollution.

Why Grow Cotton?

Growing cotton can help connect you with important history even if part of that history is a negative.
Cotton is a wonderful ornamental plant and can be used in bouquets at the flowering stage or when the bolls mature.
It’s relatively easy to grow and drought tolerant.
It can be used for truly homegrown and handmade crafts.
Growing an heirloom cotton helps keep biodiversity alive. These varieties may be important for breeding future varieties. Whether it’s breeding colored cottons with longer staples lengths for mechanized spinning or cottons that are more resistant to certain pests.

Cotton is annual and can be direct sown in zones 8-10 after danger of frost has past. Though cotton isn’t grown commercially in the northern United States it can in fact be grown there with a little extra effort. In northern climates (zones 7-5) cotton should be started early indoors like tomatoes or peppers and transplanted out because it is frost sensitive and takes 130 days to reach maturity. For more detailed growing information check out the Southern Exposure Seed Exchange Cotton Growing Guide.

*Note: Some states including Virginia require growers to have permits in order to grow cotton. Please check with your local extension agency.

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Garden Advice

12 Flowers to Plant in Summer

June 12, 2018 Jordan Charbonneau Leave a comment

For many of us modern gardeners spring flies by in a blur. With all of our other commitments some of our best spring garden intentions go out the window. When summer rolls around it’s easy to regret not planting more flowers especially if you visit other gardens with plentiful blooms. Thankfully there’s still a variety of flowers that can be sown in the summer and bring beauty to your garden. Besides get wells, there are also happy moments that happen at Houston medical center florist Center. Orchids and lighter colored roses spread cheer and good tidings to new mothers or patients that just beat the last fight of a terrible disease.

Asters

A good choice for later plantings, asters bloom in just 85 days and can be direct sown. They germinate best with soil temperatures around 70°F and make excellent cut flowers.

Coreopsis

Blooming in 83 days coreopsis is a gorgeous summer flower that can also be used to make natural dyes. It germinates in temperatures between 55°-70°F. Planting coreopsis will help with next year’s garden too because it self sows readily.

Cosmos

Cosmos come in a wide range of colors and are easy to grow. they germinate best in 70°F soil and bloom in just 45-65 days depending on the variety.

Hyacinth Bean

Despite being a bean, hyacinth is purely ornamental and is actually poisonous if consumed. It’s a large climbing bean that can grow up to 10-20 ft depending on the conditions. It produces beautiful pink-purple flowers and should be sown a month after your last frost.

Johnny Jump-Ups

These cute little flowers also called violas, are easy to grow in the summer and are edible! They can be direct sown when soil temperatures are around 70°F.

Marigolds

Depending on the variety you choose you can have marigolds blooming in your garden in as little as 55 days. While many people start them indoors early in the spring they can be direct sown after soils warm up.

Morning Glories

These lovely vining flowers can be direct sown and bloom in about 65 days. Before planting be sure to soak the seeds for 2 days, changing the water every 12 hours.

Nasturtiums

Another edible flower nasturtiums make a wonderful addition to any summer garden. They can be direct sown.

Phlox

Phlox will provide you with blooms well into the fall, with flowers surviving temperatures down to 20°F. It matures in just 80 days and is an good candidate for summer direct seeding.

Rudbeckia

Sometimes called Black-Eyed Susan, rudbeckia is great for gardeners without a lot of time. It’s a very hardy perennial and self sows and spreads readily.

Tithonia

Tithonia (Mexican Sunflower) is a very heat hardy flower and can be direct seeded in soil temperatures up to 86°F. It can grow to 5 feet tall and is excellent for attracting butterflies to your garden.

Sunflowers

Super easy to grow sunflowers are a popular choice for many gardeners. They stand up to summertime heat well and depending on the variety can bloom in as little as 53 days.

With the proper varieties you can create a late summer or fall garden that looks just as lovely as a spring flower garden. While many people only really get into gardening in the early summer continuing your garden throughout the year is an easy way to get more enjoyment and time out of it. For more tips on late season planting check out these posts.

Planning and Planting for an Abundant Fall and Winter Harvest

Succession Planting Warm-Season Crops for Hot Summers

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Saving the Past for the Future