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Corn Grinding; Grain Grinding
Topic Started: Feb 5 2012, 10:06 AM (430 Views)
Mommacat
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This afternoon I tried grinding corn for the first time. I am so impressed with me!! Griz and Raven, the mill works great! Thank you sooooo much!! I ended up with more of a corn flour texture than corn meal, and I am not sure what to do, although maybe nothing. I almost think in a survival situ a flour would be more versatile than the corn meal. But, I was quite surprised at the amount of "shells" that I had when I sieved it after grinding it. But, all in all, I think it was a success. It was harder than it needed to be becuase my countertops are very deep and the clamp on the mill wouldn't open up wide enough to secure it, so I had to hold it with one hand and crank with the other!! I think it would have been lots easier if the mill had been secured. I do have one question - I am not sure if I have it together correctly - does the flour come out the top side of the mill between the plates or should that be directed downward? Do you know what I mean? But, tomorrow morning we are having corn pancakes with raspberry syrup for breakfast. Wish I had some pigs or maybe chickens to give all the left over hulls! But, I think they would work great to mix in with dirt for house plants - I'll have to get them wet and see what they do.
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HandFarming
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Interesting. I'd like pictures of what kind of mill you are using. I just have a cheap hand crank for wheat berries and corn works too if the grinding end is adjusted.

If you use the corn shell in the soil, any corn meal might stop germination. Preen is corn glutton and it stops germination of most seeds. If you have corn starch though,mthat just breaks down to fertilizer for plants. Corn meal is the hot new organic weed n feed.

Enjoy the pancakes! Sounds deeelicious.
You can lead an ass to knowledge, but you can not make it think.
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Raven
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I agree, the pancakes sound great! Save the hulls to bring to the get together and we can throw them into the chickens if you want. To get a courser grind unscrew the plates a little bit. Bring it with you and we will figure it out. I have some sweet corn and wheat that we can grind to try to get it right.
Maybe we can find you something in a shed that will work for a grinding stand as well. It would make it much easier.
The truth is not for all men, but only for those that seek it. Ayn Rand
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Grizzly
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Yea, the table clamping thing is often a problem. One idea I use is mount the device to a good heavy board and then set the whole unit on the edge of a table or counter and just clamp down the board. If you bring it down and don't have anything figured out yet, I'll fix it up for you. I can't remember what it looks like as to where the flour comes out so we'll check that out too.
Our ancestors left Europe to get away from this crap...as seen on a bumpersticker fns
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Mommacat
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Good info on the corn shells, HF. I just thought that since they are light and fluffy, they would offset the problem of houseplant pots that get hard and packed. I don't think there would be enough to actually put in an outdoor garden, though. Griz and Raven gave me a very heavy, iron, hand-crank mill. I think you could grind up nails with the thing!! It's pretty amazing - it's very well made and from what I figured out from my research about it was probably made some time during the 1940's. It has "Quaker City Mill" stamped on it. Its one of my best "prepper" items - I rate it right up there with my treadle sewing machine!

Griz, I like the idea of screwing it to a board and then maybe just clamping that to my countertop with bigger clamps. I just need to figure out how to do it without chewing up the counter edge. But, maybe if I put down a towel first and then clamp it on that would work. My counter edge is almost 3 inches deep - its a decorative edge and the counter underneath that is only about an inch, I'd say.

Raven, that makes sense about adjusting the plates, I imagine it's just a case of experimenting with it. But, I had the boys "helping" and so I just left it as it was so we'd get a uniform output. I read that sweetcorn could not be used for grinding - have you read that? What would be the reason? I have field corn that my uncle planted for the deer. He let me take a bunch of it and actually he made a sheller and so I have a bucket of already shelled corn to play with.

I will bring down the mill and we can maybe compare it to your mill to see if I have it put together right.

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Raven
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I have not heard that you can't use sweet corn for grinding, I have read of people using it for corn flour for corn bread. I have not tried it. If you don't tell Griz, the next time I make chili I might make some corn bread out of it. If he doesn't get sick, we will have an answer! :-)
The truth is not for all men, but only for those that seek it. Ayn Rand
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Mommacat
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Oh, dear....we're back to that, huh!? Poor Griz!! Just kidding - he's pretty lucky - he probably doesn't get much that comes from a box or a can, I bet! As for the sweet corn, maybe that was just in relation to making "genuine" tortillas as that was where I read it. I can't see that it would make a difference if it was properly dried and ground, though.
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HandFarming
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Poor Griz is in for a treat! Sweet corn makes awesome cornbread. Just mix in a little dent corn and the rest of the recipe. The sweet corn must be very dry!

The grinder we have has the same problem. We plan to (one day) have an outdoor kitchen set up with the grinders, several cook stoves and food driers to do all our food processing. Till then, we just make do.
You can lead an ass to knowledge, but you can not make it think.
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Raven
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I also dream of a summer kitchen HF! A shed that has a butchering set up on one side and a processing, canning set up on the other. Screened in and all set up....a girl can dream can't she?
The truth is not for all men, but only for those that seek it. Ayn Rand
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Mommacat
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LOL And to think our grandmothers would have dreamed of an electric stove and fridge!
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