Corn

I've been wondering this, myself, for quite some time. You can buy a 50 lb bag of feed corn for less than $5, and I wanted to know if it's truly possible to get good nutrition for practically free. Finally, after not finding the answer anywhere on the internet, I decided to try it myself!

You can eat it, and make it taste good. It's not hard to do, but it requires a little bit of work and learning a few things.

I did a little research and learned that people have been surviving for thousands of years using dried corn as their main staple food, but it must first be treated with lye, slaked lime, or wood ashes. This treatment is known as "nixtamalization." Native Americans/Mexicans have survived and thrived on a diet very high in corn. When Europeans came to this continent and tried it, many of them suffered and then died of a disease called Pellagra. Unfortunately for them, they did not know that it is necessary to nixtamalize corn if you want to survive off of it long-term. This releases B vitamins which are necessary for survival.

There is an excellent 3-part video on Youtube showing how to nixtamalize corn. Do a search on YouTube for "how to make hominy" and a guy known as "The Derelict Epistle" will show you how to do it using ashes from your woodstove. If you don't have ashes, you can do it using slaked lime (available as "pickling lime" in the grocery store) or lye. You can also search for "how to make masa" to get excellent instructions.

All of the videos and instructions I have found use high-quality flour corn or other corn grown for human consumption. I did it using feed corn and learned a few things:

#1 Because it hasn't been cleaned, it's necessary to take it outside on a breezy day and "winnow" it first - pour it back and forth from bowl to bowl and let the wind blow away the dried corn silk and other debris.

#2 There are lots of broken kernels in feed corn. The broken kernels absorb the lime and that tastes awful. Lime is also harmful to eat. You must sort out the broken kernels. It takes a while but it gives you an excuse to sit in front of the TV while you're keeping your hands busy. Don't waste the broken kernels - throw them out to the birds! Then it needs to be rinsed, of course.

#3 The process took me a bit longer than it did for the people using high-quality corn. If you soak it long enough, the ugly brown tips pop out and rub off easily - that's when you know it's ready to be rinsed and ground.

#4 Treat the corn gently and try not to stir it or rub it too much until you've got the lime/ashes/lye poured off and you're rinsing it under running water. I made the mistake of breaking kernels open in the lime the first time, then the corn absorbed the lime.

I ground mine using my KitchenAid grinding attachment, but you can do it using a food processor.

This morning, I made tortillas. They weren't as pretty as store-bought and not nearly as light and fluffy as good fresh Mexican tortillas, but my 20-year-old son ate them and loved them. Maybe 1 cup of dry feed corn expanded to make 6 or 7 small tortillas - a decent meal for him. I don't know how many cups of corn are in a 50-lb bag, but it seems like that's as close to eating free as you can get.

I got a good start growing my own good, organic, Native American flour corn this year. It's called Mandan Bride. This year I only got enough for a few meals plus seed for next year. I hope to grow enough to use it as a staple food in my home. In the meantime, I'm going to use the feed corn to experiment and learn how to prepare and cook it. Feed corn is generally not organic and I'm sure it's been chemically treated. I think all the boiling in lime, soaking, and rinsing got rid of most of the chemicals but I would feel better eating stuff I've grown myself.

By the way - my Mexican coworker says he thinks most of the corn the US imports to Mexico (which Mexicans then use to feed their families) is basically just feed corn. His family enjoys their meals very much.

Of course

One large corn cob = 1 cup; One medium corn cob = 3/4 cup

Old Fashioned Kettle Corn Ingredients * 1/2 cup unpopped popcorn * 1/4 cup white sugar * 1/4 cup vegetable oil * 1/4 teaspoon seasoning salt (or use white salt) Directions # Place the oil in the bottom of a large pot. # Add in the unpopped popcorn kernels with the sugar and salt (Apply lid). # Over a medium heat begin to pop the popcorn, constantly shaking the pot to ensure that the popcorn kernels and oil do not burn. # Once the popping has slowed down remove the pot from the heat. The ingredient list is spot on. It's VERY hard to not burn the sugar while only shaking the pot over a stove. I would suggest you heat the oil and sugar FIRST, caramelize the mixture to a golden brown and get it very hot...THEN throw in the popcorn. Then try shaking it. Other suggestion: I would at the very least stir the mixture while it's heating up with the cover off of your pot. Once it gets going, slam the lid and see how you do shaking like crazy. My final suggestion: You really need to be stirring the sugar/oil mixture vigorously to prevent scorching. If you're really determined to do it right, I'd use a wooden spoon to mix everything while it pops. Yup, you'll have to remove the cover and get some protection for your face and hands. This is what I do when I make it. Take a peek at the video on my website link below on how I make kettle corn with the professional equipment.

There would be nothing unhealthy with doing so. As long as it was clean. If anything, it might be more healthy than cooked as overcooking can reduce the nutrional value of any vegetable.

Depends on what you have stashed in the corn meal

There are many different varieties of corn, some of which are heirloom and others that are hybrids. The maturity dates are relative to the type. The actual number of days to harvest varies also from year to year and location to location. It takes anywhere between 58 days to over 100 days to harvest corn, depending upon the variety and the ear size.

My rats have eaten cooked corn cob without any problems, though I only give it to them as a rare treat, since corn cob is less nutritious than a lot of other things they could eat. They seem to enjoy it, though.

The seeds are the part you eat when you have corn.

The term "phylum" is rarely used by botanists, people who study plants. They usually refer to "divisions". Anthophytais the division, or phylum, of corn. Anthophytes are flowering, fruiting plants which have a vascular system with vessels.

Polenta is an Italian term for a thick mushy dish made from various flours, but usually cornmeal, cooked with water.

It is sometimes served straight from the pan as an accompaniment to a meal, or baked and sliced to accompany food or to bake again in a casserole with sauce and cheese.

It can be, but it usually is not. Most corn bread is made with a mix of corn and wheat flours. So it would not be gluten free in the majority of cases.

Field Corn that is not for humans has Atrazine in it which kilss bugs, turns water red, and makes frogs grow 3rd legs and stuff. Field Corn that is not for humans has Atrazine in it which kills bugs, turns water red, and makes frogs grow 3rd legs and stuff.

Because,corn is juicy and really yummy and it just explodes with flavors.!

Since one bushel of shelled corn (maize) has been defined as 56 lbs. and the volume defined as 2150.42 cubic inches, one pound of corn will take up 38.4003 cubic inches.

This is for field, or dent, corn. Sweet corn, depending on the type, will be lighter in weight for a given volume, some types MUCH lighter. Popcorn has a much smaller kernel size, so it will vary. I don't know about flint corn types, having never grown them.

Because they are told to by the Government.

Corn is produced in 41 states in the US with Iowa being the largest producer. The nine states that don't produce corn are Alaska, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

Green Corn Festival was celebrated by many Indian tribes being grateful for their harvests.

Corn is a grain, as it comes from a grass plant just like wheat.

Henry Blair invented the corn and cotton planter?

havent you seen corn before? its yellow and small.............

This question does not have a definitive answer, because it depends on the size of the ears of corn. The best judgment would average between 40-60 ears of corn. The most common farmer's measurement used for the sale of bushels of sweet corn would be four dozen (48 ears of corn) per bushel.

An ear of corn comes in various sizes, depending on several factors -- the hybrid variety (such as Golden Queen, Candy Corn, Silver Queen, Bodacious, etc.), the weather during the growing season (a drier season may produce a smaller ear, but be just as sweet and filled-out as corn produced during a wetter season). So a bushel of smaller corn may not appear as full as a bushel of a larger-earred corn). Regarding the sale of feed corn (corn used to feed animals), we use the standard farmer's measurement of four dozen. But when we sell sweet corn (corn used for cooking to feed humans) to our own customers, we count out a "bushel" as 54 ears -- 4 1/2 dozen.

Zea mays var. saccharataand Zea mays var. rugosa

In the Beginning Corn as we know it today would not exist if it weren't for the humans that cultivated and developed it. It is a human invention, a plant that does not exist naturally in the wild. It can only survive if planted and protected by humans. Scientists believe people living in central Mexico developed corn at least 7000 years ago. It was started from a wild grass called teosinte. Teosinte looked very different from our corn today. The kernels were small and were not placed close together like kernels on the husked ear of modern corn. Also known as maize Indians throughout North and South America, eventually depended upon this crop for much of their food. From Mexico maize spread north into the Southwestern United States and south down the coast to Peru. About 1000 years ago, as Indian people migrated north to the eastern woodlands of present day North America, they brought corn with them. When Europeans like Columbus made contact with people living in North and South America, corn was a major part of the diet of most native people. When Columbus "discovered" America, he also discovered corn. But up to this time, people living in Europe did not know about corn. The first Thanksgiving was held in 1621. While sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie were not on the menu, Indian corn certainly would have been.

* No, any that is, you will know about it before you buy it. The labels on gm foods are clear to make sure there is no confusion. Also, it would be illegal for them not to state whether a food is gm or not because as a consumer, we would not know what we are buying and what it contains. Just as organic food are clearly labelled gm foods must be too. I hope this helps you. while correct the above answer is relevant in europe. in the US most corn and soybeans are GM and have been for years