Homemade corn meal?

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beautifuldisaster on 19 Mar 2010 at 22:20

Hi everyone,

I love corn muffins and I would like to make my own, but I can't seem find cornmeal in my local supermarket and even in the baking shops. The thing is, fresh corn is in abundance over here and really cheap, but I guess people in my country just don't use corn meal as part of their cuisine. I was thinking.. if I dry my own corn kernels or buy the ready packed ones, can I use the normal dry mill to ground it? or do I have to buy a grain mill? Thanks!

Yup! Field corn is available widely in my country. But I might opt for those dried corn that's sold in supermarket though.

 

Sorry I did not clarify myself pertaining the dry mill. What I meant had in mind is the mill that usually accompanies an electric blender.Didn't know if I needed any special mill to grind the corn. Is that mill sufficient enough?

I use my Whisper Mill (electric grain mill) to grind pop corn all the time. I'm not sure a blender mill such as you've pictured would be powerful enough for dried corn. You'd be better off with a mill that is intended for grinding wheat, I think.

Maybe it can be done with a Vitamix.  Not sure if other blenders will be powerful enough to do a fine job.  If you don't have a Vitamix, a grain mill probably is a better choice. But again, you'll never know if you don't try.  If you do try please let us know of your results.

Al

I live here in Iowa, which some people call the "Tall Corn State," and it would seem remiss with my interest in using local and regional produce if I did not make my own corn meal. I get open pollinated, Yellow Dent corn from a central Iowa farmer that grows it organically. I may eventually be able to get some from the tenant who farms my land. She is transitioning it to organic. Problem here is that even though the state grows a ton (well probably millions of tons) of corn, it is pretty much all "field corn"--not only that, but a lot is with genetically modified seed and plenty of chemicals. Some is fed to livestock, some is used for Ethanol, etc. Interesting, a few years ago, when I asked my father (who is 92, grew up on a farm, is college-educated, and a retired big-time farmer) if his mother had made cornbread and whether she bought cornmeal from the store or made her own, he did not know. Now how is that for a "successful" farmer from "the tall corn state." Anyway, sorry for the rambling. But I wanted to establish context. When I first started grinding my own corn meal a couple of years ago, I got an "artisan" model KitchenAid mixer and a grain mill. It was a strong enough model to make corn meal. It was course, but that can be a benefit, depending on what you make with it. But one day, I tried grinding too much corn in too short of time, and the gears or something stopped working. It cost a bundle to get a rebuilt system installed. Eventually, I got a NutriMill grain mill. At first, I had a hard time grinding corn in it, but I contacted the company, and the tech person sent a modified piece of plastic to increase the flow area. But that didn't work great. I called again, and he said to simply take out the plastic piece when I grind corn. So all ended well. I am able to grind corn with the NutriMill. However it does quite fine meal which works well for me but may be a problem if a person was making something that called for corse meal. And yes, I have read in plenty of places that popcorn makes awesome corn meal.

Hi everyone! Thanks for the tips! I just went to the supermarket today and found out that all this while they actually sold popcorn and also dried corn! I've been looking for cornmeal and couldn't actually find it on the shelves, it didn't occur to me that I should mill my own. HAHAHA. Bummer.

Anyway! I will try to grind the packet of popcorn in the normal mill and see how it goes. Hopefully it'll work out ! Will let you guys know.. thanks! :)