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Showing posts with label corn nuts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label corn nuts. Show all posts

Friday, September 22, 2006

I'm Just Nuts About Corn

As well as being a tad sick of them.
My very first attempt at making the elusive corn nut was a disaster. I found 2 recipes online for corn nuts. Both talked about using and soaking pre dried store bought corn. Since mine wasn't dry, I skipped that staged. And they came out burnt hollow shells. Then I happened to stumble on some information about Parched Corn, and it described what sounded like corn nuts. It said that one needed to soak the corn for 18 hours. The soaking began. My mind said that the corn would swell up with the water, not so, fresh corn is as swelled as it's going to get. Though the ones floating did sink to the bottom, they had taken on some of that water.

Next I was to place them in a single layer on a baking sheet, and bake in low temperature oven for a few hours. What temperature? Didn't say. I turned the oven on to 350f {176c} degrees and stirred them every ten minutes. Once they were slightly browned, I tossed them with a little oil and salt.

I now have parched corn.
Tastes nothing like the Planters corn nuts. My husband says that these crack instead of crunch, and mine taste like corn with some salt. Well, that is what they are. I didn't expect that my first non-burning of said corn snack was going to be perfect. They are not bad, but not what I would encourage my friends to eat. They do have that same jaw soreness that the store bought corn nuts induce. I have another recipe that calls for some frying. I will try that one next to see what kind of difference it makes.


My last rose of the season.


I thought you might like to see something that was not food {though you can make candy from rose petals} and not brown.

The turkey, I am ready to eat him. I thought he was cool, felt bad about not being able to save him, but after last night. . . it's time. I was trying to get feed for the chickens and he was literally climbing up my back. I have to yell for a wind deaf husband. Then I just ran out of the pen. My husband went and fed everyone, and of course the turkey was all cool with him. So I got laughed at.

Last night I just happened to be online when Julie tagged me for that meme I did. I was filling it out, and getting ready to post it when I heard the emergency broadcast system alert go off over the cartoon my kids were watching. "THIS IS THE EMERGENCY BROADCAST SYSTEM" do you see what word is missing from that line. "THERE HAS BEEN AN EMERGENCY ISSUED FOR THIS AREA." Sure it's raining, but I have never heard a broadcast like this, the emergency being storm related didn't even cross my mind until I turned around to look at the screen and the word TORNADO came scrolling by. Never and I mean never has the emergency broadcast system sent out this type of broadcast for weather over a cable channel in the 20 odd years I have lived in this state. Immediately I jumped up and ran to change the channel to local news. My kids didn't protest because they were just as freaked out as I was. I flipped the news on and the first thing I see is this giant red blob and a massive, and I do mean massive hook echo. Another thing I have never seen, a hook echo that big! And it was right over downtown Wichita! My husband works downtown, my mother lives close. ACK! I grabbed the youngest child's diaper bag, and started telling the kids to get shoes on, don't argue with me, no, the animals will be fine. I have no idea which direction this thing is going. Where it was at that point, it could have easily continued it's way north and nailed us. Instead it moved off slightly to our east. I ran outside to see what I could, and actually heard the tornado sirens going off in the closest town, the wind would catch it just right. By now my kids are all hype about being sucked up by a tornado, but a little upset that they would have to leave there things in the house. I watch the storm pass and waited for my husband. He was fifteen minutes late coming home. But safe. He left work shortly before it had hit Wichita, but got caught in it at the farm store. He said he ran through the parking lot against horizontal rains. No tornado came from that storm, but other's in the state did. Haven't heard of any deaths, but there is rural damage.

And that's my adventure for the next month.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

I even Dreamed about Corn.

Corn, it's mornings like these that I could live out my remaining days and be happy to never lay my eyes on an ear of corn again. My hands are very sore this morning after almost a full day of harvesting, shucking and de-kernelizing corn. I pulled in a full bushel, and still have a least one more bushel out in the garden.

I have also recently learned that corn nuts equals parched corn. { I tried to find a link on how to make parched corn, but none of them are the same as what one of my books says, I will write it up later} I had no idea what they were call besides corn nuts. Now that I have discovered this little tidbit of information, I feel more confident in moving forward with this project. {The hominy will have to wait as I am a little uncomfortable about working with lye, maybe during the winter I will try my hand at lye soaps, just to have the experience with it}
My sweet hickory corn is soaking in water for 18 hours. Once that is completed, they will be dried in a low heat oven until slightly brown, tossed with a little oil and salt. If this first batch works out, I will play with the flavorings.

We have a serious problem with corn earworms. Covering the tips of the forming corn with mineral oil or cutting the exposed silk is suppose to help. It did not help that much. Maybe with a little more research I can find another way to deal with them. As it is now, I could not save any whole cobs.

The chicks spent their first full night out in the nursery. They were very happy to see me this morning. Though the geese and the turkey seem to bother them. The geese are very protective when it comes to any chicks in the nursery. Which is fine, as they keep predators away.

Speaking of turkeys, ours has been making me uneasy lately. I know he is in desperate need of a female as he is now coming into his own. Every time he sees me, he goes about displaying his feathers and strutting around. Of course I am very flattered, but if he decides he is just going to attempt to make a move on me, I could end up hurt. He is very large, and very strong. He jumped off the feed storage bin and hit me with a wing one day. Took me a moment to catch my breath. But last night as I was feeding the chicks, he sat in the corner just staring at me, it was slightly unnerving
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