Saturday, December 4, 2010

My Other By-Hand Milling...Cracking grains

To crack grains, I have the Corona Corn Mill.  Like with the roller/flaker, I stayed with a manually powered choice to keep the cost down, and I get the side-benefit if using it whether the electricity is on or not.  During our recent power outage, it supplied us with cracked grain cereal, which is a particular favorite hot breakfast of Hubby's, Prince Inventive's, Prince CuddleBunny's, and mine... a nice alternative to oatmeal.


I use this mostly for bread making, as we like a little crunch in addition to the extra fiber and nutrition we get with the various types of cracked grains.  I usually do a combination of spelt, kamut, buckwheat, rye, sweet brown rice, barley, and oats.  I just pour in similar amounts of each to create 2 cups of the mix.  It takes a couple minutes to do this, and it's a little messy because not all the cracked grains land in the catch-bowl, but most do with just a quick wipe up of the strays required.  After the first rinsing when it arrives, the mill itself should not need to be cleaned.


I hope one day to mill my own corn meal, also.  First, I have to find a source of dried corn, which has proven to be a bit of a challenge. A number of mills I looked at specified that they were not suitable for corn, so I wanted to make sure that was a possibility.  I've also read that I can mill beans and nuts with this device, but I haven't tried that.  I milled black beans in another mill once (larger beans wouldn't fit in that one), and with ground beans you can make a pureed style of beans, similar to refried beans without the frying, and in minutes instead of hours, so I will be sure to try other beans in the Corona in the future.


There are cheaper versions of the Corona mill available, but I wasn't sure the $10 - 15 savings was worth risking the quality the Corona is widely reported to have.  Its cast iron construction should outlast me.
The best prices I've found for this mill are on-line at Lehmans or TheWholeTruth at just under $40.


5 comments:

  1. We just saw corn being ground yesterday. You get the husk, grits and meal. Seems like a good deal. You could even make your own pillows!

    ReplyDelete
  2. And I thought I was a homemade cook! I get teased for making my own butter, but you take the prize. How cool! Do you source your grains locally?

    ReplyDelete
  3. But I've never made my own butter...So we're even. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. S, I never thought about getting all those parts of the corn plant...But there was a time I've never thought about grinding any of my own grains, either. Thanks for the idea!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Breezy, you asked where I got grain, and I forgot to answer! I special order 50-pound bags of Montana Prairie Gold Wheat from Central Market in Poulsbo, and fill up on most of the others in their bulk area when I'm there. I want to order from Azure Standard, which has their own organic grains in Oregon, but I need to sign up with a 'drop spot' and have yet to do that. It means calling strangers and asking to be a part of their group, so I'm shy about that.

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...