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.