# Corn Bread?



## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

I did an experiment tonight, since I just made and dehydrated a load of hominy, I thought I would grind it into meal and use it to make cornbread.

I know that hominy or limed corn is what corn tortillas and masa are made from but thought I'd try it with my home ground meal anyway.

Was real good, the youngest DD said it tasted like a tamale without the meat filling or corn shuck wrapper. It was a fun experiment and I am going to add it to my list of prep recipes. If anyone wants to try it, just substitute the hominy meal for cornmeal in your favorite cornbread recipe and go from there.


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## swainsrus (Aug 3, 2012)

Thank you! Wonderful to know. Never thought to dehydrate, now I have to try!


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## partdeux (Aug 3, 2011)

Have you tried making corn bread in the canning jars like you did the pound cake?


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

partdeux said:


> Have you tried making corn bread in the canning jars like you did the pound cake?


It just so happens.......

I made up a case of wide mouth pint jars to take to the "Meet-Up South Of Dallas" in October. I have only found 1 issue with it, sometimes it's a little hard to get out of the jars without it coming apart. A fix to that was to take a thin blade fillet knife and run it around the inside of the jar before I shake it out.

I made up some of the pound cake to take also, if it lasts until then. That stuff doesn't usually sit on the shelf very long before it "Disappears".


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## kyredneck (Aug 12, 2012)

Davarm said:


> I did an experiment tonight, since I just made and dehydrated a load of hominy, I thought I would grind it into meal and use it to make cornbread.
> 
> I know that *hominy or limed corn *is what corn tortillas and masa are made from but thought I'd try it with my home ground meal anyway.....


A bit of history:

"Pellagra is a vitamin deficiency disease most commonly caused by a chronic lack of niacin (vitamin B3) in the diet....."

"The traditional food preparation method of corn (maize), *nixtamalization*,* by native New World cultivators *who had domesticated corn required *treatment of the grain with lime*, an alkali. *The lime treatment now has been shown to make niacin nutritionally available* and reduce the chance of developing pellagra.[4] *When corn cultivation was adopted worldwide, this preparation method was not accepted because the benefit was not understood.* The original cultivators, often heavily dependent on corn, did not suffer from *pellagra*; it *became common only when corn became a staple that was eaten without the traditional treatment*."

"In the *early 1900s, pellagra reached epidemic proportions in the American South*. Pellagra deaths in South Carolina numbered 1,306 during the first ten months of 1915; 100,000 Southerners were affected in 1916. At this time, the scientific community held that pellagra was probably caused by a germ or some unknown toxin in corn.[7] *The Spartanburg Pellagra Hospital in Spartanburg, South Carolina, was the nation's first facility dedicated to discovering the cause of pellagra*. It was established in 1914 with a special congressional appropriation to the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) and set up primarily for research. In 1915, Joseph Goldberger, assigned to study pellagra by the Surgeon General of the United States, showed pellagra was linked to diet by inducing the disease in prisoners, using the Spartanburg Pellagra Hospital as his clinic. By 1926, Goldberger established *a balanced diet or a small amount of brewer's yeast[8] prevented pellagra*."

All because they didn't understand the benefit of the lime treatment that the natives had been doing for centuries.....


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

Good research!

I was fully aware of the connection between corn, niacin and Pellagra and since I have been storing corn(about 2 years) have included enough lime in each bucket to process the contents. I don't make hominy from all the corn, however, the lime is there for the purpose if I choose to use it.

With much of the food that I store, I take into consideration the traditional ways they have been stored and used in the years past. It is good to keep the old knowledge alive and available, many of those ways/methods were used because their was advantage/benefit to them.


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## Tank_Girl (Dec 26, 2011)

Excellent thread!

I wondering about the use of dehydrated limed corn ( hominy )for corn bread.
Do you rehydrate the corn before you grind it into meal?

I'm only accustomed to making either wet or dry polenta or Mielie-meal which to my knowledge isn't made with limed corn.


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

Tank_Girl said:


> Excellent thread!
> 
> I wondering about the use of dehydrated limed corn ( hominy )for corn bread.
> Do you rehydrate the corn before you grind it into meal?
> ...


No, I dont grind the hominy wet, I would rather not get my grain mill gunked up with the stuff. I do have an old "Meat Grinder" that I could use for the wet but it will not grind it nearly as fine as the grain mill.

Its been a long time since I have heard the term "Mielie-Meal", one of my grandmothers called it that.


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## RUN1251 (Mar 15, 2012)

Two questions----how do you make hominy?
We have a ranch and feed deer corn to our livestock. We buy it by the ton in 50 lb bags. Stored in the barn, the bugs get in to it after about 3 months. If I freeze a bag in my freezer to kill the bugs, can I store, can or make hominy out of it?


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## DKRinAK (Nov 21, 2011)

Background
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hominy

How?
http://www.mtnlaurel.com/recipes/hominy.htm

and in keeping with the board -primitive hominy making...
http://paleoplanet69529.yuku.com/topic/24412/t/How-To-Make-Hominy.html#.UDAvxqDYFiI


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

RUN1251 said:


> Two questions----how do you make hominy?
> We have a ranch and feed deer corn to our livestock. We buy it by the ton in 50 lb bags. Stored in the barn, the bugs get in to it after about 3 months. If I freeze a bag in my freezer to kill the bugs, can I store, can or make hominy out of it?


Instructions on making hominy have been posted a number of times on forum but probably my favorite was posted by kappydell on 12-12-2011.

http://www.preparedsociety.com/forum/f36/how-make-hominy-field-corn-8557/

I have been making it for quite a while and do it by habit and memory but I feel more comfortable referring to those directions instead of mine.

On the deer corn, have to be careful with it, Aflatoxin is a concern and may be present in any "Feed Corn". The process of using Lime or Lye is supposed to break down the toxin and make it safe for human consumption but..... IMO its best to use corn with toxin levels less than 20ppb if possible and/or practical.

I use "Feed Corn" purchased from a local feed store but it has guaranteed levels below 20ppb and I feel safe using it. Storage is also an issue to prevent further growth of the fungus that produces the toxin, it SHOULD be vacuum sealed and stored in a cool place to prevent growth.


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## kappydell (Nov 27, 2011)

RUN1251 - a bump up from the past - yes you can make hominy from livestock corn, i do it all the time. 

I hope you don't mind my posting an article I wrote for backwoodsman mag about treating corn to make hominy/posole. I saw a question about it in another place, thought it might go here, too

FROM ANIMAL FEED TO PEOPLE FOOD: HOW TO MAKE HOMINY

Hominy is an interesting food. It is easily made from dry corn, producing a cheap, filling, and tasty dish that has fed common folks since colonial days. Hominy grits are chopped hominy; the whole kernel type can be found canned in some grocery stores and the dried hominy (posole) can be ordered on the internet as well. But it is cheaper and a lot more fun to make it yourself. So just how do you turn that dried corn into edible hominy? There are several ways, depending on what material you find available. I have made hominy from corn I shelled from corn ears sold for feeding squirrels, as well as animal feed corn purchased from the feed store. Dent corn or flint corn work equally well, as does white, yellow, or multi-colored corn. (Popcorn does not make hominy, though it can be ground for an acceptable corn meal.)

Now you may ask just why on earth anyone would mix lye, ashes or baking soda with corn. It sounds like an unappetizingly odd thing to eat and an awful lot of work just to make dinner. Simply put, treating the corn with lye or lime changes the corn’s chemistry in critical ways if you are depending on corn as a major food source, as our ancestors did. It takes the hull off the corn for faster cooking and for easier processing into a wider variety of edibles. (The variety keeps you from getting bored with eating corn.) But it also makes the niacin in corn more absorbable in the human body, an important way of preventing Pellagra (a malnutrition disease). It adds calcium to the corn. Finally, it alters the protein content of corn to make it a more complete protein. So there are good reasons both historically and scientifically for making hominy out of corn, as opposed to simply grinding it untreated, into corn meal. 

Hominy made with lye bought at the store is most common in my area. Be sure you get lye (sodium hydroxide), not drain cleaner, from the grocery, hardware or building supply store. Wash 2 quarts of shelled corn to get rid of dust and chaff. Put the corn in a non-reactive pot (I use my enamel canner) and add 8 quarts potable water and 2 ounces of purchased lye (about 8 – 9 teaspoons). Bring the pot to a boil and boil vigorously 30 minutes. Turn off heat and let stand 20 minutes longer. Drain hominy and rinse well using hot water. 

Work the hominy (rub it) with your hands, until skins and the little dark tips at the point of the corn are gone. Float them away in the rinsing water.
Drain the hominy, rinse out the pot and put the corn back in. Add water to cover plus one inch and bring to a boil. Boil 5 min. Change to fresh water and repeat the 5 minute boiling cycle 4 more times.
At this point you may cook and eat it, freeze it, can it or dehydrate it. This recipe makes 6 quarts or so of hominy (which amount fits my canner per- fectly for canning). 

You can make your own lye water by dripping rain water (distilled for those with no rain catching system) through hardwood ashes. You might have trouble finding a barrel to make the drip system. Don’t worry, plastic pails that stack work just as well. (Better yet if you can get the baker at the local grocery store to give you a couple for free.) Proceed to make lye water in the usual manner and remember, if it not strong enough to suit you or to float the egg, you can simply run the weak lye water through 
another pail of fresh ashes to make it stronger, or boil it down to concentrate it.

To use the lye water to make hominy, put 2 gallons of lye water, 2 gallons of dry corn, and 2 additional gallons of plain potable water in a large non-reactive pot (that enamel canner works just fine!). Simmer until the corn kernel skins start to slip off. Drain, rinse and rub the corn through 4 cycles to get the lye out. Boil in the cleaned pot in water to cover until the skins finish coming off completely and the hominy rises top of the water. Scoop the hominy out and cook it as desired.

You can even skip the lye making step and make hominy with wood ash directly. Put two double handfuls of clean ashes (meaning you did not burn anything but just the wood) from oak, maple or poplar wood fires into 2 to 3 quarts of clean water. Boil for 1 hour, and then let it set all night for the ashes to settle. In the morning, boil dried corn in the water (strained if you like) until the skins come off and the corn color brightens, about 1-2 hours). Rinse and rub in 3 changes of water. Use the fresh hominy right away or preserve for later.

Some recipes use lime instead of lye to treat the corn. You can use either pickling lime (also called mason’s, builders, or hydrated lime) which is calcium hydroxide, or you can use quick lime which is calcium oxide. Either one works, they just are used slightly differently. 

To use calcium hydroxide, place 2 quarts of potable water in a large (4 quart) non-reactive pot. Put on the stove on high heat. As it begins to simmer, stir in 2 tablespoons of the lime with a wood spoon. When it is totally dissolved, add 1 quart of washed dry corn. Discard any kernels that float. When the pot begins to boil, lower heat to a simmer, and simmer 2 minutes. Turn off the heat, cover the pot and soak the corn 4 hours to overnight. Check it, and when the corn skins start to slip, drain the corn into a colander and put it under running water. Work and rub the corn with your hands to remove skins, and gelatinous slime. When the corn is clean, there will only remain a small speck at the corn tip. That is the germ, it can stay or not as you like. Boil the hominy in clean water until it is as done as you like. 

If your lime is calcium oxide, you use it the same way except that you do not heat the pot. You add the lime to cold water, and it will start to bubble. Stir to dissolve it completely. When the bubbling stops, add the corn, and then put the pot on the fire. Heat, soak, and rinse it as above. 

If you want a non-corrosive way to make hominy (perhaps your toddler gets into everything and feeds it to the family dog to boot) you can use baking soda instead of lye or lime. It takes longer, but is perfectly tasty just the same. 

Shell out 1 quart of field corn, and wash it to get rid of dirt, dust, and chaff. 
Put the corn in a large non-reactive (enamel or stainless steel) pot with 2 quarts of water and 2 tablespoons of baking soda. Soak it overnight.
The next day, put the whole pot on the fire, and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer 3 hours. Drain, replace the water with cold water and rub the corn hulls off. Drain off the water and hulls, replace with more cold water. Bring to a boil, and simmer only 1 hour this time. Drain, put in cold water and rub off more corn hulls. Repeat the simmer-wash cycle until all the corn is free of hulls. Drain, cook in fresh water until done to suit. 

Hominy can be eaten many ways depending on your whim. Boiled until soft, salted and buttered is a good way to start. Then you can try cooking it in a stew with celery, onions, kidney beans, and ground beef; adding it to chili (corn and beans make a complete protein); simmered with diced pork, garlic, onions, chili powder and oregano; or maybe with crumbled cooked bacon, some onions sautéed in the bacon fat, tomato soup thinned a bit with water and seasonings of choice. Lime-treated hominy is used in making masa (ground hominy) for corn tortillas and tamales. Recipes abound. 

If you made a little too much to eat at one time (or other family members do not like hominy) you can freeze the excess. But I find the texture suffers, so I prefer to can it or dehydrate it for storing. 

To can hominy, simmer it until the kernels are soft, then pack it hot in hot jars leaving 1 inch head space. Add 1 tsp salt per quart, or 1/2 tsp salt per pint. Add cooking liquid leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Process at 10 pounds pressure in a pressure canner. Process pints 60 minutes and quarts 70 minutes. 

To dehydrate hominy, I use a dehydrator (to compensate for a very humid climate). I spread cooked hominy evenly on the trays, and dry it at 140 to 150 degrees Fahrenheit, until it is as dry as dry beans (it will break when hit with a hammer). Break a piece open and make sure it is dried throughout. The dried form, sold as posole goes for $3 to $5 a pound, and keeps well for several years if kept dry. To use it just simmer it until soft again. 

Autumn being the season of dried field corn, I get a hankering for hominy about this time of year. It has been a popular food since colonial days. Made from any dent or flint corn, of any color, it has provided cheap, tasty and filling meals for generations of hungry hard working folks. So shell some corn, and before you grind it into cornmeal, why not set some aside for hominy? 



Ive used all these techniques to make hominy, except the wood ash part because I did not have any hardwood ashes to try with. Now I have a fireplace, so I can save some wood ash....letcha know how it turns out!


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## kyredneck (Aug 12, 2012)

Davarm said:


> ...I know that hominy or limed corn is what corn tortillas and masa are made from but thought I'd try it with my home ground meal anyway...... If anyone wants to try it, just substitute the hominy meal for cornmeal in your favorite cornbread recipe and go from there.


Question (for anyone), if Masa is lime treated corn FLOUR, what is lime treated cornMEAL called? I looked for it in the Hispanic section at Savelot yesterday but quickly realized I didn't know what the heck I was looking for.


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## backlash (Nov 11, 2008)

http://www.fatsecret.com/calories-nutrition/generic/cornmeal-lime-treated-cooked-%28masa-harina%29?portionid=182495&portionamount=1.000

masa-harina


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

kyredneck said:


> Question (for anyone), if Masa is lime treated corn FLOUR, what is lime treated cornMEAL called? I looked for it in the Hispanic section at Savelot yesterday but quickly realized I didn't know what the heck I was looking for.


Good Question, I dont know! Dont even know if you can buy it.

Question for anyone out there who is more knowledgeable than I am.

Fishing for answers.


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