# Whole corn storage questions



## gatorglockman (Sep 9, 2011)

I want to add whole corn to my food prep to be stored for a few years and used for corn meal, etc. I am ignorant on corn prep (sans canned corn and popcorn) in general and need help. 

For those that store whole corn in mylar/buckets/etc......I have a few questions if poss.

1. Are you buying whole corn from a feed store/where do you get it? If so, should I assume it is fit for human consumption (ex: tractor supply store 50lb whole corn bag)

2. Assuming I get it and seal it in mylar with O2 busters, etc then an food grade 5 gallon pale......it should last 5-10 years provided no mold right??

3. Any other guidance the sage panel of prepping experts want to provide would be appreciated!

THX


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## lotsoflead (Jul 25, 2010)

gatorglockman said:


> I want to add whole corn to my food prep to be stored for a few years and used for corn meal, etc. I am ignorant on corn prep (sans canned corn and popcorn) in general and need help.
> 
> For those that store whole corn in mylar/buckets/etc......I have a few questions if poss.
> 
> ...


 I pick the corn up at the farm next door after he's put in thru a dryer and in the corn crib.
I then put it in pails lined with mylar bars, I use about 1800 cc oxey absorbers and seal the corn, should be good for 20-30 yrs, if I'm around in 20 yrs and the world is still spinning, I'll open some and ck it.

it has to be dry


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

Corn is a very good food choice for your storage, however more can be done with it than grinding into corn meal. Grinding raw(not meaning just uncooked but unpocessed) corn into meal does not take full advantage of the grains nutrient content. 

The native indians of Mexico, Central and South America would soak and/or cook the kernels in lime water and that would "unlock" many of the B vitamins that would be unavailable otherwise. They would then make the resulting product into tortillas and "masa" which could be made ino tomales or other of the familiar "Mexican Foods" we are familiar with now days. You could then survive quite well on corn and beans that are easily stored for long periods of time.

Corn is a resource that should not be ignored for long term food storage, alot of nutrition in a small package with a long storage potential.

The procedure for limeing the corn is not complicated but it does take a little time. 

MAKE IT HAPPEN

-Put 3 or 4 cups of dried corn in a granitware or enameled pan, the lime will react with bare metal so use the coated utinsils.

-Add enough water to cover the corn and about 1/2 again the amount, the corn will soak up quite a lot of the water and, trust me, you don't want the pan to boil dry.

-Add about 1 tablespoon of Pickleing Lime (calcium hydroxide) for each cup of corn kernels. Some people use comercial or home made lye but I like the taste of the corn done in lime better. Stir with a plastic or enameled utinsil until all the limeis dissolved.

-Place on a low heat(just boiling), stirring occasionally and adding water if needed. It takes about as long as it would to cook a pot of beans.

-When the corn can be easily pinched into pieces and it is cooked through, the cooking process is complete. Their will be a very thick pastey residue in the pan and you may think that something has gone wrong, but that is the lime and dissolved husks from the corn kernels, its to be expected.

-Rinse the corn(hominy at this point) through a collunder, rubbing the kernels between your palms to remove any loose particles and/or paste from the kernels. Let stand in fresh water for a short while and rinse again until rinse water runs clear.

The corn can be ground a paste to make tortillias, tomales, or anything else desired or can be eaten as is, seasoned with any desired flavorings. 

It can also be dried and stored, ground into meal and be cooked as "grits" or made into the tortillias. 

I have found that the ground meal adds an interesting twist when moderate amounts are mixed into and cooked in chili. 

Whole hominy can be added to soups or added to and cooked with beans to provide a meal with a near complete nutrient set.

We have several hundred pounds of corn stored in sealed buckets with bags of Pickling Lime sufficient to lime the entire bucket included.

Some people may have different process for limeing corn but when you have done it for a while you tend to develop your own procedure. 

I will be glad to answer any questions or provide any input that I can regarding this post.

MAKE IT HAPPEN


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## LilRedHen (Aug 28, 2011)

Davarm said:


> The procedure for limeing the corn is not complicated but it does take a little time.


Thank you sooooo much for this recipe. :2thumb: I will try it soon. I didn't want to do the lye thing, and I couldn't anyway since Lye has been taken off the shelves in Tennessee and shipping is ridiculous.


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

Glad you can use it, the more people that are aware of this plentiful resource, the better.

As for the lye, thats odd. Its still available here in Texas but it is getting harder to find. I make home made soap and use it for that purpose, guess I will have to do it the real old fasioned way, with wood ash, if they drop it here. Its a pain in the butt to have to make your own lye but is definately a good skill to have.


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## Ezmerelda (Oct 17, 2010)

From what I understand, feed corn is OK, but deer corn is not. 

I have corn from the feed store packed in buckets with diatomaceous earth and O2 absorbers, and also organic corn from a grain co-op. I just got the corn from the co-op, and haven't opened it to compare the kernels to those of the feed corn.


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

Often their IS a BIG difference, deer corn is usually the lowest quality, cast off, cracked and boken, moldy, left overs that can't be sold for any other use.

When I first started exploring the use of corn for self reliance purposes, I purchased "Deer Corn" and it was pittiful(as described above). I thought I could sort through it and pick out the good kernels and had it setting in my kitchen until I could get on with the sorting. After everyone had gone to bed that night and the house was quiet, I heard noises coming from the bag and it turned out that the corn was infested with some kind of bugs, put it on my front porch in a storage bin and there it still sits, years later.

Our local feed store carries 50 pound bags of feed corn and it is pretty good, thats what I use.


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## ducksnjeeps (Jan 29, 2010)

My East Tennessee ancestors stored their corn in mason jars.


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## Ezmerelda (Oct 17, 2010)

Davarm said:


> Often their IS a BIG difference, deer corn is usually the lowest quality, cast off, cracked and boken, moldy, left overs that can't be sold for any other use.


Deer corn is not safe for human consumption, because it tends to contain high levels of Aflatoxin, which is harmful to humans, but not to deer.

Feed corn for domestic animals is tested to ensure that the aflatoxin levels aren't high, because those animals are meant to be consumed by people.


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

I have 1/2 gallon mason jars in my kitchen that are filled with dry goods, to include corn, beans, sugar,..... These are what I have on hand every day use but my long term storage is in 5 gallon buckets lined with food grade bags. I have recently taken great pains to reduce the number of glass jars in my storage and 200+ pounds of corn would take me right back up to the point I worked to get away from.


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

To throw a wrench in the deer corn - I buy deer corn at TSC as it is cheaper by about $4 right now and right on their label it says that it has been tested for Aflatoxin and has the labs number on the bag. I don't eat it but the chickens love it. But I will not buy off the corner pile or gas station.
And being a deer hunter myself-hunting over a bait pile is wrong.. not sporting at all.. might be different if I really am starving but not now.


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

I am glad you have a cheaper safe source of corn, I guess I can check out more deer corn in the future.

As far as Aflatoxin is concerned, it is a nasty cancer causing hazard, but a strong alkali such as Lime-Water, will break down aflatoxin and kill the mold spores that produce it. 

I would much rather avoid it all together and I will check with our feed store as to whether the corn has been tested, and if not, will look for another source.

Knew what aflatoxin was but didn't know it was a hazard in feed corn, Thanks for the heads up.


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## Ezmerelda (Oct 17, 2010)

Davarm said:


> I am glad you have a cheaper safe source of corn, I guess I can check out more deer corn in the future.
> 
> As far as Aflatoxin is concerned, it is a nasty cancer causing hazard, but a strong alkali such as Lime-Water, will break down aflatoxin and kill the mold spores that produce it.
> 
> ...


It's mainly a danger in DEER corn, which is different from FEED corn. There are levels of processing. Corn for humans is more carefully cleaned and screened, FEED corn for domestic animals is slightly less carefully cleaned and screened, and DEER corn is barely cleaned and screened.

So, to recap, FEED corn is for domestic animals which are raised for human consumption. DEER corn is for wild animals.


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## LilRedHen (Aug 28, 2011)

ducksnjeeps said:


> My East Tennessee ancestors stored their corn in mason jars.


In liquid form?


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## ducksnjeeps (Jan 29, 2010)

LilRedHen said:


> In liquid form?


You betcha


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

Got me there, not always the brightest bulb in da lamp.


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## LilRedHen (Aug 28, 2011)

Davarm said:


> Got me there, not always the brightest bulb in da lamp.


He was referring to moonshine:beercheer: Early settlers in East and Middle Tennessee made a lot more money from selling 'shine than they could from any other source.


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

Yea, I was a little slow, I'm not always the sharpest knife in the lamp.


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## gypsysue (Mar 27, 2010)

We order whole corn through a health food co-op. The local feed store also has whole corn for animal feed, and they say the main difference is it isn't "cleaned" as well. It has random bits of cob or small stones or pieces of sticks, etc. 

Gator, you're down there in Alabama, you could probably grow all you'd need, either sweet corn or field corn. Either can be dried and ground or used however. Unless you simply don't have a place to grow it. We've got space, but our climate is too cold.


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

Earlier in this post, Ezmerelda brought up the topic of "Aflatoxin", I queried the supplier (Pleasant Hill Grain) I use for beans if their grain was tested for it. I was very surprised that even though they sell their some of their grains as "Organic", they DO NOT, as a rule have it tested for this toxin.

The explanation was that unless their is a specific concern about the quality, it is not tested. 

Anyone purchasing Organic grain may want to question their suppliers as to whether it has been tested. I know that the mold spores that produces the Aflatoxins and the spores themselves are most likely "Organic" by definition, I don't want it in my stores.


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## georgia (Nov 9, 2011)

I just bought my first bag of feed corn at a larger "chain" feed and seed store(around $10 for 50 lbs). I thought that because they had so many customers, their quicker turn over would mean that the feed was fresher. Alas, not so! I filled my first bucket, started on the second and found the bottom 1/4 of the bag was filled with weevils! Disgusted, but determined- I decided to use a larger number of oxy absorbers and see if that would clear up the problem. I'll have to examine the kernels carefully before use, if I don't just throw away the whole mess. They say insect friends add more protein, but I'm not going there unless I have to. Moral to this story- CHECK FOR BUGS BEFORE STORING, AND DON'T ASSUME ANYTHING!


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## weedygarden (Apr 27, 2011)

*Corn*

Since I have a family member with Celiac Disease, I am trying to come up with alternatives to wheat and the other gluten grains for food storage

I have noticed that corn is not that common when purchasing from the food storage companies. I learned that there are many varieties of corn, and I am not in a position to educate you all here and now about the varieties. Maybe later I can refer you to some useful links.

Corn is one of the big GMO (Genetically modified) grains. If you have not seen the movie Food, Inc., put it on your Netflix cue, or try to find it to rent. 
After I saw it, I realized that when it comes to corn, the best corns to store are popcorn and blue corn. They, currently, have not been modified.

Popcorn can be ground and made into cornmeal. Blue corn has one of the highest protein levels and is supposedly good for corn flour. I just picked up my first blue corn and have not had a chance to grind any or to nixtamal any for masa or posole yet. Those are my next esperiments.

Where to get blue corn? This was not really easy for e to find. I also noticed that the price doubled in the last few months.

I have not tried this, but

```
http://frontiersurvival.net/shop/cgi-bin/cp-app.pl?pg=prod&ref=FR04-610
```
is one source.

Mylar Food Storage Bag, Oxygen absorbers, Bulk Foods,organic dehydrated survival emergency food, Wheat mill grinder, buckets, pails, freeze dried

Keep doing your research and I wil get back to this link later when I have more time to add more information.


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## goshengirl (Dec 18, 2010)

Honeyville carries blue corn in 50 lb bags. It ain't cheap, but you can't beat the shipping!


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