Inexpensive corn for storage

I want to buy corn to put up for long-term storage. I was told I could buy 50-pound bags of corn from the local feed store and that if it was aflatoxin tested that it was good for human consumption. Is that correct, or do you know where to buy bulk corn?

Marie Knight
Grapeland, Texas

Yes, you can buy corn from feed stores to store for long-term storage. But the problem is that some feed mills have less than clean storage facilities and there can be rodents running over and pooping/peeing in the corn. What I’ve done, besides growing our own corn, is to buy a 50-pound bag of popcorn from Sam’s Club. It is clean and quite inexpensive — as far as corn is today. It grinds well for cornmeal. You can also buy freshly combined corn from a local farmer who grows it, where possible. We save extra sweet corn ears and let them mature on the stalk. It makes nice cornmeal and we know what’s in it! — Jackie

Growing peas and canning bananas

I’ve been reading your columns for some time now and I’ve never seen a mention of peas (field/purple hull/cream,etc.). Do you grow them? If not, why? There’s really nothing better than fresh peas and hot cornbread with a little green tomato relish.

My question is, can you can bananas? Except for baking I don’t use dehydrated. I’d like to have some on hand for pies/pudding. But they usually spoil before I get to use them up which is not acceptable at the current 56 cents a pound. Any ideas?

Laura Wilson
Chandler, Texas

We grow English peas but haven’t had any luck with black eyed or other similar peas because of our cool climate. We get lots of vines but very few peas. If we gardened further south, we sure would grow them.

I’ve never found a recipe for canning bananas. I dehydrate my bananas. Then when I want to use them for baking, I just rehydrate them and mash them like fresh. It doesn’t take much time or work to dehydrate and rehydrate them at all. — Jackie

9 COMMENTS

  1. Bryan,

    No, we haven’t yet, but a friend who is an expert grafter has done it successfully. We don’t put much faith in all the things you “can’t” do but give it a try…or ten…until we succeed or find out it won’t work for us.

    Jackie

  2. Issue #121 • January/February, 2010

    “We have hundreds of pin cherries, chokecherries, and wild cherries on our land. If I graft some domestic cherry wood onto them I could have an instant cherry orchard on super hardy rootstock.”

    Jackie, did you ever successfully graft domestic cherries onto any wild rootstock? If so what varieties on what rootstock? Everything I read says it is next to impossible to keep the graft alive for more than a year.

    Bryan

  3. Laura, have you tried Lincoln or Wando peas? Both are very heat tolerant for a pea variety. I live where summers are hot and dry with high altitude sun and spring varieties don’t produce during summer, so I plant those varieties after the spring cold tolerant peas to keep enough growing to freeze and eat all summer. The only thing I’ve noticed is that especially the Lincolns are small pods with fewer peas than my spring crop so I have to plant more of them. My Lincoln vines have never been tall, so I plant them in double rows so they are self-supporting. You can also put shade cloth over your peas (I have mine on plastic pipe hoops) to cut down on sun and heat. I think with a few adaptations you can get a crop.

  4. Jackie and anyone else in a short season area, there are now slightly cold tolerant short season blackeye and other shelling peas. Take a look at Territorial Seed’s open pollinated California blackeye 46 bean as an example. I think Baker Creek has a similar pea. If you can add something like gallon jugs of water or large rocks around your pea patch to store heat or grow your peas next to a rock or block wall or put a fabric fence around them or shelter them with other veggies you’ll get a crop for sure. There are more and more short season vegetable varieties on the market. This past season I grew okra and got a crop in my cold, short season area using a new quick maturing bush variety and a bit of row cover. The okra pods were large and the flavor excellent. The key to success with warm area crops is to warm up the soil before planting the seeds. Seeds may sprout in a cool soil, but the plants are almost always stunted and don’t produce a crop.

  5. Judy, my freezer has Bananas in every air pocket, they make a great treat straight from the freezer plain or dipped in chocolate.I use them in bread,muffins,etc., but they don’t work in a cream pie or pudding,just take my word on that please.lol

  7. Jackie, thanks for your prompt reply, wish I grow english peas I’ve once again planted about a 50 ft. row but rarely get more than a meal or two,too hot here in zone 8
    No green beans this year either first time in many years,the drought I suppose. But peas,wish I could share with you
    I am currently picking/canning fall (volunteer)crop and am about “pea’d” out.

  8. There was recently a discussion about canning bananas in the canning section in the BWH forum. Someone included links to university sites for a couple of different ways to do it.

  9. If you have freezer space, freezing bananas whole with the skins on also works for any mashed banana recipe. I discovered Monkey Butter to make with leftover bananas. Monkey Butter is very tasty.

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