Parched corn

[leera]

Has anyone made this?

I would like to make some.

Is it made with regular sweet corn or?

[zebraman]

Hey Leera; Its made with Parching Corn which is becoming Really Hard to find.www.nativesearch.com has a couple var.s and www.seedsofchange.com has a couple as well. Also they do not grow well in the east or mid west either.-

[leera]

OK,my brain finally kicked in.....been out in the sun too long today I think......

I typed in Parched Corn on my search engine,and it gave me several websites.But I thought this one would work best.

http://www.kurtsaxon.com/foods009.htm


What do you think?

[Penny_Plinker]

Leera, thank you so much for that site and the info on how to make the corn nuts. My husband and i tried to make that about 12 years ago. With only guesswork, we tried and tried to duplicate what you can buy in the stores in the little bags, but no luck. Now i see, there's a few tricks involved.

Although we try to avoid corn, it seems like it would be a good thing to add in small quantities to homemade trail mix and take hunting or hiking for emergency energy. Perhaps add a high proportion of pecans and walnuts and a few raisins.

I can't believe, the corn nut recipe revealed! Thanks Leera!

Can anyone suggest the healthiest oil to deep fry the corn in that would also take that high of heat?


Penny

[Shamrock1121]

It's been years (and years :o) ago, but I helped make parched corn for a museum opening of a Native American exhibit. (We the unwilling, led by the unknowing, doing the impossible for the ungrateful... - my life as a volunteer.) I think we must have made the "cheater" (modern) version. Here's how I remembered the process...

We took regular old frozen corn and dehydrated it and then processed it. Here's some instructions if you want to make if from fresh sweet corn (on the cob).

Husk and trim sweet, immature ears of corn. Steam or water blanch until kernels are no longer milky, about 1-1/2 to 3 minutes. Drain and chill in cold water. Drain again and cut kernels from cob.

If you use a dehydrator: spread the kernels over the trays. Dry at 120°F (50°C), stirring corn and rotating trays every 4 hours. Dry for 8-12 hours until kernels are shriveled and dry inside.

In the Sun: Spread kernels over cheesecloth-covered trays and dry for 1-2 days in full sun, stirring occasionally and taking trays inside at night. When dry, corn should be hard and brittle and should rattle in the storage jar.

In the Oven: Spread kernels in a thin layer over trays. Dry at 120°F (50°C.) , stirring occasionally and rotating trays once or twice until corn is hard and brittle, about 12-18 hours.

Once you have the corn dried, you heat a skillet on LOW heat and add some oil/fat (use a pastry brush to spread the tiny amount of fat all over the pan surface).

Add a small amount of the dried corn to the skillet - leave some space, you don't want to completely cover the pan bottom.

Start stirring and keep on stirring so it won't burn. It doesn't take very long - maybe a minute - and some of it may even pop. You want it to be a light-medium brown color.

When parched corn was rough-ground, it was mixed with water, boiled, and made into a porridge called pinole. I think they also added nuts/berries and maybe meat/fat. It can also be ground into flour. Parched corn flour mixed in water makes gruel (very thin - often used for babies), porridge (medium thickness), and mush (thick). (I remember this from giving tours of the exhibit.)

Parched corn was made with the softer dent corn (http://waltonfeed.com/self/corn.html). Flint corn has the same shape as popping corn, but because it has less starch (endosperm) and has a much harder bran (coat), it wasn't used for parching.

I hope that's at least close to how to make it.

-Karen

[leera]

I did see another website that showed using dehydrated scorn and those almost exact instructions,but this one looked like less work.

[kahonwes]

Kwe Kwe, hello

Its funny you mention parched corn. I'm Native and its one secret thats hard to figure out, but once you do its so freaken easy.
But I'll be nice and give some tips. The Hopi take there corn and basically heat it up in sand inside a pot with a stick till it kinda cracks open. Corn Nuts is nothing even remotely like parch corn.
I make it all the time and have made it this way but thanks to modern technology I've found a more simple way to parch corn.
Firstly, if you cant get a good variety, buy some of the calico corn, or what I call halloween corn, you know the stuff people think you cant eat and decorate there houses with. Yes its edible, long as its not varnished as I've seen some.
Most farmers just grow it, tie it up and sell it as decoration. I buy it by the car load of them and they think I'm crazy. I usually separate the corn by colors.
Now comes the trick.... Buy a hot air corn popper and toss it in, till you hear the corn cracking, once the cracking stops, you can either take it out or wait till the corn browns a bit.
Next just take it out and toss more in, the next problem is salting it... Problem with corn is, you cant apply salt in its hard form it dont stick...
Simple solution is to take glass of water, add salt till you cannot disolve anymore in it... Then when the corn is hot apply tiny bit to the corn. The heat will instanly evaporate the water and leave the salt dried on the corn. Just make sure you use a basket to salt the corn, as the excess water will drip through the bottom. Also use a corn cob as the applicator for the salt water, just dip in salt water, and roll it around in the corn.
Any other questions feel free, I make parch corn around here and people think I have the trade secret on it lol...
One other thing about parch corn is, once its done it makes some easy grinding for flour.... and its addictive....


Kahon:wes - Enjoy

[zebraman]

Hey Kahonwes; How about a receipe for Piki-Bread?

[Penny_Plinker]

Yeah thanks! I'll hafta be on the lookout for a hot air popper, must have given mine away.

Funny because just last night i tried making some of the corn nuts. They came out pretty darn good! Only thing is, i used a big wide skillet and the kitchen was a mess..the kernels do pop out at you and the grease splatters everywhere. A deep fat fryer with a wire basket would work much better.

Penny

[PrepLady]

When I lived in Peru, I had both the fried corn nuts and parched corn. Both used corn with huge kernels. It was often eaten boiled and plucked off the ear; that was a popular snack on the train to Machu Picchu. It was also served, on the cob, with cebiche, and cooked (also on the cob!) in veggie soups. Yum. It's quite starchy but still tasty. The parched corn is made in a clay pot. The corn is parboiled and dried off well, then tossed into the clay pot. You stir it around until the kernels are dry, toasty, and slightly brown. Tossing it in a bowl with a bit of salt in the bottom works fairly well, though I like the salt water idea! I do wish I had brought one of those clay pots home with me, but I imagine it could be done in a cast-iron skillet. It's done dry--no oil. They do sell the fried ones in Peru, too, but I like the parched ones better.

As a side note, they also had fried sweet potato chips, fried plantains, and fried fava beans! Yum! But not good for the ol' gall bladder. . . .

[kahonwes]

Get a cast Iron pot, clay works well but heat tends to break them over time. My Hopi friends mom uses Cast Iron, and as for that bread, wrong people. I never heard of the bread in my life. But we do have something called corn bread lol.

Kahon:wes - O:nen ki

[zebraman]

Hey Kahonwes;I assumed you were Hopi.I have friends at Shongopovi(Fog Clan).

[leera]

WOW! Thanks for the tips.I know the corn you're talking about,and it's for sale all over the place right now.

So you put it in the hot air popper right off the cob? Is the corn still fresh or dried? I would assume you use it in the dried form.

That sounds fairly easy to do,and I have everything but the corn.

Could you do the same with a cast iron skillet? It would hold more corn at a time than my hot air popper.

[idris]

I make and love it: hang the cobs to dry, after peeling back the leaves, then, when they are nice and crinckly, into the hot pan with a dab of oil [any kind will do], watch out that they don't pop out: i use a lid, only for a minute, and then into the paper towel to degrease them, keep for as long as you like, or till they've been eaten. Yum-O!