Roseta - blue corn

[Guest guest]

Hi Roseta,

Ahhhhh.......very, very interesting! You sound very

knowledgeable on what you are doing and it sounds

fascinating. Unfortunately, I don't know of a source for

the red corn. I have never had any of the dried red corn.

All Cortez Milling had was dried blue corn and I had to do some

talking and begging the first time I bought 50 lbs. from them.

And, as I said, they have changed hands, about last October,

when I got my last 50 lb. bag from them and the lady I had worked

with in the past is no longer with them. They normally grind the

dried corn they buy, and package it for sale in retail outlets. I

saw it originally in a grocery store in Cortez, Colorado.

 

I had purchased a Blue Corn Cookbook out at the Cliff Dwellings

gift shop and wanted some of the blue cornmeal to take home. When

we got home, I called Cortez Milling up and basically talked them into

selling me a 50 lb. bag. Since I have a stone grinding grain mill, I knew

it would be much cheaper in the long run.....especially since you don't see

blue cornmeal in east Texas. We were on vacation when I found the

blue cornmeal and the cookbook.

 

I have made blue cornmeal tortillas but not blue cornmeal tamales. I don't

know why it would not work though as the cornmeal is just like any other

stone-ground cornmeal. Blue tamales would be really a neat thing to

make.

 

And, yes, those Pilgrims learned a lot from the local Native Americans....

corn was a definite " good thing " as Martha says. Too bad we (white men

in charge) treated the Native Americans so terribly later on, isn't it. Not

a nice thing to do to anyone but especially to your hosts in the New

World. If the white man owes anyone anything, I would sure vote to

compensate the Native Americans in some way for what we (White men

in charge) put them through.

 

Good luck with your future experiments....keep us updated, would you, please?

Night,

Nancy C.

 

 

 

Nancy, I did not give details as to the nature of the experiment, and

I am aware corn is very native. I think the seed I have is for Hopi

blue corn. I also purchased Inca purple corn but these seeds did not

sprout. I would be very interested in the red corn if you know of a

seed supplier.

 

I am interested in companion planting, so part of the experiment was

to see how well this works in our gardens, the indian trinity of corn,

beans and squash. The corn provides the shade for the squash and the

support for the beans to climb on. The squash supposedly acts as

living mulch for the corn, and the beans nitrogenate the soil which is

advantageous since corn is a heavy depleter.

 

The other part of the experiment was to see if we would like it fresh,

when to harvest for what, and how can I use it with my limited

equipment to make blue corn tamales. I mean limited since I do not

have a grain mill, this is why I used the food processor. My corn was

mature but the grain was not dried, so I could make a paste with the

processor. Hybridizing part of it was not the plan, but since it

happened this became part of the experiment as well (tasty part).

Native Americans practiced selective breeding and hybridization on

corn for many centuries, before any European knew corn existed.

Roseta

 

>

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Nancy,

 

I am not very experienced growing corn and this is my fist somewhat

successful year. Reading a lot about it helps, mainly figuring out

how crops reproduce is key....did you know corn is really a mutated

grass that could not reproduce by itself but need human intervention?

Fascinating.

 

A stone grinding grain mill? Does that take up a lot of space?

 

I will let you guys know how the tamales turn out when I make them. I

want to stuff them with peppers but I am waiting for the right peppers

to mature.

 

Roseta