How to Dry Corn Seed
If you have found a variety of corn that you just cannot imagine doing without next year, you may want to save some of the kernels--the seeds--for planting in a later season. Drying corn seed is also a good way of preserving it for future use as foodstuff. Corn kernels should, if at all possible, be allowed to dry on the ear, on the stalk. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Leave the corn on the stalk, if it is possible, for four to six weeks after the tassels turn brown and the ear of corn, when felt through the husk, feels plump. This lets the seed corn dry naturally on the cob.
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Pick the ears of seed corn, if you are forced to do so by a short growing season, as late as possible after the tassels turn brown.
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Peel the husks back from each not-yet-dry ear of corn and hang the ears in a cool, dry and well-ventilated place.
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Harvest the corn seed, after the drying period of four to six weeks, by twisting your hands in opposite directions on a dried ear of corn. Hold the ear over a large bucket as you do this so that the dried kernels fall into the bucket. If the corn seeds do not come off the cob easily, the ear isn't fully dried yet.
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Sift the dried kernels over a mesh screen with squares small enough that the corn will not fall through, but any bits of hulk or corn silk will. At this point, the seed corn is ready to store.
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