How to Mill Corn at Home

When you grow, dry and mill your own corn, you can mill organic cornmeal by eliminating pesticides, preservatives and additives.

With the right tools at your disposal, milling your own corn is incredibly simple, will save you money and, in the opinion of many aficionados, will produce a more flavorful cornmeal. Commercial mills heavily favor a degerming process when milling corn because it extends the shelf life of the product by removing the germ. However, this process also removes the flavorful and nutritious oils. If you grow and dry your own corn or know somebody who does, you can retain these oils in the final product.

Things You'll Need

• Shelled dent/field corn or flint corn
• Manual or electric grinder
• Oven
• Large corn boiling pot
• Bowl of cold water
• Tongs
• Large enamel baking tray or other large tray
• Knife
• Airtight container

Instructions

1. Immerse ears of corn in boiling water for about five minutes. Remove from boiling water with tongs and place into cold water until cool enough to handle.

2. Shell corn. Cut about an inch off the smaller end of the ear, so you have a flat end to stand up. Hold the ear vertical and shave off the kernels from the cob with a knife.

3. Oven dry corn. Spread kernels over large trays as thinly as possible, though up to 1 and 1/2 inches in depth is acceptable. Place them into a 150 F oven. Keep the kernels in the oven until the corn is totally dried.

4. Store kernels in an airtight container out of direct sunlight for use later or use immediately after they cool. You can skip this step if your dried corn is already shelled.

5. Load shelled corn into a manual coffee grinder or a specialty grinder designed for grain. Feed the shelled corn into the opening on top of the grinder (sometimes called a hopper feed). Turn the crank to crack the corn. Grinding with a manual grinder is slow going; five minutes of turning yields approximately 2 cups of coarse meal. Return meal to grinder and grind again for a finer grind.

6. Use an electric food processor, a heavy-duty blender or an electric coffee mill in place of a manual grinder. Introduce kernels in small batches, depending on the size of the device. Never grind continuously at a high speed but, rather, pulse the mixture to the desired grind.

Tips & Warnings

• The control you have when you mill your own corn over the grind and the variety of corn used in the meal can open the door to new and exciting culinary possibilities. Experiment!

References

• Drying Corn
• Mother Earth News
• How to grind your own corn
• North American Millers Association