Our Corn Accident!
Corn 2017
Today we are popping the kernels off of our dried Field Corn!
Our corn is probably our biggest accident of the growing season this year, but what an amazing and beautiful accident it was! We thought we were growing corn that we could eat fresh, but, we didn't.
We got our corn from Seedy Sunday, a yearly seed selling an trading event here in Edmonton, and Sherwood Park Alberta. Some we got for free on the swap table and some that I had bought in previous years. It turns out that we ended up with three varieties of dried Indian corn.
We have Flint corn, this yellow one:
Painted Mountain corn, which is the beautiful bright multi coloured stuff:
Finally we have strawberry Indian corn, which I'm afraid is not going to be able to ripen in time before winter:
Normally we research better the things we plan on growing, but we had such a huge garden this year, and so many other things to look up it kind of slipped our minds. I was hoping that maybe it would pop like popcorn, but it doesn't.
These varieties are often used to make grits which is also known as hominy, and a staple food of many different cultures. Our types of corn are often used as animal feed and as also as beautiful decorations in autumn.
I did see a recipe for corn nuts that looks promising. I think that's what I'm going to try, I'll just have to soak them overnight and roast them in the oven with some seasoning. I'll make another post about that when I get around to it, if it actually works well! LoL
This corn grew very well, they were nice and strong plants, although they did draw in quite a few aphids. Yuck!
I plan to share a lot of the seeds from the painted mountain corn with friends and family and anyone who would like some because it's a beautiful heirloom variety to continue growing.
Next year I want to make sure to have sweet corn that we can eat fresh, and popcorn as well, but I'll still plant a bit of the painted mountain because it's so unbelievably beautiful.
Did you grow corn this year?
Have you ever made a corny mistake like we did? LoL
Nice food for healthy.
Thank you! It sure is beautiful! :)
we grew bofo corn in our community space. it is still growing.... I have a mill which grinds it just right for polenta
That sounds great! I've actually never tried polenta, but I've been meaning to! Is it hard to make? The recipes are a little intimidating
I think not letting it burn is the most difficult part :) presoaking is a good idea. Here is a video I found helpful http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2015/05/smooth-creamy-polenta-recipe.html
Haha ok good to know!
Thanks for the video! I've only seen it in a solid state, I didn't realize people at it at an oatmeal consistency! LoL
If you're going to grow corn-on-the-cob corn and Indian corn you need to plant them at least 30 meters apart or they will cross and your sweet corn will have more starch and not be as sweet. Just for fun, I planted one single red kernel of corn amongst a block of Peaches 'n Creme corn. It was very interesting to see the odd red kernal popping up in the P 'n C corn in a 1 meter radius that spread around the one native corn plant. I'm going to plant the offspring next year to see what I get.
I'm surprised you can even grow corn up Edmonton way.
See, it's times like this that I'm so incredibly happy I joined steemit!!! I would have foolishly planted them all right together! LoL
Thank you SO much for the tip!
Corn grows quite well up here actually, it's all prairies, so we mainly grow canola and alfalfa up here but about an hour or two south it's nearly all wheat and corn, corn does a bit better down there but they still can do really well up this far as well :)
I love growing corn. For awhile I had some supposedly Nez Perce ancestral corn. The Nez Perce (Nimíipuu) are in Idaho, so I thought it would be a good short season corn. It grew really well around the 32nd parallel, but above the 49th it didn't mature before the first frost (mid September). I still have some seed, I think, but corn seed only keeps a couple of years before it dies.
I once smuggled some corn seed back from Ecuador. No day length variations at the eqauator. At the 32nd parallel it grew incredibly tall. How tall, you may ask? One stalk was 22 feet from root to tassle top! Didn't produce much corn, though.
I even encountered corn on a hike through the jungle in the Mexican state of Chiapas. It was along the Agua Azul river. These are the lands of the Lacandon people (Maya). Corn originated not far from here. Walking through the crop was like being in a forest. I had to reach up to touch the lowest ears on the stalks. It was magical.
Wow!!! That is truly incredible!!!
22 feet!! Amazing! I can't even really picture it! LoL
Your travels sounds really cool, I'm a bit of a homebody but I love learning about the flora and fauna around the world, it never occurred to me that corn would still be growing wild in parts :)
So awesome!
Not wild. Corn is one of this plants that would go extinct if people didn't plant it. It's been cultivated for 10,000 years. These were different varieties under cultivation.
I told a friend about my tall corn and he didn't believe me, so I invited him over, we pulled it up and we measured it. He still had a hard time believing it. Beautiful kernels: deep yellow with red stripes.
Ah, that makes more sense to me! LoL
What variety was that tall guy?
I'm planning what kinds I'm going to plant for next year and so far I've got; pink popcorn, painted mountain again, some type of sweet corn and I'd love to find a type of inca corn with the huge kernels to make into toasted corn :) I'm not sure I've got enough space to keep them apart though now! Haha
No idea what variety. I was waking down a dirt road outside of Quito. Some workers were harvesting corn, shucking it and throwing it in a pile. It was beautiful. I paid a guy a quarter for an ear. He must have thought I was nuts. You could buy a dozen long-stemmed roses for a dollar at the time.
Seed saver's exchange might have what you're looking for. Good luck.
I really appreciate the info!!!! West coast seeds sells a few popcorn and lots of sweet corn, finding inca may be another story LoL
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I've never grown corn, but dang if this post isn't making me change my mind for the Spring...
~ Kevin
Glad to hear it Kevin! It was so cool to peel back those husks and being totally shocked by the colour! :)