Milling corn at home

[ChrisTaylor]

I can get my hands on 'broken' dried white corn kernels. I have designs on using these for a couple of dishes: sadza and its southern equivalent, grits. Accessing grits locally is difficult unless you're happy to settle for the flavoured instant kind. And sadza? Impossible. South African mealie, ja, but nothing as coarse as grits.

 

Anyway. Dried corn kernels. Do you reckon a coffee/spice grinder would be able to handle them? My objective is not corn powder but something with a fair bit of texture to it. Rustic, if you will. I'm also dealing with a small quantity of corn. I don't mind if I have to grind it in several batches.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

It might be too hard for a coffee mill - I'd suggest a stone mortar and pestle, particularly if it's a small enough amount.

[Lisa Shock]

I've got a hand-crank metal grinder I purchased years ago, it has served me well in that its practically indestructible. HERE'S a site with great instructions on how to make grits and corn flour with one. They show up at thrift stores occasionally.

[ChefPip]

Time was when every little country General Store had a grain mill.  Some were large and others small.  They are still around and can be purchased new or used. eBay perhaps.

 

You can look at a few photos on this site:

 

http://historiccookingschool.com/early-1900s-flour-and-cereal-grain-mills/

 

 

I own an antique wooden coffee grinder like this one:

 

http://www.taltopia.com/view/146580/Antique-Coffee-Grinder

 

It belonged to my Great Grand Parents and was handed down to me.  I used to grind

the white field corn Grand Dad grew with it and we had Grit's for the cold winter mornings

and corn meal for making Corn Bread.   It was adjustable with the wing nut at the bottom left.

 

I remember the Corn Bread Grand Mother made with it was coarse as a piece of sand stone,

but it dissapeared from the table almost instantly.  Always met with approval from the older

menbers of the family who had grown up with that sort of thing.  So if you can find an antique coffee

grinder like I have or even a grain mill like the small general stores had, then you should be able

to get coarse corn meal or even more coarse.....grits.

 

An iron skillet of that cornbread always seemed to help empty jars of apple butter, and sorghum.

Edited September 22, 2014 by ChefPip (log)

[ChrisTaylor]

I knew I'd seen something similar to that hand-operated coffee grinder at a local shop so I went hunting. I came back with this:

 

 

This is not an antique hand-operated coffee grinder. This was cheap. It's not the best quality, but I figure it'll do the job. 

[ChefPip]

Looks good !   I'd only suggest that you grind a sample and see how fine it grinds.  Also see if you can in any way

adjust the grinding mechanism. 

 

If you can't adjust it, look and see if you can find some wire sieves of various mesh sizes to sift out the finer grindings and

save the more coarse ones for grits. Then you can put some of the fine grindings in with the coarse ones to suit

the cooking characteristics you want.

[jayt90]

I use a VitaMix to grind coffee beans. It takes 10 - 15 seconds for 6 oz., depending on the type of grind I need. I find this comparable to my Baratza Virtuoso or manual Zassenhaus, although coffeegeeks will disagree. 

 

I think grinding corn would be a cinch in the VitaMix.