James Wesley,
I’d like to add my experiences regarding locally grown feed stock corn. One of the big motivators to buy local is cost savings. Shipping grain to add to food storage is expensive.
I discovered the thousands of acres of locally grown feed corn may or may not be safe for human consumption. As you note there are higher levels of bacteria in this corn and the corn is not necessarily handled in a food grade manner. The local big name co-op will not recommend eating the feed stock corn they sell. While not as critical, yellow dent corn which is the most common feed corn, is not the best choice for grinding corn meal.
As you have previously stated, seed corn is heavily treated and should never be used for consumption. I was totally shocked to learn all of the corn we see growing all over this country isn’t 100% safe to eat. Some of it is and some of it isn’t. Of course given the right circumstances we will eat what we can find. My research led me to discover local organic farmers. I used the Local Harvest web site to find local farmers I am now a member of a local buying co op and we buy products from a large organic farm in bulk once a month. The farm is located within 200 miles and they will deliver to us at no charge once we meet the minimum purchase. I have found the arrangement to be the best way to add safely to my food storage without paying for shipping. I am able to buy food grade yellow dent corn for $12 per 50 pound bag. One of the uses of the Rawles Gets Your Ready Family Preparedness Course is the information on how to repack bulk food for long term storage.
I am not a big time organic food proponent however I believe we will return to locally grown food for a number of reasons. Quality, safety, availability, logistics and common sense being some of them. Not that long ago farmers only grew corn which was totally safe for animal and human consumption. There wasn’t any other corn grown. It is a sad state of affairs our farmers for the sake of keeping the farm viable find it compelling to grow less than food grade grains. Best regards, – Doug S.
Sir:
One of your readers asked about obtaining feed corn for grinding into cornmeal. My local restaurant supply store – a “Cash & Carry” – sells 12.5 lb. bags of popcorn for around $5.
I don’t know much about varieties of dried corn, but the popcorn grinds up into a very tasty cornmeal flour. I put it through a coarse sieve for baking purposes; what’s left behind in the sieve includes a lot of the tough outer membrane. Cooking what was left in the sieve into a porridge was not a success, but the flour itself was fine. And of course, this worked as popcorn too.
Cash & Carry is a Western non-membership regional chain, with stores in Washington, Oregon, California, and Idaho. They are online at SmartFoodService.com and offer a bigger selection of beans, rice and condiments, at better prices, than the Costco in my area. Regards – N.A.