August 28, 2009 - 5:00pm
Country Living Grain Mill with Corn Auger
Has anyone used this mill to grind nixtamalized corn (hominy)? How well does it work?
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Country Living Grain Mill with Corn Auger
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I don't even know what that is! :) I have used mine to mill both field corn and popcorn and it works great for that. I've also done dry beans and it makes a great bean flour.
Symple -- Nixtamal (aka hominy or posole) is whole corn steeped in lime or some other alkaline solution. It can be used whole in pozole (soup) or ground into masa.
Alan -- I should have specified wet, fresh, or moderately dried hominy. Thanks for your input. I’m wondering if it takes a large throat, a certain auger, or something else to mill wet hominy.
cb
Yes, wondering if the Country Living Grain mill can handle the wet nixtamalized corn!
I am just trying the nixtamal process. I know I could grind in the Vitamix then add some packaged masa, but would love to do the whole process without added masa!
I have only tried it once, and in fact bought it for this with a corn/bean auger. It was a bit messy and I was scared off and haven't tried it since. This said, I have seen the nixtamatic.com.mx website and this is noisy and messy as well (also about the same price as what I already spent on my multi-tasker instead of this unitasker). I am buying some organic blue and white corn (yellow corn is not as nice in my view and is a bit tougher to remove the pericarp), and will try again. I have used my Kitchenaid food processor but it overheats when I do. Quebrada, or broken nixtamal (hominy) is actually what I get at my local market fresh (still warm in the morning) here in New Mexico. I think that two passes would be required for tortillas.
I have ground nixtamalized corn (nixtamal / hominy) twice now with my Country Living Grain mill using the Peanut Butter+ accessories:
Note:
I have the belt-driven motor attachment for the mill.
It was slow going both times -
This last time, it took me almost an hour to process about 10 pounds of corn dough (masa).
This last time left me wondering if the slow pace has anything to do with the size of the gaps in the auger that comes with the Peanut Butter+ kit, as I constantly needed to force the grains down through the hopper using the wooden utility that comes with the mill.
Next time I plan to try using the Peanut Butter+ attachment with the corn / bean auger.
Yes the Country Living Grain Mill can make masa, with the corn auger and the regular burrs (grinding plates). I do this often because I’m stubbornly diy and because I bought a 25 kilo bag of corn. And because so tasty! My one kilo batches (500 grams dry) take 20-30 min to mill by hand. I nixtamalize (alkalai boil and soak) in cal or wood ash and then run the rinsed corn in a vitamix till it won’t chop any more, otherwise the kernels are too big to feed well through the auger. I put an extender bar (stick of wood and zip tie) on the wheel crank because it takes a lot of force to extrude the masa, and I have to push it into the hopper with the end of a rolling pin at the same time. A good workout, and the mill must be taken apart (remove the plates) after to clean and dry. The masa sort of extrudes out in a tube and you have to scoop it out from around the grinding plates when you’re finished. Then the masa goes in the stand mixer with some water until it’s the right consistency. All together, maybe a hour to mill, clean, mix, and start pressing tortillas. But those tortillas- wow, the flavor, the puff. Serve them as they cook, there’s magic in those first moments after they leave the griddle. You can make very fine masa with this mill, or coarser for tamales.