[tosca100]

Someone has given me two large carrier bags of maize for the chooks. How would I go about drying it for future use? We have been given dry weather for a while with temps in the mid 30s. I am presuming I would leave the husks on....or not. I believe the seed is easy to remove once dried but keeps better on the cob.

Anyone know?

[Annen]

The youtube vid I saw scraped all the corn off the cob and dried it loose, but I can't remember if you had to blanch it first.

[Nobbie]

I'd leave it on the cob and in the husk as long as it's properly mature and starchy. It's best left on the plants to dry, but that is the next best thing. Spread the cobs out to dry so there's plenty of air circulation or they may start rotting.

[snowdrops]

Id agree to leaving it on the cob & hanging it up to dry in an airy place.

[Snoop]

Bet your lovely neighbours would know.

[tosca100]

She certainly does....leave it on the plant to dry. Only these came in a carrier bag! They grew some in our garden last year and we thought she had forgotten it was there, but no, it was there till the end of summer. Our barn still has loads of cobs and stalks over a couple of beams where they must have been for at least eight years gathering dust, there have been no animals here since then. We don't want to move them, frightened what we might find. Every so often an empty cob will come down, presumably when there has been a rat or cat up there.

[surbie100]

Have just seen your blogpost about what to do with the produce you have - pears in a chilli and saffron syrup are amazing, and beans do well in a dehydrator as veggie crisps if you have one. Can't help on the rest except to wish I had neighbours as lovely as yours!

[tosca100]

We have three neighbours who give us stuff and I can see why people give up growing their own, never mind the incredibly low cost of produce in the market. But I like growing and I like to choose my varieties. At least that way we can give them something that they don't usually grow. And how proud I was to have the first melon.

If I asked how to dry maize for the chooks after her showing how to dry on the stalk she would probably send another load over, bless her. Last year, once all four shelves in the cellar were filled with bottles, we actually resorted to leaving bags of veg in laybys for the gypsies to pick up. I would rather do that than fill the communal bin with stuff, this week it was stuffed with large courgettes so no-one could put rubbish in, once it was broad beans, maybe because with the rain they had grown too big to bottle. Better that someone can use them.

Can't get saffron locally but I quite like the idea of the chilli syrup, and I have some vanilla syrup to use up. Will have to see if I can root out any bottles, there are some in one of the outhouses, been there years with the rodents so will need boiling well.

[surbie100]

Mebbe you should grow stuff on a rota with them... Large courgettes are also brilliant in the dehydrator as veggie crisps.

I'm guessing saffron crocuses wouldn't survive your winters?

[Snoop]

Mebbe you should grow stuff on a rota with them... Large courgettes are also brilliant in the dehydrator as veggie crisps.

I'm guessing saffron crocuses wouldn't survive your winters?

Maybe they would. Saffron is grown very near me, as well as down south in Spain.

What are your winters like, Tosca? It might make a nice gift if you could grow enough.

[tosca100]

Well, last year, our first, was the mildest winter for many years and this spring/summer the wettest. Winter temps when it was cold and snowy didn't get above -8 for a week or so. Winters generally are short but severe with -20 being common. Towns and villages are often cut off for weeks. But you can be sitting out having lunch in february, or even january this year.

I expect you can get saffron in Kaufland, but now we grow most of our food we avoid the big supermarkets, it's too easy to spend too much. We can get all our dog food, flour, sugar and vinegar, basic spices etc locally and milk from the farm. I know it grows wild in a smaller form than the cultivated variety but no idea if it is grown commercially.

[Snoop]

We have quite long winters, with first severe frost mid-October. We hit minus 12 by the end of November. Most nights are extremely cold by UK standards. The coldest I've recorded was minus 17, but it was also extremely windy, so probably a lot lower if you include the wind chill factor. Daytime temperatures are always above freezing and can be quite warm in January. Last frost is usually mid-April, though one year we had minus 6 in early May. Saffron grows here, apparently. I'm going to give it a go, though I'll be planting bulbs close to the house, partly for enjoyment and partly to give them a bit of protection.

[8doubles]

I dried some popping corn i grew for the chooks on the greenhouse staging.
On the cob is best .

[tosca100]

Thank you 8doubles. We have put them on the wall which gets quite hot, we have some cherry toms on there and if any are touching the wall they are quite cooked where they touch. Unfortunately, though we had discussed leaving the husk on, OH took them all off, thought I meant keeping the corn on the cob! What's done is done so we will just have to wait and see.

Snoop, where do you live? We don't get wind here except on special occasions, like a storm. We sometimes get a breeze. We are a long way from the coast and sheltered by the Stara Planina mountains. Tonight it is 29 degrees in the bedroom with the fan going so the dogs and I have come downstairs so they can sleep on the tiles. They pant too much upstairs but like to be with us. Will be shattered tomorrow.

[tosca100]

Just noticed you are in Spain Snoop, don't know why I couldn't see that!