Wanted Food Grade Raw Corn

[tony]

I'm trying to find a good source of clean food grade field corn. I've bought a Corona corn grinder off of ebay and I'm using it to make my own ground / cracked corn meal and flour. It's a pretty good workout but that seems to be the only way I can be positive there is no cross contamination.

Anybody know of a good source? I've been buying squirrel corn still on the cob but I'm concerned about why it's not "food grade". I've heard that the difference is that food grade corn is dried differently than animal feed to reduce mold. Any farmers that can chime in on this?

[RiceGuy]

Unless you buy corn directly from a farm, I doubt you can be absolutely sure. A few years ago I noticed my allergies going bananas, and I narrowed it down to corn. I immediately suspected genetically modified corn or perhaps mold was the cause, since corn never did that to me before. I would later find out that GM (Genetically Modified) corn ended up in grocery stores. The report said it was accidental, but I don't fully believe that since they have been trying to get GM corn into the food chain anyway. The trials conducted reveiled hightened allergic reactions, so the corn was used as animal feed. I'd be worried about this with the corn you are getting, not to mention issues of contamination due to lower storage standards.

I would have recommended locating the source of corn before buying a grinder. Anyway, I have located certified organic corn meal. I just found it recently, so I've yet to try it. But the company seems nice, and they do answer emails. The site is Open Original Shared Link

[tony]

Unless you buy corn directly from a farm, I doubt you can be absolutely sure. A few years ago I noticed my allergies going bananas, and I narrowed it down to corn. I immediately suspected genetically modified corn or perhaps mold was the cause, since corn never did that to me before. I would later find out that GM (Genetically Modified) corn ended up in grocery stores. The report said it was accidental, but I don't fully believe that since they have been trying to get GM corn into the food chain anyway. The trials conducted reveiled hightened allergic reactions, so the corn was used as animal feed. I'd be worried about this with the corn you are getting, not to mention issues of contamination due to lower storage standards.

I would have recommended locating the source of corn before buying a grinder. Anyway, I have located certified organic corn meal. I just found it recently, so I've yet to try it. But the company seems nice, and they do answer emails. The site is Open Original Shared Link

I tolerate corn very well after my gut has healed. After I posted this I hunted down a feed store and bought some Amish hand picked corn on the cob that is sold as squirrel feed. I shelled it myself, ground it and made some excellent polenta. Not dead yet.

My beef with all these small organic farms is that they probably use the same stone for grinding all their grains. The stones seem like they would be impossible to completely clean. The other sorce of contamination is just airborne flour dust. No way can you grind flour with machinery and not have a dust of it coat everything near by. I've been contaminated by at least 4 different brands of corn meal which is what lead me to this extreme.

[RiceGuy]

I see. I have noticed reactions to corn tortilla chips, except for a brand which is certified organic. Those are fine for me, so I started looking for organic corn meal. However, my reactions are not gluten reactions AFAIK. If you determined that it was gluten contamination, that worries me about the corn meal then. I haven't looked, but I suppose there are ways to test for the presents of the glutenous proteins.

Anyway, the farm I linked to doesn't grind their own corn meal. That may be good or bad. I am planning to get some to try, so if you like I can post the results.

[tony]

Most commercial corn chips are not gluten free. Tostitos has nailed me before and when I called up to ask about their chips they let me know in no uncertain terms their chips contain gluten.

I also wanted to add that my corn grinder and I are getting along very nicely. I've become a big fan of polenta.

[Felidae]

Que Pasa brand tortilla chips and corn tortillas are gluten free according to their website.

[RiceGuy]

Most commercial corn chips are not gluten free. Tostitos has nailed me before and when I called up to ask about their chips they let me know in no uncertain terms their chips contain gluten.

I also wanted to add that my corn grinder and I are getting along very nicely. I've become a big fan of polenta.

Corn chips and tortilla chips are two different things. I also only buy plain ones - no flavorings or anything, and the ingredients are just basically corn, oil and salt. There isn't anything mysterious to wonder about. When I've reacted to corn at all, it was a sinus reaction, which is completely different from any gluten symptoms I ever get. Plus mostly the reaction was to ordinary fresh frozen corn. The reaction I had to chips was with some cheap brand of white corn tortilla chips.

Glad you like your grinder. It does sound like a nice way to get corn.