I went to Mexico to harvest corn today.

[panader0]

The corn is chapalote corn, one of the oldest corns in the world, but rare now. I posted about four months ago
about going down with the seed, obtained by a friend from Native Seed Search. The first crop, last year, was mostly
for this year's seed. This year produced about five acres and will provide enough seed for ten acres next year, plus
several thousand pounds to be milled into grain. The field is south of a little village called Cabullona, a picturesque
community with a small creek running through the trees. We always stop for the red or green chili burritos,
tamales or menudo. Well, it turned out that the old farmer my friend contracted to grow it said we needed to wait two more weeks.
So no long hard day in the field. The corn is chocolate brown, just gorgeous stuff. When I get the photos from my friend I'll post
them.

[hopemountain]

1. your trip sounds lovely &

reminds me of the guy from napa's Rancho Gordo. i'm about to order from his shop for my holiday giving.

[NV Whino]

10. Hey, thanks for this.

I'll have to check this out next time I'm in Napa. Had no idea this place existed, and I live in the valley.

[hopemountain]

12. he has a website, great newsletter & on fb. nt

[denbot]

2. Nice, I'll have to search out that link

Looking forward to pictures.

[Kali]

3. today was a great day for a Sonoran road trip

can't wait to see the photos

[Major Nikon]

4. What do you plan on doing with the corn meal?

I've heard some chefs have been making chapalote into polenta (grits). If they can stone grind some of it to the right consistency, that might be worth a try.

[panader0]

5. The corn will be taken to an old mill in Tempe.

There are still a few details to work out with the US officials about bringing the corn across the line.
The miller apparently has a market for this native stuff. I'm new to this. But it seems like a cool venture. My friend
is not in it for the money as much as saving the strain.

[Major Nikon]

6. If it's an old mill, chances are they are doing stone grinding

It would be good to see if they can do different consistencies so you can try different things with it. You can actually make grits out of either coarse or fine grinds, but other recipes would favor one or the other.

There might be a high end culinary market for the stuff as I'm sure there's plenty of chefs that would like to have a source for the stuff.

[panader0]

7. The old farmer seemed puzzled about why people would want that kind of corn.

Last edited Sun Nov 1, 2015, 10:12 PM - Edit history (1)

He showed us his field of sweet corn, grown from seeds the family has used for many years, and explained
that this was much better to eat than the chapalote. He said he has tried many strains of seeds and that
most new ones have no flavor.
He doesn't understand "high end culinary market" tastes, but he does understand that there is money to be made.

[pinboy3niner]

9. See how your chapalote tortillas come out and let us know

You might be onto something good. Good luck!

[csziggy]

8. That reminds me of a story my first anthropology professor told

Especially with the comments of the old farmer about his sweet corn. This told was in a class I took in 1970 and dated from just after World War II.

Some US Department of Agriculture representatives approached some of the Hopi Indians about trying a new variety of corn. Since the seed corn was free they agreed. The Ag guys checked back a few times over the summer and the corn grew very well, getting taller than the old strains the Indians had been using.

After harvest time they went back to find that all the Indians were unhappy with the corn they had harvested since it was useless for their purposes. They'd been growing a type of corn that produced hard kernels that stored well and was perfect for grinding into cornmeal. The new varieties were sweet corn which produces soft kernels that are sweeter but that don't store well and are useless for grinding.

The US Department of Agriculture had to bring in corn of the correct varieties to provision the Indians over that year. They also hired cultural experts - anthropologists - that understood the actual needs and dietary habits for the various groups they were trying to help produce more food.

[UTUSN]

11. How about inviting me next time?!1 n/t

[hopemountain]

13. i remeber purple corn shortbread cookies

from my childhood. and some other type of purple corn cheese biscuits. they came from the mountain villages in the state of durango.