"Pretty" corn is nice to look at, but what do people do when they are done looking at it?
Every fall, at least here in the United States, millions of these colorful cobs are sold! The main purpose for most people is simple: some festive decor for the fall/halloween/thankgiving/harvest season.
Sometimes though, I wonder. What do they do with them after that? Do they put them in a box to look at again next year? Do they throw them out in the garbage? Do they put them out by the bird feeder for the squirrels? Who knows?
Well, since @papa-pepper is a little different, I actually have a few potential practical uses for them once all of the decorative looking at them is over. Part of what I am attempting to accomplish by homesteading is not wasting money, so if I purchase something like these ornamental cobs, I had better be able to at least do something useful with them!
HOW TO GET MORE FROM YOUR ORNAMENTAL CORN
WILL THEY GROW?
I had a hunch that beautiful corn could be more useful than just looking at it, so I wanted to do a germination test. A lot of the corn out there is modified, but I think that they mostly stick to the yellow stuff with their manipulations. If these seeds would successfully germinate, then I would have some more possibilities.
I removed a few kernels from each cob. I had three small cobs and three large ones, and I took about five seeds from each. I then placed them on a wet paper towel and rolled them up, placing them in a plastic bag to preserve moisture. After a few days, I checked them to see if any progress had been made.
Sure enough, every single seed had sprouted. They now all have a root and a shoot! This means that the seeds can be used to grow more of this corn, which gives me some options. Would any of them taste like sweet corn? Could I make a corn meal from them to use in things like tortillas once the kernels dry and harden? Could they be used as animal feed? Can I just grow my own ornamental corn and never buy any again? Could I potentially sell ornamental corn next year to supplement my income?
The answer to at least the last three of those questions is "yes!" I'll have to look into those first two, but I certainly have some options now!
POPCORN?
Another interesting use for corn is popcorn! This was an easy test too!
I decided to take a few kernels from each cob and heat them on the stove in some oil. It only took a few moments to see the results. I started with the small cobs.
Shortly after starting my research, the kernels started popping. I love experiments like this. They are fun, the @little-peppers can help, and if you are successful, you can eat the results!
The dried kernels from every cob did very well in my test. Almost every single kernel was now popcorn!
Next I moved on to the large cobs with bigger kernels. Again I just removed some from each cob.
Soon, they were popping too, but something else happened as well.
The kernels from one particular cob would not properly pop. This means that particular cob will not be able to be grown for this purpose, but other options for it still exist. Overall, to have 5 out of 6 cobs be able to produce popcorn was not too bad. Have any of you ever made popcorn from ornamental corn cobs that you purchased?
LET'S CELEBRATE THE HARVEST!
Popping all of this corn for our experiment got us thinking. Maybe we should just make some popcorn. Since we had a good harvest of the popcorn that we grew ourselves this year, the @little-peppers got out our bag. They planted, watered, and harvested this popcorn, but we had not actually popped any yet.
Soon. we had a bowl full of our own homegrown popcorn to enjoy! We got out a movie and gathered as a family to enjoy some time together and to enjoy the fruit of our labor!
As always, I'm @papa-pepper and here's the proof:
proof-of-ornamental-corn
Until next time…
Don’t waste your time online, invest it with steemit.com
Say "Papa Pepper pops popcorn" 5 times really fast.
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I did that. Do I win a prize? ;-)
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Gosh! I really did that!
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I grow the Montana painted corn, it is beautiful. I sprout it for my chickens and cows.
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You can sprout corn for animal food? I thought only grass-y type crops benefited from sprouting. Any benefit to using corn for sprouting over other crops?
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You can sprout anything, there are HUGE nutritional reasons to sprout, mostly conversion of phytic acids. With cows, they really do not metabolize grain well at all, by sprouting you can enjoy HUGE savings on the feed bill, too.
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corn is a grass!
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Cool - I want to grow some of those too, they are on my list. I hear that you can eat that variety fresh too!
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Yeah... if you are REALLY hungry. Maybe if you picked it very young. When I tried, it just stuck to my teeth and was not very tasty. The sprouts are DELICIOUS though. Yes, I share dinner with my chickens... doesn't everyone?
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Amazing and beautiful photos and videos!
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The first time I see such a corn, it's yellow.
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Some Really Great Uses, Thanks for Posting! I Love to Upcycle and Repurpose Anything and Everything to Save Money, Earn Money, Reduce Unnecessary Waste and Create Art!
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The Native Americans did parched corn with regular non-popping corn. This could be done ahead, and carried like a snack. I planted a field from an ear one time. In the milk, the corn tasted pretty good as corn on the cob.
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Very cool. Thanks for sharing that!
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I use the ornamental corn to make hominy, but many people don't care much for hominy.
When planting ornamental corn, I plant it either for use as shade for other plants or to serve as a wind break.
On the cob, it also makes good bait for squirrels.
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informative blog to learn everything from this blog
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maize suitable for seed @papa-pepper good luck success always @papa-pepper
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I was interesting myself as to if this corn was just ornamental, so your experiments/tests have shown me it can be grown yourself and made into popcorn, almost makes it a shame to know that most likely most of it will be thrown out and wasted
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nice post.
Hah
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Good post
https://steemit.com/photography/@itikna09/selamat-pagi-sahabat-steemian-20171017t71547872z
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The world of Heirloom Seeds opened up a whole new dimension of understanding God's creation on a much deeper level! Waste Not, Want Not! Great Post! Thanks for sharing some WISDOM! Steem On! =)
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Yes, all of creation is an amazing place full of awe-inspiring wonder, though it is fallen.
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2 Peter 3:13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. ~Just imagine how much more creative God will be for that Promise!~ Enjoy the beauty while we can! I always say it's not a God forsaken world... it's a world that has forsaken God! Take care brother! =)
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Well said on that last part!
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Amazing..
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We also have such a tradition of frying popcorn, but yesterday we baked together pizza :)
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diwow.
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Dati ahas pinagtitripan nyan ngayon etits na ng oyabak.. haha
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Love your howto's @papa-pepper, always interesting and makes me want to try out stuff like this. One word to describe this, it's AWESOME! Thank you :)
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Ornamental corn can be ground and used to make bread and cooked with lime to make masa for tortillas. There are many more uses too. We have grown native Hopi corn for many years. Two types, blue for everyday use and white which is for holidays and ceremony. Kinda, roughly like a blue collar-white collar analogy. :D We alternate growing blue one year and white the next so they don't cross.
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I was going to say make popcorn and there the photos ;)
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I'm still waking up and didn't realize this was a @pappa-pepper post. It just looked interesting and I figured I'd quickly scan over it. However, I quickly realized I was in for a treat when I saw his face.
As always, great post with so much for us to learn/use. Thank you for sharing.
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LOL - thank you for that compliment. Yes, my face and the line of peppers eventually tip people off. You are not the first one to make such a comment!
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... I hope the others spelled your name correctly. Geez, I thought I proofed my reply.
You actually just helped me decide what's for dinner - spicy shrimp using peppers the neighbors gave us (because they're too hot). Yummy.
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The corn is very unique. This is the first time I've seen it. It seems that in my country no one has sold his seeds yet. If the corn is there in my garden, I will boil or burn every day with my family. Thank you for sharing @papa-pepper
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Very interesting. I’ve always gave the cobs to the squirrels.
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Got to try growing this cause I do love my popcorn ! 🐓🐓
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Woww in the Philippines I only see the regular yellow or hite corn..
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I thought pop corn was a type but this shows that probably most corn will pop. Interesting.
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nice post. very infomative
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I was looking at ornamental gourds at the store this morning and wondered if there were other options besides just throwing them out when fall is over, any ideas? Awesome post!
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I think people only call it ornamental because they don't know better. We have blue corn growing and my friends grew green and red. So many corn varieties out there - for grinding and popcorn. Good on you for figuring it out...
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Wow. Nice Harvest, Hope to taste that kid of popcorn.
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This corn is more healthy than other and is better than pop corn from commerce.Look not like standard pop corn but is yammy yammy when taste it.
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Indah sekali jagungnya, jadi lapar.....
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While maize is dominant in the American continent, it is also present in Asia and Europe. France, the largest European corn producer, grows more than 3 million hectares of maize (grain, forage, semen, sweet).
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interesting that you guys go to view sweet corn , here in my country we have no time for that we harvest them and the next thing you know is that its already food on the table, ornament or not its destined for the table, those popcorn look yummy nowander your son looks happy , ready to eat them
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Wow. Amazing.
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Congratulations @papa-pepper!
Your post was mentioned in the hit parade in the following categories:
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Well, now, those are some good suggestions.
Wanna know what I do with mine??
I place them over my front door and ask them to catch all the negative energies that might want to come in and bother me or my family or guests. And you know what, it does just that. Only thing is, I have to wait a full year for the new crop of them to come out and by that time, the one over my door have significantly dried out to dust! LOL
Thanks for the other suggestions though. I have seen this corn kernels in packages for popping. But the idea of sprouting them is really cool!! Thanks for sharing. RESTEEMED1
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This is my first year growing popcorn. I grew the glass gem variety from Baker Creek! It is so pretty! I have all my cobs hanging to dry so I can use them as seeds next year! :)
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The ones that didn't pop all the way are still good. We call them corn nuts and are still tasty with salt. Next year begins my popcorn experiment. Other types of corn haven't done so well.
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really do the good job.
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This post is awesome! Informative, fun and family oriented. Great work 👍🏼
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They are so beautiful for decoration.
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Kindly Upvote visit my post too as i just did on your post and following for more of your great posts. Thanks for this great post, and for sharing your thoughts with us. @OriginalWorks will also upvote accordingly.
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The @OriginalWorks bot has determined this post by @papa-pepper to be original material and upvoted it!
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I had no idea that you could actually use this kind of corn for anything except decorations, so I'm glad you thought of it and did these experiences and shared them with us. Like I said before, I always learn something new from your posts. Really cool. Thanks.
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