Chicken Feed Grist Mill

Our yellow dent corn is certified organic, triple-cleaned and perfect for baking & cooking purposes, including grinding for cornmeal or corn flour, or making hominy or masa.

Our organic yellow dent corn is certified organic and non-GMO, and comes in six-gallon buckets (or pails... another word for the same container), containing 38 lbs. net weight. When you store yellow dent corn at home, it needs to be protected in a couple of ways. First, it needs to be protected from a variety of little critters who'd like to get to it before you do. Weevils and rodents, for example. You also need to protect your bulk corn from picking up excessive additional moisture, which can be drawn from the atmosphere. The buckets our organic corn comes in provide full protection against these storage risks. They have airtight gasket-sealed lids, Mylar liners, and oxygen absorber packets that remove the oxygen from the air in the bucket after we put the lid on. The O2 absorbers leave an atmosphere of nitrogen in the bucket, because air consists almost entirely of oxygen and nitrogen. (The oxygen absorber packets themselves are completely food-safe, being made of powdered iron and salt, which are kept separate from the product itself.) Our buckets safely lock out pests, and biological processes are put "on hold" in the Mylar protected, oxygen-free nitrogen atmosphere, so your bulk corn enjoys complete peace and quiet until you want to use it.

In whole-grain foods, the plant's cellular walls protect nutrients from oxidation. The process of oxidation begins to occur as soon as grain is ground, exposing the cell's contents to oxygen in the air. Flour that is several days (or more) old, has been exposed to oxygen that inevitably diminishes its nutritional value. The way to get full nutrition from whole grain foods is to mill them when you need them, right in your kitchen. Modern high-speed grain mills make it fast and easy to enjoy the freshest, best tasting and most nutritious food imaginable!

All of our bulk corn is triple-cleaned to ensure purity and protect your grain mill from any foreign objects. (Corn that isn't sufficiently cleaned may contain small stones that will damage or destroy a grain mill... not to mention that you don't want such things in your food!)

All of Pleasant Hill Grain's whole grain products are natural (non-GMO). Also, PHG does not sell any grains, beans, lentils, pulses or seeds sourced from China.

Our organic yellow dent corn has a shelf life of 10+ years when unopened and stored in a cool, dark, dry environment.

Yellow dent corn, also called field corn or dented corn, (zea mays indurata) is the type of maize that most cornmeal, corn chips and corn tortillas are made with. This corn gets its name from the depression (or “dent”) that appears at the crown of the mature corn kernel. Dent corn is the most commonly grown and consumed type of corn in North America, and some varieties are used as livestock feed or to produce ethanol and cooking oils. Dent corn is starchy and high in omega-6 and antioxidants.

The main difference between yellow corn and white corn is that yellow corn contains carotene. Carotene is a substance that gives plants a yellow or orange color. Carotenoids are a great source of Vitamin A, an antioxidant which supports a strong immune system, as well as healthy bones, teeth, and soft tissue. Carotenoids also contains xanthophylls, which promote good eye health.

Fresh ears of yellow dent corn can be roasted and served with a savory butter and herbs for a tasty summer side dish. The sweet flavor of dent corn pairs well with chiles, berries, stone fruit, aromatic spices, tomatoes, cumin and pepper. Dent corn is naturally gluten-free.

When ground, dent corn is excellent in cornbread, hush puppies, tortillas and grits. Corn is usually ground to a coarser texture than wheat flour, and called cornmeal. Very fine cornmeal is referred to as corn flour, which can be used to thicken sauces, puddings and soups. Cornmeal or corn flour can be combined with wheat flours to soften the texture of baked goods. Freshly ground cornmeal should be used immediately or stored in the refrigerator or freezer to avoid rancidity.

will grind dent corn to any texture from cracked to fine corn flour. Since dent corn kernels are large, grind first with the milling stones opened widely to produce cracked grain, then run the cracked grain through the mill a second time, at a finer setting, for flour.

By soaking and then cooking yellow dent corn in a limewater solution, or other alkaline mixture, you can make your own nixtamal, or hominy. Nixtamalization loosens the hard, outer layer of the kernel, so it can easily be rinsed away. The process of soaking greatly increases the nutritional value of recipes made with corn, in part by breaking down the phytic acid, which prevents your body from properly absorbing nutrients. Nixtamilzation allows the nutrient niacin, which normally your body can’t absorb, to become free for assimilation. This process was used by the Mayans as far back as 1500 B.C.

Dried nixtamal can be ground into flour called masa harina, by using a stone burr mill or impact mill . Masa harina can be used to make corn dough (called masa) for tortillas, sopes, and a host of other traditional Latin American recipes. When water is mixed with raw corn flour it doesn’t create dough; but when water is mixed with masa harina, a beautiful corn dough develops. Masa harina is also used for atole, a warm, spiced drink commonly found in Mexico and Central and South America. Dried nixtamal can also be coarsely ground and made into grits.

To simplify the process of grinding nixtamal, it can be ground when it’s still wet by using a steel burr grinder, such as the Wonder Junior Deluxe+ grain mill w/Masa Auger.

Organic yellow dent corn can be a healthful addition to chicken feed, as it’s the easiest grain for chickens to digest. Chickens can consume the corn whole, or cracked. Some people like to ferment or sprout the grain for a couple days before feeding it to their chickens to provide a more nutritious diet.

The Maximizer® hand crank corn sheller rapidly removes every kernel of grain from whole corn ears. The crank turns very easily and the production rate is ten to fifteen bushels of shelled corn per hour (about ten seconds per corn ear). It works on all normal dry ears, even skinny popcorn ears down to 2" diameter.

The sheller turns on sealed ball bearings for smooth operation and long life. Premium ductile iron—not the common brittle grey cast iron—is used for high strength, and the sheller features a tough, handsome powder coat finish.

Corn is grown in every U.S. state. Some ears always fall to the ground, and those ears become yield-robbing volunteer corn (weeds) in the next year's crop. The highest concentration of dropped ears are found at field ends, where large harvesting machines make turns. If you don't grow your own corn, ask a farmer if you can pick up their problem ears. Most are eager to have them gone!

In addition to shelling corn, The Maximizer® sheller also hulls walnuts when the hulls are brown and fairly dry. It doesn't remove green hulls just off the tree or those that have become very hard.

Spring tension on the hinged pressure plate is easily adjustable with a thumb screw. Since one setting accommodates a wide range of corn ear sizes, adjustment is generally set-and-forget.

The corn sheller's ingenious design automatically ejects empty cobs to the side, so they don't drop into your shelled grain.

Cleats are provided to clamp the sheller onto a board, or if you prefer you can bolt it on directly, through provided holes. A popular mounting option, as shown in the accompanying photos, is to clamp onto the side of a bottomless box that's set inside a bin or tote box. After a quantity of corn is shelled, the box and sheller can be lifted out, leaving your tote full of grain.

The Maximizer hand crank corn sheller is warranted to be free of defects in materials and workmanship for one year. Due to the possible introduction of strains beyond the sheller's design limits, powering the sheller by any means except the provided hand crank voids the warranty. The sheller is designed and warranted for non-commercial use.

Please note that the Maximizer Corn Sheller is for use with dry corn; it does not remove kernels from fresh, high-moisture corn ears.

To cut kernels from fresh corn ears, we offer a Stainless Corn Creamer & Cutter, One-Pass Corn Cutter, and the Kuhn Rikon Corn Zipper.

Tags: manual hand crank corn thresher, maize, walnut, huller, manual, rotary, stripper, non-electric, walnut shucker/deshucker