PEEv2c4

PEEv2c4

Grinding Flour

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( please excuse this article. I'll continue with yesterday's series, tomorrow. I actually got a bit excited with the second and third part of this rewrite, seeing as how much better it is turning out than the original )

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Once upon a time, there were poor peasants that needed to grind their own corn, but didn't have disposable income to buy junk that would fall apart, like the Americans buy. A company built a cast iron grinder, chrome plated, that was something that lasted a very long time indeed. It was called the Corona mill, not to be confused with the beer. Hippies back in the 70's got hold of this mill and started using it for grinding bread, in a desperate attempt at eating anything other than Wonder Bread ( it was wonderful. Tasting. Not so much healthy. It is fine, if you also get whole wheat grain in other products, but not as the sole source of wheat ).

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As a wee lad, skinny as the fish wife's screed is long, I was grinding away on that Corona as part of my chores, so that mom could bake whole wheat bread. Yet, grown ass men, mighty and macho, FLIR mounted AR's ready to do battle with communist hoards, are deathly afraid of manual labor. They break out in night sweats at the prospect. Of course, being at the cusp of Frail Fricking Grampahood myself, I'll be nice and assume you are just too old and gimpy to use a manual grinder of the Corona variety and give you alternatives.

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Now, as an aging prepper myself, I need you to understand something. Once you get TOO old, you are going to die. Not from old age, although there is that also, but from the apocalypse not being kind to old people under the influence of drugs. After a certain point, no tool is going to save you from yourself and your used up body. I'm not saying you should quit fighting, just that, surprisingly, we are all going to die. Have the grace to accept that, I beg of you. If you are so old that you are drooling through the gaps in your dentures, a motorized grinder is probably not enough to save you.

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So, here, you get EASIER grinders, but you don't get electrical grinders. I'm not going to recommend them, because I've never used them ( I'm now using an attachment to the KitchenAid, but that is not viable after the collapse. I just use it now to get extra fine flour, as I deserve that after eating 25% of my calories in whole wheat. Eat what you store, store what you eat. BUT! I also grind manually in the Corona prior to using the attachment, to save wear on the motor. I'm still performing the manual labor ). If you want one, everyone else and his brother reviews them for preppers.

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Spoiled bitches. Okay, back to the Corona. The thing can last a lifetime. But you NEVER have one of anything. One is none. You can stockpile lesser quality items, but never NOT have some kind of back-up. Thousands of pounds of wheat and you only have ONE grinder? Are you friggin insane? The Corona is now called the Victoria. And it is made in Colombia now rather than Mexico. Yeah, sorry, in a lot of ways their economy was better than ours, in growth and functionality, until their oil production failed one year too many ( it was declining 6-8% a year, for about a decade ). Workers in the US were returning to jobs there in 2009.

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That is our future, however much the Fracking Fanboys insist, their faces going red as they begin to shake uncontrollably, looking like a dog trying to pass a peach pit. Reality is not destined to be kind to 99.999% of Americans as they die a horrible death based mostly on ignorance and wishful thinking. Now, here is the thing about the Victoria. It was designed, surprisingly, to grind corn. Not wheat. You must grind wheat three times. Course, medium and fine. Looking at your mounted grinder, close the wheels all the way. You NEVER use that setting. Grinding metal on metal, or stone and stone, you destroy a grinder.

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Those plates touching is about 7 o'clock, visualized as a clock, a real clock, before digital. Unwind the plates, to 9 o'clock. That is your fine setting. 12 is your medium and 3 is your course. One grind on course, one of medium, and one on fine. That is your Victoria grinder flour. It is NOT a fine, pastry flour. It is a course flour. You cannot escape that. It is for peasants, not spoiled bitches. But the grinder is ONLY $42! And lasts a lifetime! You can buy $22 grinders, from the same place, Amazon ( adjusted for inflation, the Victoria's used to be a LOT more expensive. You SHOULD be thankful ).

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But those $22 units are from China. Not a culture that embraces quality manufacture. Sure, buy them as back-up's, but I don't trust the chrome plating, myself. I got two or three when they were $15 each, plus a special on shipping, and at that price I won't complain if they are crap. But I also have several Victoria's for REAL back-up's. The China crap is probably more for barter, like those crappy plastic AR mag's. Or soy flour. Better than nothing, but not something to bet your life on if you can help it.

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I swear by Victoria's, but they are a lot of labor, and they make marginal flour. To get a better flour, finer, with far less work, there is this mill:

https://amzn.to/2Pnb0Z3

It is a small skinny unit, easily stored, with a rectangle hopper, sometimes called the Victorio ( not to be confused with the above ), but here called the VKP1012. It has been near twenty years since I had one, but they were SOOOooo much easier than a Corona, with much finer flour. BUT!

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When I used it, and I'm sure it is the same today, it contained a plastic washer that you could see dropping little shaving of as you were grinding. This might only be on the fine grind, rather than course, but I liked the unit because it was a ONE use grind. So, I had to worry about plastic washers being used up on a regular basis ( which is why I got rid of it ). Now, here is the page for the replacement washers:

http://www.victorioproducts.com/parts/grain-mill-vkp1014/nylon-washer

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The unit is only $65 at Amazon ( more at the above site-make sure the Amazon unit takes the Victorio parts ), which isn't terrible for a one pass grinder and fine flour. And the washers are only $2 each. But how long do they last? That was an unknown to me, and worried me. Your mileage may vary. Moving on to a far more expensive unit, here is one:

https://amzn.to/35pcQyo

This is the Wondermill, one I've never used but recommended by others I trust. It is not for me, as I'll explain, but it is certainly better than spending twice as much.

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It does come with a bicycle attachment as an optional extra purchase, to me a far more realistic option than electric power. And it is $260 instead of $500. BUT! The fine pastry flour seems to need the stone inserts. I hate stone for grinders. I don't trust them to last ( to my mind, more fragile ), and a replacement set is $60. More than an entire Corona mill. Now, if you want stone for the Corona:

https://www.nazko.com/corona_stone_kit.html

I've had readers point me out to stone inserts for the Corona at half that price, and I don't trust them. The company offering them looks shady ( why aren't you upgrading the web site from 1999? ).

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But, again, your mileage may vary. I don't want to tell you NOT to buy the Wonder Mill. As I said, a trusted source uses that as a primary, with Corona back-up. I'm just sharing my fears. If you want bulletproof, you go with Corona ( now Victoria, but I stayed with Corona to avoid confusion with the grinder with washers ). NOT the Chinese knock offs, except as barter or back-up. If you want a better flour, for not too much more money ( and, far easier to use, grandma ), you'll need to deal with the replacement washer issue. If you want better flour at a price, but less robustness, and more labor than the washer unit, there is the Wonder Mill or Corona Stone.

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If you JUST want pastry flour cheap, for now to Eat What You Store ( but it won't last through the apocalypse, because 12v batteries ), I recommend the KitchenAid attachment ( and duh, obviously you also need to first own a KitchenAid ), here:

https://www.ebay.com/b/KitchenAid-Grain-Mills/168754/bn_7542516

( I can't recommend this from Amazon, as they went from $115 to $150 )

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( .Y. )

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