Saturday, December 21, 2019

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:
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:
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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:
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:
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:
( I can't recommend this from Amazon, as they went from $115 to $150 )
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( .Y. )
( today's related Amazon link click HERE )
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note: HB in SC-most extreme generous snail mail donation, many thanks.
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note: I was gifted a music CD which is of Bill Douglass.  I'm really not all that into music, but it seemed the guy was talented even if not my bag, baby.  Two songs that stood out were "Far Cry From Freedom" and, even more relevant to minions, "End Of The World".  Music is as subjective as books are, so check out the song for yourself to see if you'd like to buy the CD.  He is over HERE 
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50 comments:

  1. About those plastic washers, don't know what size they are, but copper washers are frequently used on automotive brake lines. A trip to Advance Auto might turn up something more durable, yet softer than the base metal of the grinder. You might also be able to scavenge some off a vehicle in a parking lot too, but you didn't hear that from me.

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    1. Copper washers or brass washers are cheep. McMaster-Carr will sell 'em to you.

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  2. You can cook whole wheat kernels just like you cook rice. You do not have to grind it first.

    Do you prefer the steel AR-15 magazines over the plastic? If so, what brand, etc.?

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    1. The problem with boiled wheat is the same as it is with boiled rice. It is BORING. You'll get very tired of it very fast. Grinding into flour gives you some variety. You can also sprout it first, if you don't have a grinder, BTW My book How To Eat Wheat covers all that, BBB11
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      I know some folks simply love Mag-Pul. I haven't tried those. But the Tapco mags were crap, only suitable to sell during a ban. I'm sticking with aluminum mags. Not sure about brand, I got the ten pack special from PSA.

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    2. I once tried Kurt Saxon’s cooking wheat in a thermos method. It actually wasn’t half bad, albeit a bit chewy. I just brought it to a boil, but I probably should have boiled it for about 5 minutes before dumping it into the thermos.

      I’d like to try it again someday, but with the wide mouth thermos instead. They tell you not to use the wide mouth thermos for this method of cooking, but I found it to be a total pain in the ass to remove the cooked wheat from the standard thermos. I’d have to devise some type of insulated jacket, or maybe wrap it in a blanket in order to hold the heat in longer. But the conventional thermos is hard to use for this method of cooking, due to the narrow mouth.

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    3. If John Mosby's opinion is of value to you, his favorite is the MagPul P-Mag. I'm pretty sure his second favorite is the Lancer (polymer body, steel lips). The only problem with the P-Mag is you're supposed to keep the dust cap on if it's fully loaded so the feed lips don't deform over time. HOWEVER...I have several P-Mags, fully loaded, without the dust caps on for several years now with no deformation, and others that I do have the dust caps on. Even though the fully loaded P-Mag lips haven't spread YET, I still feel more comfortable with my Lancers, their lips can't spread under normal use.

      Thanks to Demented guy and Spud in yesterdays comments, protecting me from malnutrition when it really counts by inappropriately steaming my acorns :-)
      Romans 14:11

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    4. 4:54-yeah, five minutes seems to be the minimum with the thermos. Which is pretty much why I got a pressure cooker-same time to cook, without the thermos. Of course, I also have back-up thermos'

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    5. I have heard that the Lancer magazines are pretty good stuff. Someone told me once to get some HK mags.Pfffftttt JFC! is that a typo?$$$$ I like the USGI ones, especially with some of those green or grey followers for an upgrade when needed. I think Brownells carried those at one time, and they sold a nice generic USGI style magazine too. I am spoiled by the robustness and reliability of com-bloc AK 47 magazines. When I hold an AR magazine it doesn't instill confidence but I know it'll probably work, like a flip-top box of Marlboro 100's right?

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    6. Commies know how to make weapons, we know how to make profit

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  3. Not having to grind wheat, ever, at all, (total virgin) I would be mechanically curious to mad scientist set up some form of gearing system, (like bike gears, etc) to increase work out put with lessened efforts. Either pedal powered, or hand crank type of mechanics. With the necessary amount of wheat to store up, and the prospect of perpetual chores of the food prep (grinding) some MACRO engineering put into place, now, while there is access to supplies and equipment to build up that infrastructure would be wise. Magyver up some system so it is "so easy a child can do it". Thus when we are old geezers or weak refugee skeletons we can crank out some wheat flour and bake bread on a rock surviving along miserable but better than not at all.

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    1. "Bake on a rock". Check out "essence bread". Sprouted kernels, low enough temps so as not to damage the vitamins.

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    2. Zarathustra Bread is similar. Page 494 of book Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon. Good info throughout for survivalists.

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    3. 10:40,interesting you brought that up. I found a copy of that on archive.org and just started going through it.

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    4. Thanks for the heads up, I'll go there next for my copy

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    5. Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon is an excellent book. Good now and when times are very difficult. How to cook with the most nutrition following the old-times ways.

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    6. Have it on paper, somewhere. Hopefully with it on the Kindle I'll get around to reading it.

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  4. If you have to feed more than yourself (and even then) consider the Country Living Mill. James seems to consider it a FLIR type yuppie purchase, but I disagree. The one I purchased in the late 1990s is still going strong, easy to use and versatile (I do wheat, rye, buckwheat, & barley mainly - it does corn and beans by swaping grain auger for corn auger). I think it was under $300 then. Over time it factors out to very little per year.
    Spare plates, bearings, shaft key and machine screws are all available and I stockpile to make one mill go a long, long time. That being said, I'm still using the original set of plates.
    If you keep an eye on the manufacturer's site, they have cosmetically blemished mills frequently for $350. I bought one as an additional backup a few years back. I like dealing direct with the maker. The owner and inventer Jack has answered the phone himself when I called.
    I have my mill mounted on a poplar board about 1×2 ft to give it a wide stable base. I set the mill on the kitchen table and clamp down on the board with two bar clamps (small Vice Grip brand where a squeeze grip tightens easy and quick). Grind whatever I need in one pass, dust the mill off (with a new paint brush dedicated just for mill), and put away.

    It's a good tool. Long lasting, serviceable if needed, made in USA and a pleasure to use.
    It's not the lowest price point possible, but beyond that it gives excellent value for decades. And I know your point was what mill does the job at peasant accessable cost. Everybody's money situation is different. But such a essential tool's cost bourne by more than one person helps. Groups are not happening for most of us, but this is a piece of equipment that would be painless financially to own jointly with tight likeminded family or the mythical survival group.
    Turtle Island

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    1. I don't dislike the best, highest quality. You can go back and get that, later. After all the basics are stockpiled. Then use the lesser cost tool as a back-up. Consider this situation. You buy The Best mill for $500. Then, unemployed. Or, you buy a Victoria for under $50, and have enough left to buy two thousand rounds of ammo. Then you are unemployed. Who is better off? If you stay employed, then go get Yuppie Best. It is about order of priority, not a black and white list saying you can only have one. PS-I still think the Country mill is FLIR scope levels of extravagance, but who am I to judge? If folks didn't "waste" money, I wouldn't get paid to write screeds against said scopes. Just like I don't expect folks to share my fear and doom levels. Not for long. Just panic enough to stockpile, then you can go back to sleep. Smelling the Starbucks frappachino, as it were.

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  5. Actually, the pioneers that trekked from East to West would say that one is better than none.

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    1. Did they break off from the wagon train and live out in the wilderness? Or were they settling in an area where resupply was an option. In the apocalypse, resupply? Not really happening.

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  6. I think that <$50 range of price for the Victoria/Corona mill is old news. I found them in the appx $70 range a year ago. More than complaining, I'm suggesting you provide a link to the supplier with the lower price, if one still exists.

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    1. You must be reading on a DumbPhone-on a PC screen you would see the Amazon graphic ad I show every single day, books, filters, and the Corona mill. Here is one $45:
      https://amzn.to/2ZdJxML

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  7. Another inexpensive wheat grinding approach, if some electricity is available, is to use a standard food blender (I use $5 used ones from Goodwill. Why pay more?). Add equal weights of wheat and water and blend till the mess starts to bog down due to gluten formation. Add yeast or use it as-is for unleavened bread (salt is optional). I generally use a sourdough starter made from similar blender-ground wheat because it blends easily with the wet dough, and frankly tastes infinitely better than commercial dry yeasts. This is "100% hydration" dough which is about the wettest you can use and still form a decent loaf. If you want to use less hydration (easier for beginners), add another 20-30% flour ground by conventional means to the finished wet dough. In this case, at least the majority of the grinding is done in the blender and your flour grinding chore will be considerably reduced.

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  8. MD Creekmore is on youtube.

    hahahahahaha

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  9. Maybe a three months ago, or less, I saw on some web site a mention of a company in maybe Wisconsin or Minnesota that sold an adapter for a grain mill that was supposed to greatly improve a certain brand of grain mill I saved the link, and then my computer took a dive. All was lost. Do you have any idea what that particular grain mill was, and do you have contact info for the company?

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  11. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    1. In one of the Little House,on the Prarie books they were grinding wheat in a coffee mill. This was during a famine/lean time between harvest or something. The family had very little energy and took turns holding the mill and turning the crank for a little flour.

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  12. I have a hand crank Kitchenaid that I got through the Amish Store in Ohio. No electricity needed. But I do love the Wondermill. And the Victoria is a pain in the butt to crank.

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    1. Granted, on the Victoria. The only thing keeping me grinding is my inability to spend $4 for a bag of flour at the store. Highway robbery

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  13. Thanks again great haired one. Just a reminder to the fellow minions get lots of cheap ham this time of year and dehydrate it. Fully cooked and salted. Dried out and stored air tight. I hope to have plenty stored along with dried carrots, celery,bay leaves,onions,basil,thyme,onions and a variety of beans for bean soup. Up here in "Yankee" land Michigan we can buy cheap "deer bait" carrots 40lbs for $8. They are so much better after frost hits them they have sweeter flavor and taste better than commieforna sold at grocery stores. Keep up the great writing, Lake Erie Pirate

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    1. Produce at any of the major markets like Safeway etc. is indeed ass nowadays. Produce at Whole Foods might be marginally better but is overpriced. I'm not sure what to do if you can't grow your own. Farmer's markets can be a good source of produce (and they throw away a ton at the end of the day so if you're on a budget....) or ethnic markets are best.

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    2. Too many farmers markets are just jobbers buying off the same truck as Safeway

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  14. Stepping off the frugal-farm for a sec...
    If anyone has a creek, even seasonal, I highly recommend using it to your advantage. I have the Country Living setup running motorized. Grid down gets alternator in creek for recharging LiFePO4 battery bank in winter while panels recharge bats in sunny weather. Year round creek is ideal. You dont want the typical alt from vehicles but rather ones designed to run all day at full tilt.
    Yes it's a spendy setup but well worth it if one can afford it.

    TS

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    1. So is a concrete bunker atop a hill, full of HK's, hookers, and blow :)

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  15. I've experienced premature Berkey filter failure 2 times due to the ceramic portion separating from its plastic cup base.
    This separation can be difficult to detect visually and can allow unfiltered water to pass into the lower collection vessel.
    Turtle Island
    Anyone else notice this?

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    1. I KNEW Berkey's sucked, I just wasn't sure why

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    2. The point is not the brand, but that the candle type ceramic filters are prone to this and maybe the user is not aware of,the flaw and keeps using.

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    3. It sounds like it COULD be the brand, British vs Swiss. Unless, both made in China.

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    4. Katadyn and Berkey constructed with same base. Just side by side compared the two filters and see zero difference.
      I think it is an issue that arises when filling top container day after day. Pouring in a few gallons of water levers the long ceramic filter back and forth a bit, putting stress on its relatively small connection point at the base plastic "cup" that is screwed tight to the bottom of the top container. Also when taking off for cleaning the top chamber with filter(s) attached and jostling unit or laying on side probably stresses the attachment point.

      Back flushing the filter helps diagnose non visible cracks. If when back flushing, tiny bubbles percolate out of the entire surface area of the filter it's good. If there is a crack or separation, this will not happen.

      But hell, I'm asking you Francis -You're the survival expert.

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    5. Never having pretended to know ALL aspects of survivalism-the stuff I know nothing about outweighs that which I do-and never being of mind to buy a Berky, I really couldn't tell you. I can say you might be on to something. But I'm just wondering, is all plastic the same? Is all construction the same quality? I have no dog in this fight. I'll gladly admit that Katadyn is crap, if in fact it is. I've changed my mind on many products, one way or another.

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  16. I think the hippiez were more about making their own bread, period, not about getting other things than Wonder Bread. Roman Meal bread was the default in my middle-class family before everything went to shit.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Meal

    It just cost, like any store-bought bread is going to cost, a lot.

    Ran Prieur mentions sprouting wheat before making bread for two reasons: Firstly, it uses up enzymes in the wheat that make it rather undigestible, and secondly, it makes it a lot softer and easier to grind.

    The brown minions of our soon to be Asiatic overlords grow corn (in fact they created corn as we know it) and "nixtmalize" it before using it, which not only makes it more vitamin-rich and keeps them from getting pallagra, but it also makes it child's play to grind.

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    1. Isn't doing corn that way running wet through the grinder? Not sure I'd trust that

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    2. Don't gunk up your Corona grinding wet grain. Dry grain grinders and wet food grinders work differently. Much better to use a manual meat grinder/sausage maker. They are made for the task. As previously mentioned, I have a very old metal one that does a terrific job, but the inexpensive metal ones available these days kind of suck. Sort of like the de-evolution of the Corona. I use the inexpensive <$30 plastic ones and although they look and are relatively flimsy, it doesn't matter much since grinding wet grain generates very little stress on the parts. The loads get a lot higher if grinding meat, so I don't think I'd use a plastic one for that. Its kind of fun grinding wet sprouted grain or nixtamalized corn. Relative to dry grain grinding, the throughput is amazing and its nearly effortless. What a difference. In a pinch, you can even use a more traditional approach and smosh the soft grain between a rock and a flat rock (metate?). Not easily done with dry grain.

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    3. Some tools seem expensive, until you see what an awesome job it actually does. Like a tortilla press, instead of a rolling pin. Just makes life so much easier. Buy them while you can. Seems silly to NOT have a meat grinder if you are going to be preparing one of the above.

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    4. "Some tools seem expensive until you see what an awesome job it actually does."

      A revelation.

      Did an alien entity replace James? Jesus, the value and quality argument finally wins out vs. blockhead price point blindness.

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    5. Did I say the tool had to be highest quality? I think you are reaching to win the argument. I'm saying use a hammer instead of a rock, not that you have to buy the best hammer. Compared to a rock, a dollar store hammer is priceless. Next lame attempt at dethroning my record of perfection ( I'm kidding! )

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