Homegrown Popcorn!

I love popcorn! It's my very favorite homegrown snack!

I grow two varieties of heirloom popcorn, "Strawberry" and "Japanese Hulless." Both varieties pop up into these delightful little white puffs that are so tender they practically melt in your mouth when you eat them.I've grown these two varieties together for years and I've never had any sort of cross breeding or mutations. I shell them together, store them together, and pop them together. They are both delicious and I can't tell which variety is which when I'm stuffing the popped kernels into my mouth... all I know is that this is good food... really good food.

Popcorn is easy to grow. If you grow heirloom varieties just save some of your popcorn kernels to use for seed the following year. Let them grow to maturity and then leave them there in the garden, drying on the stalks, until late fall.I took this picture earlier in the fall, long before it was dry enough to harvest. This popcorn stayed in the garden much longer, until the stalks were completely brown.

When they were finally ready to harvest I picked them, pulling the husks and silks off the cobs as I tossed them into bushel baskets. Then I put the baskets in a dry location for a few weeks.Then I used my hands to remove the kernels from the cobs.

Doing this is hard on your hands. It hurts. But thinking about how good the popcorn will taste gets me through it! (I've tried putting popcorn through a corn sheller but popcorn cobs are too small for the sheller to be very effective.)One bushel basketful of popcorn cobs will yield about eight quarts of popcorn kernels. Store dried kernels in airtight containers.To pop popcorn, heat some oil in a large pot (I usually use peanut oil for popping corn). Add popcorn kernels. Place the lid on the pot, but not tightly, let a little air escape. Shake the pot a bit. Eventually you will hear one pop, two pops, then lots of pops... and then you'll hear when the popping slows. I like to shake the pot some more as the popping slows. Eventually the popping stops. Sprinkle with a bit of salt and enjoy!

Homegrown Countrygirl's #6 Skillet Cornbread

While the whole rest of the food blogging world is posting romantic Valentine's Day recipes and menus to woo your lover, I'm going to do something different. I'm going to blog about something I love... something I'm passionate about...
Cornbread!

Hey, I'm not the only one! I've noticed that others are passionate about cornbread, too.People are serious about their cornbread! Need an example? Give a Southerner a piece of sweet cornbread made with sugar and see what happens. Or give a Yankee a piece of crumbly cornbread made with only cornmeal and no flour and ask what they think of it. Chances are you'll strike out in both cases.

So. Here's my favorite cornbread. This my recipe, and how I like it.

Maybe you'll like it, too...

I make this recipe in my #6 cast iron skillet which measures 9 inches across the top. And I use cornmeal that I grind from homegrown field corn... I'll show you that process... someday.

For now, let's just talk about the cornbread!

First, put some lard or bacon grease in an iron skillet and place skillet in oven. Turn oven on and start preheating to 450 degrees.While lard is melting, whisk together some cornmeal, flour, salt, and baking soda.In another bowl, measure out some buttermilk and add a couple of eggs. Whisk this mixture together, too..Your lard should be melted by now. Carefully remove that skillet from the oven and pour all but about 1 tablespoon of the lard into a small cup. Place skillet (with remaining tablespoon of lard in it) back into the oven.

Let the removed lard in the small cup cool slightly. Then add it to your buttermilk and eggs and whisk againPour buttermilk mixture into dry mixture, blend together with whisk (mixture will loose enough to stir with a wire whisk).

Remove hot skillet from oven again and pour batter into skillet. It will sizzle as you pour it in.Return to oven and bake until done... it won't take long, only about 12-15 minutes.

Here's a piece I slathered with butter and honey... it just seemed like a good idea (and it was)...HOMEGROWN COUNTRYGIRL'S #6 SKILLET CORNBREAD

4 tablespoons lard (or bacon grease)
1 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
2 eggs

Place 4 tablespoons lard in 9 inch iron skillet and place skillet in oven. Turn oven on to 450 degrees. Combine cornmeal, flour, salt, and baking soda in a bowl and whisk together to blend. In another bowl combine 1 cup buttermilk and 2 eggs. Whisk together. Remove skillet from oven and pour 3 tablespoons of lard into a small cup. Leave remaining 1 tablespoon lard in skillet and return skillet to oven. When lard in cup has cooled enough to add it to the buttermilk mixture, add it to the mixture and whisk again to combine. Pour buttermilk mixture into cornmeal mixture, whisking with wire whisk to blend. Remove skillet from oven. Pour mixture into skillet. It will sizzle when you pour it in. Return skillet to oven and bake for 12-15 minutes, until golden on top and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Goodbye, Sweet Corn!

Summer is almost over, and with it goes that sweet crunchy buttery fresh corn on the cob. And those beautiful stalks that tower everything else in the garden. It is fun to walk in between the tall rows. It always makes me think, "If you build it, they will come."

Come on, you know you think it too. Just admit it.

Oh, sweet fresh corn, how I will miss you!

Thank Goodness, corn freezes well. And it cans quite well, too.

It is especially easy to can corn...
I can fresh raw corn exactly as the Ball Blue Book instructs. Remove husks. Clean well, removing silks. Scrape raw corn off cobs. Put loosely into hot jars. (Don't press corn down into jar and don't shake jar to try to fit more corn into the jar.) Leave one inch headspace. Add 1 teaspoon salt to each quart jar (or 1/2 teaspoon to each pint jar), if desired. Ladle boiling water into jar, again leaving one inch headspace. Run a small spatula along the inside of the jar to remove air bubbles. Wipe rims. Place hot lids on jars. Twist rings on over the lids. Process pints 55 minutes, quarts 1 hour and 25 minutes, at 10 pounds pressure, or the pressure required for your altitude.

Goodbye, sweet corn!