Corny

June 1, 2014

Dar's Drought Tolerant Corn

I know it comes to no surprise to any of you that I'm working on drought tolerant crops.  We've expected drought for a long time.  Mostly I've been working with beans and corn.  This is a new corn this year.  My friend from the South, Dar Jones has been working on this corn for several years.  He sent me some this year.  This has literally sprung up in the last few weeks.  It's very healthy looking.  This of course is not a sweet corn, but a hominy, posole and dried ground corn.

Isola  & Pango Kanga

At the same time the Isola & the Pango Kanga continue to really put on growth.  One of these will be a polenta corn and the other hopefully for chicha.

The translation for Pango Kanga is black corn.  It's used to make an alcoholic drink, but I'm guessing it will also make chicha. 

Chicha Morado
1 gallon water
2 cups of dried purple corn (maiz morado)
2 cinnamon sticks
1 tablespoon whole cloves
3 large lemons, juiced
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
Skin of a fresh pineapple, use the pineapple for something else.

Put everything except the lemon juice into a pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer 40 minutes. Remove from the heat and strain through a mesh strainer. Stir in the lemon juice. Pour over ice and get in a hammock and enjoy.

I'm going to try substituting the Pango Kanga, because Maize Morado is very tricky to grow here.
Pango Kanga also makes a good ground corn.  If there's enough time, I'll plant one more corn field.