Dried field corn is a grain. It isn’t sweet corn we slather butter on and eat at BBQs. The most common type is Yellow field corn, also known as Dent corn, which is a fantastic addition to your cache of survival food because it has an excellent shelf-life and can be ground into flour to make MASA flour for tortillas.
Whole Dried field corn stores for 30+ years when packaged properly in containers such as a Mylar bag or #10 cans treated with oxygen absorbers.
Remove oxygen from field corn storage containers to extend shelf-life and kill bugs at all stages of life.
Note: Field corn and other dry goods stored in an oxygen-free container must be 10% moisture or less before storage to avoid botulism.
Suppose you are intrigued about the possibility of grinding your cornmeal. Read on.
6 Containers Are Used to Store Dried Field Corn
To extend dent corn shelf-life to 30 years, store it in a container that seals and acts as an oxygen barrier. Following are several container options for storing field corn in long-term storage. I prefer using Mylar and Food-grade buckets together, but all these other methods have their benefits.
#1 Mylar Bags
When you store Dent corn, you want to keep oxygen, light, and moisture out of the container. All these things oxidize corn, cause mold and bacteria or allow bugs to flourish. Here is why Mylar rules.
- Mylar is an Excellent Oxygen Barrier
- Mylar is light-proof at 5 mils in thickness or more (Light oxidizes corn)
- Mylar is airproof
- Mylar is waterproof
- Mylar creates a partial vacuum, excellent for oxygen absorber use.
- Mylar Bags Are the Best DIY option; they are readily available and easy to use
Mylar’s Achilles Heel
Mylar is easily damaged by handling it. Mice, rats, and other critters can easily chew through it.
#2 Food-grade Bucket and Lid
Buckets are fantastic because they stack for storage, and they are tough. Also, buckets have many uses beyond food storage, like fruit fermentation or hauling potable water. Food-grade buckets rock, but not everything isn’t sunshine and rainbows.
2 Reasons to Avoid Buckets for Long-term Storage
#1 Oxygen Transfer:
Most plastics, including buckets, allow oxygen transfer. This can reduce field corn shelf-life.
#2 Lids Fail
The seal on your lid must be bulletproof if you use buckets without using Mylar bags, but lid seals are weak because they often fail to keep a seal.
#3 DIY Storage System For Field Corn and Dry Grains
If you want to maximize shelf-life, don’t store dry grains with just a bucket and a lid; consider them part of a system that includes Mylar bags and oxygen absorption. The plastic pale provides a tough-outer shell protecting the Mylar.
Mylar provides an excellent barrier, impervious to Air, Water, and Light. Oxygen absorbers remove oxygen in the sealed Mylar bag.
I like using Mylar with a food bucket because I can use cheap snap-on lids without seals. Some higher-quality lids, like the Gamma’s, are $10.00 per lid. Too pricey for me.
Do I have to use a food-grade bucket?
You don’t have to use food-grade buckets to store field corn as long as you line the bucket with Mylar. There is a caveat, though, if the bucket held chemicals or non-food grade items or if you don’t know what was in the bucket before you got it. Please don’t use it for storage.
You don’t want food stored in non-food-grade plastic to touch it because it may transfer chemicals from the manufacturing process. Some recycled buckets held things like pesticides. These chemicals are still in the plastic after recycling.
Tip: I use 20″x 30″ Mylar bags for grain storage. This bag can be used in every sized bucket up to 6 gallons.
Tip: Get Food-grade pales because you may want to use pales for other food-related tasks like pickling or brewing down the road.
Check out Ready Squirrel’s article to learn more about food-storage buckets
#4 Number 10 Can
You can’t thumb your nose at #10 cans. They are premium storage containers: they keep a good seal, are tough, and store a usable volume of food, but they have their drawbacks.
2 Reasons to Avoid #10 Cans For Storing Field Corn
- #10 cans are more expensive than DIY packaging in Mylar and buckets, and most of us will have to purchase foods in #10 Cans vs. DIY
- Availability: If you have access to a cannery, you are golden, but most of us don’t.
- Metallic Flavor: This is subjective and doesn’t often happen since cans are lined.
#5 Ball Jars
Ball jars are an excellent container for storing dry grain, including field corn. I use ball jars to overflow dry goods that won’t fit into larger containers. They are handy to keep in the kitchen because they store small portions and are easy to access.
Storing corn in a Ball jar is as easy as filling the jar, placing an oxygen absorber on top, and screwing on the lid.
Chart #1: Oxygen Absorber Size For Ball Jars:
| Ball Jar Size | Oxygen Absorber Size (cc) |
| 1/2 Pint | 50cc |
| Pint | 100cc |
| Quart | 300cc |
| Gallon | 500cc* |
| 5 Gallon | 2500cc* |
Storing Field Corn In Ball Jars: The Downside
Ball Jars let in light that can oxidize food over time, cover them or store them in a dark cupboard. Also, glass breaks easily, so you must use kid gloves. Overall, ball jars are not a good choice for bulk storage.
Warning: Botulism poisoning may result if moist products are stored in packaging that reduces oxygen. When stored in airtight containers with oxygen absorbers, products must be dried to 10% moisture content or less.
#6 PETE/ PET Bottles
When you think of PETE Bottles, imagine the big plastic soda bottles. PETE stands for polyethylene terephthalate, a plastic used to store your Dent corn and other dry grains.
Upside
- PETE Bottles are free
- Re-purposing something that would be thrown away
Downside
- Bottles must be cleaned and sterilized; this includes the cap.
- Bottles are clear and allow for light oxidation.
- Foods should be covered or stored in a dark cupboard.
Tip: Avoid storing dent corn or any other dry grain in plastics containing non-food grade items. Non-food grade plastics may transfer chemicals and impart nasty flavors to stored foods.
Chart #2 How To Package Field Corn In PETE Bottles: 7 Easy Steps
| – | Packaging In Pete Bottles |
| 1 | Use PETE Bottles with screw-on lids with plastic or rubber lid seals. Ensure the seal is still good by pouring some water into the bottle, placing the cap on, and squeezing it over the sink. If bubbles or water come out when you squeeze the seal is bad. |
| 2 | Clean Bottles with dish soap or diluted bleach solution. Warning: Bottles must be completely dry before being used to store field corn. |
| 3 | Fill the bottle with Dried Field Corn (or other dried grains) |
| 4 | Wipe the top of the bottle with a clean rag |
| 5 | Store the bottle in a cool, dry location away from light |
| 6 | Protect bottles from rodents because they can chew right through a PETE Bottle |
| 7 | Replace the oxygen absorber each time the bottle is re-used |
To Grind or Not To Grind Dried Corn Before Storage
Dried corn can be stored as cornmeal or whole kernel form. When it comes to shelf-life, you’re going to get similar results. Both will last 30+ years in oxygen-free storage containers.
There are some considerations; however, field corn is tough, so there is a reason you might want to purchase cornmeal.
Store Cornmeal Instead of Field Corn:
Field corn is difficult to mill or grind. Whole corn kernels won’t mill in any mill. It would be best if you had the heavy-duty type to do the job.
Consider storing cornmeal if you don’t have a heavy-duty mill like a Country Living Mill with a large auger. Properly stored in oxygen-free containers, cornmeal (corn flour) has the same shelf-life as the whole kernels. The kernels won’t do you much good if you can’t process it.
According to a study by Brigham Young University, corn-meal stored at ambient temperature in a low oxygen container will last at least 30 years while maintaining most of its color, texture, and flavor.
16 samples of cornmeal stored in #10 cans ranging in age from 1 to 33 years…retained a high rate of consumer acceptance over long periods of time and can be included in long-term food storage efforts. There was no significant decrease over storage time in aroma, texture, flavor, and overall acceptability in cornmeal, cornbread, or cornmeal cereal.
BYU Scholarship, Megan L. Bingham, Heather F. Pahulu, Lynn V. Ogden, Oscar A. Pike, Quality of cornmeal stored long-term in a low oxygen atmosphere. 2006. Faculty Publications. 29. Department: Nutrition, Dietetics, and Food Science
In a nutshell, cornmeal stored in #10 cans was still good after 33 years of oxygen-free storage.
Cost To Feed One Person For A Year: Apocalypse Food
Using Dried Corn For Food (Dent Corn)
Cornmeal is a staple ingredient, similar to wheat flour, in that you can use it in many recipes like baked goods and batters. The most popular way to use cornmeal is to make cornbread or hush-puppies, but it can also be cooked and eaten like porridge, to which you can add other ingredients. It is pretty flexible as emergency food.
Nine common dishes made with cornmeal.
- Polenta
- Cornmeal Pancakes
- Corn Muffins
- Cornbread
- Hush Puppies
- Beer Brewing
- Spoon Bread: Spoon Bread is prevalent in the Southern United States.
- Pizza and bread dusting
- English Muffins
Hominy
Hominy is made with a process called Nixtamalization. Field corn is dried and soaked in a lye solution or ashes from a campfire, and then the corn is washed. The nixtamalization process softens corn and makes Niacin bio-available.
Hominy can be dried and milled into fine to coarse powder or eaten whole.
How do you use hominy?
Coarsely ground hominy is used to make grits (cornmeal porridge), or it’s used to mill finely ground flour called Masa. Masa flour is used to make Masa harina. Stiff corn dough used to make tortillas by adding water and salt to the flour, which is then fried on a hot griddle.
Tortillas make an excellent staple food like bread or as an addition to wheat flour bread to break up pallet fatigue.
Sources:
Specialty Corns, George W. Dickerson, Extension Horticulture Specialist, New Mexico State University link
BYU Scholarship, Megan L. Bingham, Heather F. Pahulu, Lynn V. Ogden, Oscar A. Pike, Quality of cornmeal stored long-term in a low oxygen atmosphere. 2006. Faculty Publications. 29. Department: Nutrition, Dietetics, and Food Science link
