Mona Lea - can you tell us how you make and can Hominy?

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Hi Mona Lea, In another post I saw you were making and canning hominy. Could you tell us how you make it and how long you process it?

-- Karen (mountains_mama2@hotmail.com), March 02, 2002

Answers

Be sure you allow yourself plenty of time for hominy making, it is quite labor intensive!! First shell your corn, I used regular yellow field corn this time, although this fall my Mom and I used white Hickory King corn that she had grown just for the purpose of hominy making. I think the yellow has a little more flavor though. The next step is to go outside in the breeze and pour the corn from bowl to bowl to get rid of all the chaff and dried silks. I probably had about eight cups of shelled corn. I then put the corn in a large enamel pot, covered it with water and let it soak overnight to begin the softening process. The next morning add about 1/3 cup of baking soda to the corn and water, put it on the stove and bring it to a boil. Boil vigerously for about an hour, stirring occasionally to be sure it doesn't stick. Be sure you keep plenty of water over the corn, it will begin to swell. After the corn has boiled for an hour, the outer husks on the kernels should begin to loosen. Drain the corn, cover with cold water and begin washing it with your hands. Change the water frequently, a lot of the husks should begin coming off of the kernels of corn. Put the corn back in the enamel pan, cover with water and bring it to a boil again. Boil for about an hour again, watching the water level closely, the corn should really start swelling up now. It will end up nearly doubling in size. Drain the corn again and wash it vigerously to remove more husks from the kernels. Put it back in the pan, cover with water and boil it for another hour. Wash it again, at this time most of the outer hull should have come loose from the kernels. Skim them off the water or use whatever method you find most efficient to get rid of the things. Put the corn back in the enamel pan and cook it again until it is almost tender enough to eat. This could take a couple more hours. At this point, I drain the corn again and give it another washing to get rid of any lingering husks. I then cover it with cold water in the enamel pan, put a covering of aluminum foil or a big dishtowel over the top and put it in a cool place overnight. The refrigerator is fine if you have room, mine usually goes out in the garage. The next morning, bring the corn to a boil again, have your pressure canner and jars ready, fill jars to within one inch of the top with hot hominy and water, add 1/2 teaspoon of canning salt to each pint, and proccess in pressure canner for one hour at 10 pounds of pressure. I only can hominy in pints, I think it is safer. You can make hominy using lye instead of baking soda, but I think this is a safer method and you can do it all in the house without so much worry. Mona Lea in Southeast Missouri

-- Mona Lea (monalea@hotmail.com), March 03, 2002.

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