Does anyone have any idea why my great grandmother would have kept a large flint stone in her cornmeal bin? For a bit of background, on Sunday evenings, about once a month, we would sit on the front porch and hand shell corn. My great uncle would then take it to the mill on Monday morning to grind for cornmeal. When he brought it home, grandma would pour it into a large wooden bin in her kitchen, making sure that it flowed over the flint. It had been used for so long that it had been worn completely smooth. No one living seems to remember WHY this was done, only that grandma considered in unthinkable to not have her 'meal stone' in the bin.

-- Connie (Connie@lunehaven.com), September 27, 2001

Answers

perhaps it was there so if any stone from the grist mill broke into the meal she would hear a "clack" as it spilled into the bin.just a thought?

-- paul a coleman (wormfarmerone@yahoo.com), September 27, 2001.

I doubt this has anything to do with your question, but there use to be a variety of corn called flint corn. It is listed in my 1948 edition of Feeds and Feeding by F. Morrison. From the photograph shown, it is longer and narrower than dent corn (which was called 'dent' since the ends of the kernels dented in when dried). Morrison said it was harder than dent corn because "...the starchy portions are mostly horn-like and flinty".

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), September 27, 2001.

I have no idea about the stone in the cornmeal bin, but to answer Ken, there are three main types of corn, dent, flint, and flour. An example of flint corn is the multicolored "Indian Corn" sold in the autumn for decoration. Ground up, it makes a pretty good cornmeal. It has hard shiney outer part of kernel and bulges up on top. Popcorn is also a flint corn. Dent corn has softer less shiney outer shell and has a dimple on top of kernel, thus the term "dent". Flour corn is even duller in color and very soft. No dent on flour kernels as far as I remember, but its been a while since I've seen any.

-- Hermit John (hermit@hilltop_homestead.zzn.com), September 27, 2001.