Can someone tell me how to make corn nuts and wheat nuts. We have plenty of shelled corn and wheat and it seems a shame to pay some company to process them when it can't be that difficult if you know how. These are healthy and good tasting snacks so maybe someone has figured out how to make them at home.

-- Dennis (dvailes@henderson.net), October 13, 2001

Answers

Dennis, I was interested in your quest for how to make cornnuts, so I looked around, didn't find any recipes but I did come across this note that discribed the process a little:

http://www.californiaheartland.org/archive/hl_228/corn_nuts.htm

I'll keep looking, please post anything you might find...Thanks Willy

-- Willy Allen (willyallen2@yahoo.com), October 13, 2001.

Carla Emory tells you how to make corn nuts in her book "The Old Fashioned Recipe Book", I recall you oil a cookie sheet, spread the dried field corn around one layer thick on it, and bake at 350 F till it sort of "pops", not like popcorn, but just gets larger sized. Salt if you like after cooled. Store in an airtight container almost indefinitly.

-- Annie Miller in SE OH (annie@1st.net), October 14, 2001.

I found this on the internet - haven't ever tried the recipe, so I can't vouch for it. Sounds interesting, though!

Parched Sweet Corn

This was a popular Indian snack made from dried seed corn parched in oil and salted. It is sold in natural foods stores today as cornnuts. This recipe makes about 2 cups.

2 cups sweet dried corn

4 tablespoons corn or sesame oil

sea salt or soy sauce to taste

Place dried corn in a large colander and pour boiling water over them. Drain on cheesecloth or a paper towel. Lightly oil skillet, add the corn, and stir continuously until each kernel is lightly browned. Add sea salt or soy sauce.

-- Cheryl in Ks (cherylmccoy@rocketmail.com), October 16, 2001.

Good, I'm glad one of you ladies answered. I was envisioning drilling tiny holes and then tapping the threads. The problem with my idea was those wheat berries would take awful small bolts to be of any use. :-)

-- Joe (CactusJoe001@AOL.com), October 16, 2001.