Heirloom corns and grains resource

[DetroitDIY]

Thanks Rainier. I sent him a note already... also wondering what the present shelf life is considering the time of year. Not sure I could put it to use too fast, but I'm tempted.

[MtRainier]

I’m going this weekend for bloody butcher corn and rye. Will post up pics. I’m looking forward to seeing his farm and meeting him. My wife is interested in using bloody butcher for cornbread too.

[DetroitDIY]

That's a long drive from your namesake...

I went there last weekend. Picked up 3 sacks of bloody butcher and 1 sack of rye for me, plus a few other sacks for a friend.

Robert at Dancing Star Farms is a nice guy to chat with... very easy going and down to Earth. While there, he showed me a few varieties of the corn he has (or will have after this planting season). They're beautiful.

From left to right, these are:
an Argentine corn (forgot the proper name), Blue Dent, Speckled Dent, Oaxacan Green, Bloody Butcher, White Dent.

Now I just need a good recipe to use Bloody Buther and Danko Rye in... it'll be my first attempt at a whiskey.

[MtRainier]

Nice. I know very little about corn aside from what I've read on the internet. The weather looks dicey tomorrow, so I suspect we'll have some time to talk. I'll have my kids with me, and they will be interested in seeing it all.

My namesake refers to the town in Maryland, not the mountain in Washington. The story I've heard is that the surveyors after the civil war were from Washington state, and when they were laying out plots where the town was being built they named a bunch of the places after their favorite places in the pacific NW.

[LWTCS]

Bloody butcher, white is silver king, and blue Indian flint.
These are separate vareitys not crosses. They are sold individually or as a 33.33%of each equal mix.

I have been reading this since the OP but had nothing to contribute.
However, I was wondering two things.

Here in Alabama, Silver Queen is one of the most popular varieties sold at farmer's markets.

silver queen.png

It is generally considered much sweeter than basic yellow corn.
So I was curious if anyone has used it instead of standard yellow feed corn.


Also, all these varieties are very pretty.
Now that this has been up for a while, what is the taste difference in the product?

Shady posted a link that talks about how the white / sweet corn was a favorite of some of them ole boys in the biddness...

[MtRainier]

As others have said, he's a nice guy with great product. He milled the corn and rye both for me. He ground the rye finer than the corn because he said it slips through otherwise. He had some big totes full of blue corn ready for shipping out. We didn't talk much, as he was working during what I assume is a very busy planting time for him with lots of rain and newly warm soil, so I thanked him for taking the time to deal with my small order.

Here is a picture of the Bloody Butcher corn on the left and rye on the right.

bloody butcher and rye

I got the Bloody Butcher wet to show the color which is otherwise kind of muted by all of the dust and fines from the grind.

It's a pretty wide range of particle sizes on the corn. I'd have to grind it more to make some of the bigger pieces smaller in order to make cornbread or tortillas, but I bet it will work fine for whiskey.

Also had lunch at the Jean Bonnet Tavern nearby which is where Washington's troops camped while heading to western PA to put down the whiskey rebellion, so it was a real whiskey kind of day.

[jonnys_spirit]

I found this as an alternate source for bloody butcher - Have not ordered yet.
http://www.qualityorganic.com/purchasespecialtycorn.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
$50/50lbs bag plus shipping.

-jonny

[dukethebeagle120]

This is interesting.
But does it change much in flavor

[MtRainier]

This is interesting.
But does it change much in flavor

It is claimed to, but I have no idea how.

I think the white whiskey I've made with it so far tastes pretty ok, but I'm a rank amateur and the taste is probably more affected by my cuts, my ferment, my operation of the still, not to mention vagaries of the barrel design, manufacture, and spirit aging. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to point to one flavor to say "Oh, that's bloody butcher's contribution to the drink," but maybe after doing a few 100% corn runs with this and other corns it would become more obvious.

I was interested in it because I like the idea of using a product that isn't as engineered for uniformity and yield as restaurant supply GMO cornmeal. I am guessing that it will have more "flavor" but have no idea what that flavor will be.

When I started out I thought it would be interesting to make something that was just like Buffalo Trace or Heaven Hill or whatever, but there are so many variables involved that I settled on looking at what ingredients they use to see in general terms what makes sense for ingredients and then just make something that I hope will have a lot of character and be interesting and pleasant to drink in 6mo to 1yr and beyond.