chicos: dried + smoked corn

The desert is ideal for drying and we've found it is our easiest food storage avenue on the farm.

If it can be dried and used later, we are in! We've yet to find something that cannot be...

Corn is abundant at farm stands in the summer. Our favorite happens to be in the Mimbres Valley on the start of the Gila Forest loop that takes you up to the Gila National Monument and back around to Silver City -- worth a stop if you catch it before you've passed it!

Smoking the corn adds nitrates to aid in preservation, imparts a smokey flavor and enhances the sweetness of the corn. Smoked for about 5 hours and then hung to dry in a well ventilated area renders them dry in a few days. Once the kernals are dry, you can rub them off with your hand and transfer to an air tight container for longer term storage.

Delicious as a snack they are even better added to soups, breads and basically anything that would benefit from a smokey, sweet, corn flavor.