Using a Corn Sheller

Using a Corn Sheller

Corn is a staple crop for many homesteaders, providing animal feed and the building blocks for many other foods.corn sheller It’s an easy-to-grow, delicious and versatile crop that can be boiled, fried, roasted, grilled, ground into cornmeal or syrup, and a variety of other culinary delights. It is also a good staple to store in the pantry since it will last a long time. Corn is one of the few grains that can be stored without losing much nutritional value for over a year in its whole kernel form.

A corn sheller was an early agricultural tool designed to separate the kernels of the corn from the husk for easier transport and sale. Originally, this device was a spiked hootch of iron that farmers held in their hands and manually scraped over the ears of corn to remove the husks and kernels. As the agricultural industry grew and demand for corn increased, these devices grew in size and mechanization and eventually were powered by hand cranks, motors, and then larger engines and finally combines (a large piece of farm machinery that does both picking, threshing, and shelling of crops such as grain).

To use a manual or hand-crank corn sheller, an ear of corn is fed into the top hole of the device and then the handle is turned, causing the mechanism to pull the cob through and separating the kernels from the cob with metal teeth. The kernels fall through the bottom of the sheller into a bucket, basin or other container while the cob is ejected from the machine.

A more modern version of this device is available for purchase and use by the average person, and is relatively inexpensive. It’s simple enough to operate: just place an ear of corn with the pointy end down into the holder and turn the crank. Some manual shellers have a tipper that collects the kernels from the ends of the ear, which are less desirable for planting purposes. The collected kernels can then be set aside for next year’s harvest.

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