How to make pinole, the parched-corn trail flour

Corn that has been dried, toasted in a hot pan until it puffs, and ground into a coarse meal goes by many names. In English it is often called parched corn or corn flour; across the western world the Spanish word pinole has become the usual one. However it is named, it has long been a traveler’s food: light to carry, ready to eat with nothing more than water, and dense in energy.

A food with a long history

In the early 1800s the missionary John Heckewelder described how the Lenape, or Delaware, people prepared it. By his account they preferred a sweet blue corn, parched the kernels in hot clean ashes until they burst, sifted and cleaned them, then pounded the grain into flour in a mortar, sometimes sweetening it with maple sugar. A traveler would take a spoonful in the mouth and wash it down with a drink from a stream, or stir a spoonful into about a pint of water in a cup. In camp it could be boiled down in a kettle into a thick porridge. So little was needed each day that a person could set out on a long journey without a heavy pack.

Heckewelder added a warning that still applies. He wrote that people new to the food should take no more than a spoonful or two at a time, because it swells considerably in the stomach, and eating more than that at once could make them ill.

Pinole is also closely associated with the Rarámuri, or Tarahumara, of the Copper Canyon region of northern Mexico, whose runners are famous for covering extreme distances on foot. Small bags of pinole are a traditional provision on those runs.

Making pinole

You will need

• A heavy frying pan, cast iron or nonstick
• Dried corn. Hang whole ears somewhere warm and dry until the kernels are hard all the way through and twist off the cob easily. Frozen or canned kernels dried in a food dehydrator work too, though the result is less traditional.
• A blender, coffee grinder or food processor, or a mortar and pestle for the traditional way

Steps

1. Strip the dried kernels from the cobs. Skip this if you dehydrated loose kernels.
2. Heat the pan over medium heat. A nonstick pan needs nothing in it; a plain pan should be very lightly oiled.
3. Spread a single layer of kernels across the pan, none stacked on another. Stir or shake them now and then until most have swollen, rounded out and turned light brown. Some will pop.
4. Tip the parched corn out to cool, then grind it until it is finer than cornmeal but still coarser than wheat flour.

Store-bought cornmeal can be toasted in a dry pan the same way. It browns and smells good but will not swell like whole kernels.

Look over the corn before you start. Discard any kernels that are discolored, moldy or musty-smelling, and never parch a batch that has been stored damp. Molds on corn can produce aflatoxins, which heat does not destroy.

Eating it

Pinole can be stirred into water to make a drink, at roughly one tablespoon to three cups. It never fully dissolves, so the drink is gritty, and plenty of people find that unappealing. The other traditional way is to take a spoonful dry and wash it down with a swallow of water, which works better if the pinole is already sweetened and spiced. It can also be simmered in water to make a gruel about as thick as oatmeal.

A couple of tablespoons is more filling than it looks, because the meal takes up water and swells after it is eaten. Keep to small amounts until you know how it sits with you, just as Heckewelder advised.

A Rarámuri-style mix

• ½ cup pinole, finely ground
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tbsp honey, agave nectar or brown sugar
• 1 tbsp chia seeds (optional)

A runner’s mix

• 2 cups pinole
• ⅓ cup honey
• 2 tbsp hemp or chia seeds
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp cinnamon

Stir the ingredients together in a warm pot or pan until the honey coats the meal evenly, then spread it out to cool and dry. Either mix can be drunk in water, cooked into a porridge or eaten a spoonful at a time on the trail.

Keeping it

Whole dried corn stores for a long time if it is kept bone dry and away from insects. Ground pinole is another matter. Grinding exposes the oil in the germ of the kernel, and whole-grain corn meal turns rancid far sooner than whole kernels. Keep pinole in an airtight jar in a cool, dark cupboard and use it within a few months, or freeze it for longer storage. The practical approach for a food store is to keep the dried corn and grind small batches as they are needed.

For a pack or a vehicle kit, pinole makes a light, cheap alternative to commercial energy bars. Try it on an ordinary hike before counting on it, so that its texture and its effect on your stomach are familiar before they matter.